BOBUS 15 - We Saw The Chess Revival
We sort of enjoyed it.
Jake Beckhard joined us once again on a classic New York City romp. We went and saw the unfixable musical, recently redone by Danny Strong, and we try to determine if any more blood can be squeezed from this weird Swedish stone.
Also, Brian finally figured out how to fix Chess.
COME SEE JAKE DIRECT A.J.’S NEW PLAY IN LA ON MARCH 3RD!!!
Comments (6)
This episode was fascinating, I would love to see what it would be like if all of you directed your own version of chess. There are some genuinely good ideas here. I love how hyped you get about the parts you particularly loved and hate.
Fun fact from when I saw it on Broadway— When the Arbiter said “I brought enough for eeeeverybody in the class,” the man sitting behind me, in a voice trembling with anger, shouted “GOOD!!”
The two big changes I would make to Chess is that I would make Anatole East German and make Freddy a refugee of South Vietnam. Making the men both from extreme examples of each of the empire's most tortured client states would make it more obvious that both men have always been and always be mere pawns of the cold war. Also I would make the Arbiter into a trio of characters who are obvious parodies of Rice, Andersson, and Ulvaeus. All of the weird tonal changes and unfixable script choices turn into in universe re writes by each Arbiter taking control of the stage and emphasizing which of the Trio is the main character at which time.
29:33 "This Bobus is brought to you by THX sound systems"
“The CIA and KJB teamed up…” oh no not another November podcast I have to subscribe to.
Guest calls you all cunts inside five minutes, let's gooooo