I Cross Over Borders But I'm Still There Now

[anarchist_nomad]

cheshcat and I returned from our 15^th anniversary trip to Wales a couple of days ago; we are leaving tomorrow for BiCon. In the interim, much has been going on, especially at work as RT and I prepare the group that we lead for the meeting in Japan next month.

There is no way that I have time to make a proper trip report right now, so I won't even try. In brief, then, I should just comment that our first trip to Wales was a big success. Having only five days, we limited our scope to South Wales, leaving the North for our next trip. This was a good decision, as the smaller focus gave us the time to cover South Wales reasonably well. In five days, we visited two cathedrals, two (and a half) castles, two national parks, five beaches, two extreme geographic points, one waterfall, one ruined abbey, Offa's dyke[*], and more. Not too shabby, I suppose.

In the absencee of a proper trip report [yet??], I hereby add the equivalent of two thousand works to my write-up:

Introducing... the Norman keep at Cardiff Castle! (cue a drum roll, please)


Returning from a jet boat trip around Cardiff Bay, Flat Holm, and Steep Holm


In addition to our travel adventures, we also had time for some private anniversary celebrations, of course! I won't say much about those in a public forum... but I will mention that one of the many anniversary gifts exchanged was a two-disc CD of Chess recorded at the Royal Albert Hall last May. I have been waiting for this album to be released for quite some time now, so it is very good to have a copy in my grubby lil' hands[**]. On the drive back from Wales to Oxford, we listened to the full recording.

According to Tim Rice, the RAH arrangement is to be considered the "official" version of Chess. One is certainly needed after the number of changes that the musical has been through over the years! It largely follows the plot of the London show (i.e., Anatoly wins the chess championships), with some influence from other versions. Of course, an all-star cast was assembled with Josh Groban playing Anatoly, Idina Menzel playing Florence, Adam Pascal playing Feddie, and Kerry Ellis playing Svetlana.

Of course, I am quite familiar with Idina Menzel's voice from the Broadway cast recordings of Rent (in which she played Maureen) and Wicked (in which she was the original Elphaba). Similarly, I am familiar with Adam Pascal from Rent (in which he played Roger). I am not terribly familiar with Kerry Ellis (who has also played Elphaba) or Josh Groban.

It was really interesting listening to Idina Menzel and Adam Pascal singing together as Florence and Freddie. I could hear Maureen and Roger in those moments! At other times, Idina sounded more like Elphaba than Maureen Johnson, which is also fine -- I appreciated her performance as Elphba far more than I did when she was Maureen.

Overall, the concert recording is very good, and I do recommend it. It did not blow me away, as I had expected it to... but still well worth a listen. Josh Groban has a phenomenal voice when singing -- his "Where I Want To Be" is astounding and his "Anthem" blew me away -- but he makes no attempt whatsoever to use a Russian accent when speaking. I realise that he is a singer, not an actor. Still, it is odd to hear Sergievsky sound so not like a Russian. Really, Groban could have at least made an effort. Or they could have used somebody else for Anatoly's spoken lines. If I compare with the original Chess concept album, it becomes quite clear that Adam Pascal makes a much better Freddie Trumper than Murray Head did. However, much as I love Idina Menzel's voice, she is no Elaine Paige. One of my favourite songs "Nobody's Side" turned out to be a big disappointment -- I vastly prefer Paige's version on the concept album. I particularly enjoyed Act Two, though. The remixing of melodies from the first half of the show was intricate and extremely well done.

If you like Chess -- and I know that there are at least a couple of my dear readers who do -- definitely give this a listen, at least once. It may not be meet the high expectations that I had for it... but it is still damn good!

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[*] Which is somewhat analogous to Hadrian's Wall, in the North. Except that one was build in the second century to keep out Scots (and is a wall), whilst the other was built in the eighth century to keep out Welsh (and is a dyke). I will leave figuring out which is which as an exercise to the reader.

[**] Or, as the case may be, now on my grubby lil' MP3 player.