CHESS: Opening Moves Tonight at the Station Theatre

There was a day when chess champions from the United States and Russia vied not just for bragging rights across the board, but in international headlines, as well. As Cold War tensions remained high, the battle between American Bobby Fischer and Russian Boris Spassky for the World Championship in chess took on greater significance. A prize of $250,000 raised the stakes. When the two superstars, so different in approach and temperament, one shaped by the traditional, dominant Soviet system, the other an American loner known as much for his tics as his brilliance, met for 21 games played over two months in Iceland, the world watched to see who would ultimately checkmate whom.

The musical Chess, which opens tonight at the Station Theatre in Urbana, does not specifically deal with Fischer and Spassky, although there are certain similarities. There's an American and a Russian, and their match is played for higher stakes than just a few pawns, with political and diplomatic implications at every turn. But there's also romance, which was, as far as we know, not part of the famous 1972 World Championship, subplots involving defection, blackmail and selling out, action set in Thailand (to fit the show's most famous single "One Night in Bangkok"), and the inclusion of music written by the male half of ABBA, Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, with lyrics by frequent Andrew Lloyd Webber collaborator Tim Rice. Singing chess playes is quite a departure from the real deal! And that means that Chess may have been inspired by Fischer and the infamous match in Reykjavik, but the musical is its own, distinctive creation on stage. In the end, it isn't so much about the game of chess as it is about loyalty, responsibility, family and honor. Note that there have been several different versions of Richard Nelson's book over the show's lifetime to reflect changes in the political landscape of Eastern Europe as the Soviet Union fell.

Chess opens tonight at 8 pm at the Station, directed by Mikel L. Matthews, Jr. This production features Warren Garver as American bad boy chess champ Freddie Trumper and David Barkley as Soviet challenger Anatoly Sergievsky. Malia Andrus plays Florence, caught between the two men professionally and personally, while Kevin Paul Wickart takes on Molokov, the Russian handler and manipulater behind Anatoly; Dawn McDaniel plays Svetlana, Anatoly's wife; Jessica Miller is the Arbiter, the president of the International Chess Federation overseeing the matches; and Wen Bu, Lola McQueen, Michael Murphy, Kenna Reiss, Craig Smith and Rachel Warren comprise the ensemble.

The Station's version of Chess continues in performance through December 21. All the details are here on the show's Facebook page. The Station Theatre is located at 223 North Broadway in Urbana, and you may call 217-384-4000 for reservations.

It's a Month of Fred Astaire, Music, Dance and WONDERFUL LIFE at Every Turn

There is always a lot happening in Bloomington-Normal and environs in December, and yes, most of it is related to the holiday season. Most, but not all. You can expect to hear the words "wonderful life" fairly often, however. Here are some of the highlights of what's happening this month...

I already told you that December is Fred Astaire month at Turner Classic Movies, which means I will undoubtedly be glued to the telly every Wednesday. You'll find Flying Down to Rio, The Gay Divorcee, Roberta, Follow the Fleet and The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle, all Fred-and-Ginger pics, along with Second Chorus, where he was paired with Paulette Goddard, and The Sky's the Limit, where Fred plays a pilot opposite Joan Leslie, spilling from Wednesday the 4th into Thursday the 5th; You'll Never Get Rich and You Were Never Lovelier, the two Rita Hayworth choices, The Band Wagon and Silk Stockings, the two with Cyd Charisse, plus Three Little Words, The Belle of New York, Yolanda and the Thief and The Ziegfeld Follies on the 11th and 12th; the last Astaire/Rogers pairing in The Barkleys of Broadway, a reprise of The Band Wagon, and The Broadway Melody of 1940, Easter Parade, Royal Wedding, A Damsel in Distress and Finian's Rainbow, an example of Astaire in his elder years, on the 18th and the cusp of the 19th; with the cream of the Astaire/Rogers crop -- Top Hat, Swing Time and Shall We Dance -- saved for Christmas night. Filling out that night will be Carefree and those Barkleys of Broadway again to round out the Fred-and-Ginger oeuvre. That's the end of Wednesdays in December, although New Year's Eve, a Tuesday, will see all three That's Entertainment packages of MGM song-and-dance clips, which of course include Mr. Astaire.

The rarely seen musical Chess is the December offering at Urbana's Station Theatre. The male half of the musical group ABBA -- Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus -- wrote the music while Tim Rice provided the lyrics for this exploration of international chess intrigue, including the hit single "One Night in Bangkok." Mikel J. Matthews directs a cast that includes David Barkley, Warren Garver and Kevin Paul Wickart in performance from December 5 to 21. Click here to get the Station scoop.

Bing, Danny and White Christmas come to the Normal Theater's big screen from December 5 to 8. That's followed by Will Ferrell as a very large Elf on December 12 and 13, a small boy's singular devotion to a Red Ryder BB gun in A Christmas Story on December 14 and 15, and It's a Wonderful Life all the way from December 19 to Christmas Eve. The others seem to pop up every year at the Normal Theater, but it's good to see Elf, a particular favorite of mine, join the class.

Illinois State University's Fall Dance Concert under the direction of Darby Wilde will be in performance December 5, 6 and 7 at the Center for the Performing Arts on the ISU campus. The program will include "classical and contemporary dance pieces including guest artist Jennifer Harge's Before I Started Flying, an abstract work exploring spiritual pathways and undesired states of being; Lachrymae, a trio choreographed by Gregory Merriman to the music of Benjamin Britten, about being alone and together; and #connected?, a collaborative work by Darby Wilde with an original score by Aaron Paolucci, which journeys into the world of social media." Tickets are available through Ticketmaster or the CPA box office at 309-438-2535.

Bloomington-Normal high school actors are invited to audition for the 2014 Intercity High School Shakespeare productions of As You Like It and Romeo and Juliet. Auditions will take place in ISU's Centennial West 214 on Thursday, December 5, from 7 to 9 pm and Saturday, December 7, from 9 am to noon. Performances are scheduled for January 31 and February 1, 2014. For more information about auditions, contact Cristen Monson.

If music is more your style for the holidays, the Madrigala offered by ISU's Madrigal Singers on December 13 and 14 may be just the ticket to ring in the season "with drinks, desserts and delights!" They will sing traditional madrigals as well as other holiday music, with pieces like "Moro Lasso," "The Twelve Days of Christmas" and "Angels We Have Heard on High" on the program.

Sally Parry directs the radio play version of It's a Wonderful Life, complete with a sound effects guy (or foley artist) on stage, scripts in hand, and all sorts of Golden Age of Radio escapades, at Community Players from December 12 to 15. Nine actors will portray the radio actors and crew, with Thom Rakestraw as George Bailey, the sweet everyman who doubts the value of his own existence, Hannah Kerns as his lovely wife Mary, Bob McLaughlin as evil Mr. Potter and other characters not so evil, Dave Lemmon as loopy Uncle Billy and other characters not so loopy, John Poling as angel Clarence and other characters not so angelic, Nancy Nickerson as Mrs. Bailey and other maternal types, Annie Weaver as Zuzu and other children, John Lieder as the announcer and Herb Reichelt as the foley artist providing key bells and whistles. Click here for all the details.

The annual event known as the Pantagraph's Holiday Spectacular offers three performances at the Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts from December 13 to 15. It's huge, it's spirited, it's... Spectacular! There are singers, dancers, actors, Wooden Soldiers, Alphabet Blocks, Jingle Bells and even local politicians making cameos. You can see the whole cast list here -- it's bound to include someone you know. Lori Adams is back as director, with a script once again by Nancy Steele Brokaw.

If you are looking for a totally different take on It's a Wonderful Life... I don't know exactly how this is going to work, but the Art Theater Co-op in Champaign is putting on something called It's a Heckleful Life! on Wednesday, December 18 at 10 pm. Billed as "in the tradition of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Rifftrax," the Art will screen the real It's a Wonderful Life film accompanied by sarcasm, ribbing and heckling from four C-U area comedians. It sounds a bit like people throwing toast at Rocky Horror, but apparently these comedians will simply throw insults at Jimmy Stewart and company. The "Destroyers of Christmas Joy" are Jessica Coburn, Matt Fear, Charlie Hester and someone known as "Quizmaster Chris."

I admit I had a crush on Peter Noone of the musical group Herman's Hermits when I was about nine or ten. My older sisters and I had a stack of 45s like "Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter," "I'm Henry VIII, I Am," "This Door Swings Both Ways" and 'The End of the World" that we listened to over and over and over. Presumably Noone and whatever incarnation of Herman's Hermits we're up to will be performing some of those as well as other Herman's Hemits hits when they come to the Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts on December 19 with "An Olde English Christmas with Herman's Hermits starring Peter Noone." The letters are tiny and difficult to read on the poster image, but I think it says: "On a frosty night 'neath a winter moon, come and sing a Christmas tune. With good cheer and joy, we all will croon with Herman's Hermits starring Peter Noone!"

And that's what's tempting me this holiday season. You'll definitely hear more about all of these as December progresses, with additions and updates along the way.

What's Up at the Station in 2013-14

Urbana's Station Theatre has announced the selection of plays which will make up its upcoming 42nd season. As usual, the Celebration Company will mix old and new, musical and straight plays, provocative and experimental and tried and true.

Opening the Station's fall season will be J.T. Rogers' explosive White People, a "candid, brutally honest meditation on race and language in our culture." A play that has been well-produced all over the country, including a 2009 Off-Broadway production, White People features three characters, three decidedly white people, who reveal their feelings about race straight up. It will be directed by Joel Higgins, with performances from October 3 to 19, 2013. You can see J.T. Rogers talk about the play along with a few brief excerpts here.

That will be followed by William Inge's 1950 classic Come Back Little Sheba, directed by Tom Mitchell from the University of Illinois Department of Theatre. Come Back Little Sheba goes inside an unhappy middle-class household that gets even more unhappy when Doc, a chiropractor, and Lola, his blowsy wife, take in a pretty young boarder. Shirley Booth played the role of Lola on Broadway and in the 1952 movie, earning a Tony and an Oscar for her efforts. Her Broadway Doc, Sidney Blackmer, also won a Tony Award, but Burt Lancaster, the film version of Doc, went away empty-handed. The play was revived on Broadway in 2008, with Law & Order's S. Epatha Merkeson as Lola, Kevin Anderson as Doc, and Zoe Kazan as Marie, the young woman who upsets the fragile balance in their lives. At the Station, Come Back Little Sheba will run from November 7 to 23.

The musical Chess, with music by the male half of ABBA, Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, and lyrics by Tim Rice, is up next, scheduled for performances December 5 to 21. The story goes that Rice wanted to fashion a musical around the Cold War, and he chose the game of chess to frame the action after all the brouhaha surrounding Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky's World Chess Championship in 1972. Chess the musical, complete with hit pop song, "One Night in Bangkok," began as a concept album, followed by a production in London's West End in 1986. To get the show to Broadway, a book by Richard Nelson was added, but the show still didn't take off in New York, with the Imperial Theatre version only running for 68 performances. Still, Chess has kept its fan following over the years, as musical aficionados hope to find a production of this elusive and slippery show somewhere. The Actors Fund put together a special one-night performance in 2003, with an all-star cast that included Josh Groban, Sutton Foster, Norm Lewis, Adam Pascal and Raul Esparza. Mikel Matthews, Jr. will direct for the Station.

Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa's prep-school drama Good Boys and True will open the Station's new year, with performance beginning January 23, 2014, directed by Thomas Schnarre. Good Boys and True premiered at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre as part of its 2007-08 season that examined "what it means to be American." Aguirre-Sacasa's story involves Brandon Hardy, a golden boy at exclusive St. Joseph's prep school, and what happens to threaten his life of privilege when a video that purports to show him doing something very, very bad emerges. You'll get a better picture of  the play from Steppenwolf Artistic Director Martha Lavey's intriguing notes on the play written during its production there.

Sarah Ruhl's quirky and surreal The Clean House, directed by Katie Baldwin Prosise, takes the stage next. Ruhl has become one of the freshest voices in 21st century American theatre, and The Clean House pretty much defies description. Its characters include Matilde, a young Brazilian woman who has a job as a cleaning lady but really sees herself as a stand-up comedian; Lane, her employer, who has noticed the house isn't very clean and wonders if her housekeeper is depressed; Lane's sister, Virginia, who is a compulsive-obsessive cleaner and tries to make a deal with Matilde to clean Lane's house on the sly; Charles, Lane's husband, who is cheating on her with a much older woman; and Ana, the breast cancer patient/older woman Charles is in love with. Add some apples dropped from one reality into another, the funniest joke in the world, the Jewish concept of "besheret," something like a soul mate, and a trip to Alaska to cut down a yew tree, and you have some concept of The Clean House, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and won Ruhl the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize for playwriting. Look for The Clean House on stage at the Station from February 20 to March 8.

The March 27 to April 12 slot is still open, with details to be announced at some future date, but the final show of the 2013-14 season will be Jon Robin Baitz's Other Desert Cities, directed by Kat Bohannon Holley, with performances scheduled for April 24 to May 10, 2014. Baitz's play, "a taut, witty drama about an affluent California couple whose daughter has written a memoir that threatens to reveal family secrets about her dead brother," was also a Pulitzer Prize finalist, and its Broadway production won a Tony Award for Judith Light as Best Actress in a Featured Role. The Broadway cast also included Stockard Channing and Stacy Keach as the Wyeth parents, and Rachel Griffiths as their tell-all daughter.

If you're looking for more information, you can scan the specifics -- and check back to see what fills that March/April slot -- at the Station Theatre website.