Chess- scenic design

Posted: 4/23/14 at 8:04am

Does anyone have any links or pics of the original west end run of Chess? I'm most specifically interested in the Endgame scene where the floor tilted and revolved with the edge of the board pointing down toward the orchestra pit.

[Whileshesleeps]

Posted: 4/25/14 at 10:02am

Look at www.squareone.org who has a comprehensive site of all the Chess productions and photos. They used the same stage for the two UK tours in 1990/91 and 1996.
There is also a fan based Facebook page dedicated to showing photos from various productions. I know they have been adding pictures from brochures and the book "Chess The Making of the Musical" which had lots of photos from the production in the lyrics section of the book.
I have to say the Endgame scene is still one of the most thrillingly stages choral scenes I've ever seen on stage with the tilting stage.
In the previews of the show I remember the Mountain Duet scene making the stage even more precarious for the leads singing on stage with an enormous tilt.

Posted: 4/26/14 at 6:53pm

Ah, thank you! I will certainly check it out!

[Theatrical Landladies]

Posted: 4/27/14 at 3:40pm

Hi, I don't believe the tours used a stage floor anything like as versatile as the Prince Edward set. It tilted spun, lifted and lit up at incredible speed. The original tour was clever but I believe more based on the NYC set and significantly less complicated.

[Whileshesleeps]

Posted: 4/28/14 at 8:41am

No the 1990/91 tour used all the sets, stage and costumes from the West End productions, with the addition of a few bits and pieces added in which left the stage looking as stark.
Admittedly I don't think they used the stage in as dramatic a way, but it still rotated, lit up in individual squares and segments and tilted for Endgame.

[Whileshesleeps]

Posted: 4/28/14 at 8:42am

Sorry meant to say have a brochure from the production that can be scanned if you need a copy to give you a feel for the show's staging.

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 4/28/14 at 9:36am

would love to see a scan of that, please post it.

[vassey]

Posted: 4/28/14 at 11:48am

Did the video wall tour the UK as well? That was pretty problematic and technically complex in London.

[Theatrical Landladies]

Posted: 4/29/14 at 3:57am

Whileshesleeps. Was the first tour with Rebecca Storm?

[Whileshesleeps]

Posted: 4/29/14 at 4:52am

Yes the 1990/91 tour was with Rebecca Storm (except the Manchester 3 month stint November 90 to January 91 with Susannah Fellows who was a West End leading lady at the time.
I don't believe they had the big side of the stage video screens but the one that was suspended above the stage was there in the Chess Match scenes, but not used as extensively as int he West End run, and the pre-recorded TV reports were not there but used Walter more as a reporter.
I believe the tour would have been much longer and proved to be a financial success but because of the technical demands of the set and stage and size of it struggled to find theatres capable of hosting the show.
It always struck me as odd as to why the show could be playing at theatres which seated 700 and others over 2000. I presume simply because of the stage.
When it played at Wimbledon in 1996 it looked incredibly tight against the sidings and there were obvious steps in place to enable cast to enter at the back and sides when tilted, which never was obvious on the previous tour or West End productions.I think the 96 tour used the capabilities of the stage far less.
With respect to the programme I'll start adding it page by page as unfortunately I don't have software to create a PDF booklet.

Posted: 4/29/14 at 7:34am

Thank you all for this! Can't wait to see the pictures!

[Whileshesleeps]

Posted: 5/5/14 at 1:53pm

Here's a link on Facebook with the 20 pages of the brochure posted. Sorry not sure why I couldn't upload the PDFs on here.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/4174099581/