[High-baritonne]

The title says it all, my favorite is the Stockholm production

[Salome]

By fart he best cast is the broadway version..Judy Kuhn,the late Davd Carroll,Phillip Casnoff,the late Harry Goz,and Denis Parlato are all the ones tobeat.

script wise I prefer the Australian production.

however no version is perfect..which is why its a flawed masterpice.

when I did the show we combined alot of elements form Broadway and Australia with a slight amount taken from London to for a rather strong script and plot line.

[Jekkienumber24601]

I'd say london with some sydney and stolkholm

Broadway can be made to work, but it needs alot of london, whilst London's song list is far superior

[Mademoiselle Lanoire]

Castwise, Stockholm was the only recorded cast where I liked all the principals. I didn't like anyone on the OBC besides Judy Kuhn and Phillip Casnoff.

Scriptwise, my ideal would be London with a bit of Stockholm thrown in (for example, the extended interlude in You Want to Lose Your Only Friend?). I'm not familiar with Sydney yet.

[Cadriel]

Scriptwise, I find London is pretty overrated. It's got some serious problems -- the show being about two chess matches was a conceit that didn't work, because the match is the framing device that everything works into. And a lot of the numbers ("US vs. USSR," "Merano," "Merchandisers," "Soviet Machine") are a lot better on an album than on stage, where nothing happens for five or six minutes. Other productions have either worked them into the action better or cut them, and with good cause.

Every Chess script has second act issues. Stockholm's are pretty simple: it just throws a lot of solo numbers at its problems. The worst is that two out-of-place solos ("Om han var här" and "Han är en man, han är ett barn") are used in a row. There's very little by way of mounting dramatic tension until almost the end of the act, and by then it's already used up all the good confrontation numbers, so it's very anticlimactic. Still, gorgeous music and a very nearly sublime first act.

Sydney also has second act issues; it has to cram "Anthem" into the second act (the first act ends with "Heaven Help My Heart," a particularly daring move on Tim Rice's part) and follows it abruptly with "Someone Else's Story." "The Soviet Machine" is over-long and self-indulgent, and pretty much all of the real action falls on the backs of "The Deal" and "Endgame." It's still better theater done as-is than London or Stockholm, and it's a crime that it can't be produced. I wouldn't want it as a "final, for-all-time" version of Chess, but it's my favorite thus far.

- Wayne

[Jekkienumber24601]

I like Sydney. I hate Anthem not closing Act 1 and Soviet Machine is very long in that. I think there's alot to do in that number in the London version and many people have said Chess works best as a concert, and the London version is closest to being all music. (plus the interview and the deal kick ass in that one)

[Salome]

london is missing so much though...its weak compared to other versions.

[Jekkienumber24601]

Well I think broadway misses more (Anatoly and Molokov, the whole Press Conference, The Deal) and I love Arbiter opening Act 2 but Bangkok should not randomly be thrown in the middle of act one. I like how Sydney opens with Bangkok as a duet with Freddie and Anatoly. I guess if it were legal to swap songs and versions around people could actually try harder to make the definative version.

[Salome]

well you should have seen my versaion. it was a great adaptaion of the broadway,australian, and some new stuff the director did.

[nycbound]

I like certain aspects of all of them, but as a complete piece of work, the Broadway version is my favorite.

[Cadriel]

[Jekkienumber24601]

[operafantomet]

My favourite version is the Swedish one. Main reason is that the story is tighter and more concentrated, and much of the "jubaloo" is cut. However, there are flaws there as well, especially in the second act, and whatever good theatrical reasons there might be, there's just no excuse for cutting "One Night in Bangkok".....! But the cast was really strong (though, with my luck, all principals were off first time I saw it in Stockholm, except that horrible Svetlana of theirs... God, she was horror on two legs).

My least favourite is the Broadway version. Yeah, the West End versions had it's flaws, and the Broadway production tried to fix it. But, the result was even worse. Such a mess! It's a pity, with such a strong score and cast, that "Chess" only survived for app. 38 performances on Broadway, but the story was too messed up.

[Mademoiselle Lanoire]

Josefin Nilsson (sp?), you mean? I think her portrayal had a lot to do with the altered characterization in the Swedish libretto - she comes across as a lot tougher and more confident. I didn't really mind it myself.

[operafantomet]

[Salome]

i find it laughable when they have actors with forgeign accents play florence and freddy.

[operafantomet]

[Salome]

because they are Americans. if you take on a role for god's sake use an american accent.

[operafantomet]

[Salome]

FLorence would NOT have a hungarian accent!! she was raised in America. she is essentially American. and she was only raised in England in the first London production. she is American in the Broadway,AUstralian,Off broadway and Concert versions.

[operafantomet]

[Jekkienumber24601]

[FunnyGal799]

We did Chess at my school my freshman year of college and it became one of my favorite shows, I have never seen it professionally done but I do have the Broadway, London and Danish cast recordings. I find I enjoy the Danish recording the best.

My question is, and please forgive me for not understanding this or if it is completely obvious, but at the end of the Danish version Florence sings at the end of Endgame to Anatoly the lyrics "You only left your home, your wife, I'm not surprised I slipped your mind". I can understand of course Svetlana's part but I don't know understand why in this version Florence sings to Anatoly in this way. Is it because she believes he should throw the match? In the other versions she only sings at the very beginning of Endgame.

[Jekkienumber24601]

"I only changed your life, you left your home, your wife"

Yeah there was some unneeded bitchiness to Florence in the London version (aka Danish version)

[Endgame]

I can only judge from the five official recordings I know.

1) The Swedish cast-recording:
For me this is the best recording available. One reason is the story itself, I think it now really makes sense for the first time. The original idea featured so many sub-plots that lead to nowhere and while this reworked version now tells a story that is not to full of chess-games but has a perfect combinaton of the cold-war- and love-theme. Especially the end is so much better here. Anatolij leaves his big love Florence to save his wife's and son's lives. Still no happy end but by far a better sollution than the idea of Anatolij leaving Florence because he is so much focussing on his career that he has neither an eye for his wife nor for his affair.
Then I think the songs included here are really great. I was never fond of "Embassy Lament", "The Soviet Mashine" or "One Night in Bankok" so I'm really glad they were left out in favour for great songs like "Inte jag", "Han är en man, han är ett barn" and the "new" first "Drömmar av glas".
As a last positive aspect this recording probably features the best singers. Tommy Körberg's mature voice sounds so much better than on the first recording from the early eighties, Helen Sjöholm is by far the best Florence, especially on the live-DVD where her voice is not as clean as on the cast-recording and with Anders Ekborg I think they have finally found the right American. Although Murray Head e.g. or Anders Glenmark weren't bad either his version of "Vem ser ett barn" is the best I've ever heard.
Josefin Nilsson as Svetlana is also great although her singing is not on the same level as the one by her collegues. But I love her acting, watch the DVD she is probably the one who is most in her role. When I think of Svetlana I have her icture in mind even though her singing is sometimes off-key and a bit over the top. But this is musical so maybe it must be over the top every now and then.

2) The Göteborg Concert-recording:
This is by far the best English recording. The orchestration is superb on most songs with the exeption of Nobody's side where it could be a bit stronger.
My favourit song from this recording is - next to the stunning Someone Else's Stroy - Endgame. It is now played a lot fater than on the original recording and Tommy Körberg's and Lena Ericsson's performance is really great - it was live and flawess. Lena is maybe the best Svetlana and Tommy's final note here is simply stunning.
I was never fond of Karin Glenmark's voice because I think it is could and emotionless. I took the Gemini recording's as an example and even today I don't like her singing on Just Like That or Mio my Mio.
But here I was really impressed by the strength of her lower register. She can convey emotions very well and this is maybe the final prove her. Her long note in the second chorus of Nobody's Side is so difficult but she sings it so great, even Helen didn't manage to hold it that long. When it comes to my favourit Florence Karin is very close to Helen.
Anders Glenmark's singing is much better than Murray Head's and it is now a real pleasure to listen to "Pity The Child" but to my taste he is too often too much over the top, overacting to much with his voice.
Otherwise a great recording.

3) The Original Cast-recording:
The recording has three problems to my ears excluding the problems with the actual story I already talked about.
The first is Murry Head whose voice may be suitable for the spoken "Bankok" but not for a song like "Pity the Child" where you can really hear how much he is struggeling to reach the high notes.
The second problem is the arrangement, it features to many 80ish synths and to less orchestra. This is what makes the recording often sound dated today. Futhermore the arrangement on songs like Endgame is too slow so that it does not support the emotional lyrics.
The last problem is the actual mastering. All Chess-CDs I heard so far sounded so thin. I wonder why there never was a remastered version released, maybe even with bonus tracks, Benny and Björn recorded enough songs for a tripple-LP it is said.
Despite these aspects the recording is nice to listen to although I really miss Someone Else's Story.

4) The Danish cast-recording
I don't like the singers there with the exeption of Gunilla Backman. The big pro here is the number of songs, if you got the first pressings which included nearly all songs originally performed when the musical was staged on London. However Benny and Björn later asked for songs like "Der kleine Franz" to be removed and thus a second pressing without the former unrecorded songs was released which then has noting special anymore.

5) The Broadway-recording:
I don't like the singers, I don't like the story and I don't like the orchsteration. I bough this CD some years ago thinking it was the original concept-album. I was so disappointed that I immediatley lost my interest in Chess.