I’ve given ‘One Night In Bangkok’ to The Arbiter. I’ve always thought this was a better way to open the show and giving it to him makes much more sense than giving it to Freddie and Anatoly as in Sydney.
US v USSR
I’ve brought the press into the story as soon as possible, as I’d like them to act almost like a Greek chorus and thus reflect and comment on the happenings throughout the tournament. I’d like there to be a few reprises of ‘Press Conference’ during the show, but this of course would require new lyrics!
The Story Of Chess
A staging idea that I like for ‘The Story’, but doesn’t work for this production, is for it to be at the top of the show and to have the press being handed a press pack with the full details of the two champions and the history of the game. While they are waiting for the arrival of the champions they read (sing) the story of chess and ‘discuss’ it among themselves. In this version I felt a little more imagery was required, so I have chosen to stage extracts from the history and have these recorded for the title sequences for the televised games. Of course this was Walter’s idea and he’s struck a very lucrative deal with all TV stations that will be using these sequences!
Press Conference
I’ve chosen to make Freddie the new challenger rather than the current world champion. This was partly because I wanted to use the idea of Molokov leaking information about Florence to the press. If she and Freddie had been at the championships before then her past would have been dragged up before. I therefore chose to make them relatively new to the international chess world. Her past has not really been a big issue to Florence. She has of course been very aware of what happened, but she’s a grown woman now and has left all that behind. That is until it is dragged up by Molokov and the press. It is this that knocks her off her usually strong foundation and begins the chain of events that have the potential to topple her completely.
Terrace Duet
I have always felt that this was much too early for Anatoly and Florence to kiss. It certainly should be the point where their interest in each other is heightened, but a kiss just seems unlikely at this point. Also, if Freddie saw this I can not imagine that he would let Florence stay with him! He’d throw her out there and then. Whatever happens between them is actually more effective if it’s all in Freddie’s mind – even though what he imagines was also very much in the minds of Anatoly and Florence. It’s all just a seed that has been sown in all three imaginations and from there it begins to grow!
I’ve never seen this as a defeatist song, but rather the catalyst that gets Freddie fired up and ready to take on the challenge of his life. Thus I have placed it just after his percieved betrayal by Florence. At first he is defeated, but in time he remembers his own inner strength and is once again ready to take on the world. It is also quite interesting that it is the aftermath of Walter’s merchandising attempts earlier that day that eventually lifts Freddie’s spirits and sets him back on the road to success.
The Arbiter
I’ve always had a bit of a problem with the Arbiter’s song. It always ends up as a dance number, which is somewhat out of place in a show that is not a dance show. I actually really like the idea of it being at the beginning of act two and being done as a commentary to the press on events so far, but I feel that for this to work it would require a complete rewrite, so that wasn’t an option. In the end I decided that the only way to make it seem ‘real’, was to make it unreal! Thus it is now a trip into the mind of the Arbiter himself. It also serves the purpose of getting us through a whole game of chess without having to resort to a static stage and the Chess music being played.