59 - Chess: The Musical (feat. Jake Beckhard)
Jake Beckhard (Blue Balls NYCFC) challenges the lads to the match of the century as they try to outmaneuver the bopping songs and confounding political intrigue of the infamous Tim Rice/Benny Andersson/Björn Ulvaeus flop musical: Chess. Topics include the many different versions of the show, the innate appeal of a broken musical, and the ever increasing eccentricities of one Sir Timothy Miles Bindon Rice.
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Jake Beckhard
Website: jake-beck.com
Twitter: @jakebeckhard
Instagram: @jakebeckhard
Blue Balls NYCFC: You’ve got Blue Balls! How lucky for you. Check in every week for rapturous pod talk on all things NYCFC. With NYC Hosts Jake Beckhard and Trey Fillmore.
Listen on Apple Podcasts / Spotify / Podomatic
The Fled is an artist Collective providing a radically equitable, anti-racist, anti-oppressive platform for theater artists — to build community, expand their artistry, and make theatre that is actively engaged in our collective liberation and the dismantling of colonialist practices and white ideals. With artists at the helm, particularly our global-majority and historically marginalized artists, we lead our community with curiosity, empathy, and celebration.
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Media Referenced in this Episode:
Get Onto My Cloud: The Tim Rice Podcast: Spotify / Apple Podcasts / Google Podcasts
“Chess Seeks to Shed Its Checkered Past” by Stephen Holden, NYTimes
Chess (1986 London Concept Cast): Spotify / Apple Music / Amazon
Chess In Concert (2008): AppleTV / YouTube / Letterboxd
TWOAPW theme by Brendan Dalton: brendan-dalton.com / brendandalton.bandcamp.com
Comments (9)
I had no idea it was a flop: last time I was in London there was a production going on
I'm finally getting into this (ex-drama kid who hates pretentious crap like this + Chess) But I'm glad I didn't skip it bc A. There's at least one banger on the soundtrack, B. You guys hated it too (I was worried it was going to be 2 hours of gushing praise) C. Maybe we should all go outside (LMAO) D. "The Chess" will never not be funny to me,
at 20:40 it's fun to imagine someone named Dragon Trevor Nunn
thank you bruce. that is a fun thing to imagine.
Brian at 46min is absolutely the best thing. My partner and I love your podcast despite not being into musicals, plays, or even movies really, because you all make it so entertaining to hear about them. (We're a Nintendo couple in our 30s, and we're excited for whenever you all talk about Golden Sun, lol) Edit/update, after sharing this with my partner. Him: Oh God we ARE a Nintendo couple. That's like a Disney couple. Me: It's true though. Him: It is. But it sounds so... fiiiilthyyyy
lmao did an actual spittake at the reference to cappies - s/o to one of the fucking wildest 'for youths' competitions out there lmao
did you compete???
My god. I can't think of a worse topic to make a musical about. I'm imagining terrible song titles like, "Castling Queenside," "What are Pawns Good For," and "Check, mate"
The good news is that the show is mostly not about chess. The bad news is that the show isn't really about anything else. The songs, tho? Bops.