It took the MYCO cast all of ten seconds to lose their opening-night nerves. From thereon in, I could only marvel at my fortunate in attending their revival of Chess at Oxford Playhouse last night. ‘ABBA or musical theatre fans will love this’ Third time lucky! MYCO proudly reopens Chess at Oxford Playhouse with some original cast from four years ago!
Chess was originally staged in 1984, a still depressingly relevant Cold War satire in which the caught-in-a-love-triangle protagonists are manipulated or rather, played, like chess pieces by their cynical managers.
The music is by ABBA’s Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus, with lyrics by Tim Rice. And with that team behind them it’s little wonder that the MYCO performers (Musical Youth Company of Oxford) could strut their stuff so confidently.
‘The successful marrying together of singing, music, dancing and screen made for a thrilling, pulsating whole’
Nevertheless, one can only imagine that the pressure is really on when you singing songs that the audience knows just as well as you do.
So, first hats off to (Bangkok Arbiter) Lily Butler, resplendent in her bright pink trench coat, who nails it with a swaggering ‘One Night In Bangkok’ and a second doffing of my cap to (Anatoly’s wife and girlfriend) Freya Dobson and Grace Noble for a beautifully plaintive rendition of the duet ‘I Know Him So Well’.
Meanwhile both Daniel North and Isaac Jackson (as American and Russian chess Champions) are so talented they would not be out of place on a West End stage, and both bely their young age.
And let’s not forget the live band – faultlessly grooving away and providing a bedrock for the on-stage performers.
It wasn’t just the music though; the choreography was a joy too, culminating in the whole company as chess-pieces enacting a game projected on the back-drop screen.
The successful marrying together of singing, music, dancing and screen made for a thrilling, pulsating whole. The fact that this stint comprises only two performances is a crime! I’m very tempted to return for tonight’s second and final performance. Congrats to the MYCO company.
But hurry because the last night is tonight, Saturday 10 August at Oxford Playhouse – BOOK HERE
Edward Bliss
