The Wookiee and I finally got around to checking out the Chess in Concert DVD. (Note: the vid above is from something else; YouTube seems to have a pretty good lockdown on the 2008 version. But this vid has the chick from Pocahontas. How ’bout that?) I had never seen the show before; I’d heard of it, of course. I knew it featured “One Night in Bangkok,” which is one of the most delightfully cynical and snide songs ever written. I also knew it featured “Anthem,” which I now know is about the USSR and thus makes much more sense (I always figured it was about a very strange woman). So… I watched the show.
It, um, sucks.
This is not to say there are no parts that are good. I still like “One Night in Bangkok” and “Anthem,” and “Nobody’s Side” was a pleasant surprise. But the plot? Ugh. Allow me to summarize:
Whiny, useless girl lives with asshole chess champion. Whiny, useless girl meets douche-y chess champion. Whiny, useless girl hooks up with douche-y chess champion, in spite of him having a wife and two kids. In the end, circumstances force them to end their perfect, perfect love, and douche-y chess champion must (miserably) return to wife and two kids. Oh, and there’s some stuff about the Cold War. The End.
I’m pretty open-minded about plots, but when I’m enthusiastically rooting against the love of the main characters, when the show obviously wants me to root for them, something has gone wrong.
