REVIEW: RAVENS: SPASSKY VS. FISCHER @ HAMPSTEAD THEATRE

 

The somewhat cerebral, studious occupation of playing chess might not seem to at first glance to be an exciting subject for a drama. Admittedly Tim Rice and two quarters of ABBA had explored the whole Cold War played out through chess scenario in their 1984 musical. But their characters were composites, whereas in Tom Morton-Smith’s new play Ravens at the Hampstead Theatre we focus on some very real personalities: Russia’s chess kingpin 35 year old Boris Spassky and the maverick, unpredictable challenger, 29 year old American Bobby Fischer. Amid Cold War tensions, the two met in a series of highly publicised games in Reykjavik to decide the World Chess Champion of 1972.

 

The real Spassky and Fischer in 1972

 

It is hard to imagine the worlds media today being as enthusiastic for chess as they were in 1972. It was the USA versus the USSR , and the global media bought into it. The matches were being beamed live around the world, and bars in the US which hitherto would only have entertained showing the latest American baseball matches or similar, suddenly became chess crazy. Was it really the chequered board though or what it embodied during the high tensions of the Cold War when it was a very real threat that a nuclear warhead could be fired by either of the opposing nations?

Ronan Raftery and Robert Emms 

 Morton-Smith’s play examines what was going on behind the scenes in Iceland as both Spassky and Fischer were being manoeuvred by their respective governments to be the acceptable face of Cold War one-upmanship. Naturally for Boris Spassky, the Kremlin is calling the shots. A team of advisors have travelled from Moscow to coach on tactics of the game... that being the wider game being played. Russia has held the World Chess Championship for 26 years. For him to lose to Fischer would be a propaganda disaster. No pressure on Spassky then! But Fischer is a brilliant strategist and highly unpredictable. Some might say unhinged. From the off he is demanding changes to the already agreed terms. He won’t play in the chosen arena, he wants his chair changing, he wants the board replaced, he wants the table lowered an inch... Fischer begins a stand off where each side becomes more paranoid about how far governments are willing to go to make their participant the winner.

 

Ronan Raftery

 

Solomon Israel and Robert Emms

 

 Bringing the Cold War chess legends to life are two extremely capable actors. They avoid direct impersonations but bring a flavour of the two men from the familiar news interview footage of the period. In the more showy role of Bobby Fischer, Robert Emms brings not just a brooding intensity but a physicality to the role. Cowering, storming, throwing, shouting. Emms delivers a commanding performance of a man on the edge, facing the biggest moment of his career enshrined in child-like fury and doubt. Watching him swivel on his chair in distraction during the heat of a game becomes something of a ballet in Emms hands.  Meanwhile Ronan Raftery is the quieter, studious Spassky who is slowly worn down by Fischer’s theatrics. Spassky is equally worn down by his own regime, as he himself admits, he is not even a member of the Communist Party. The pressure on him to retain the championship is overwhelming, and Raftery explores this slowly and deliberately. Both men offer fine studies in decay.

Rebecca Scoggs

But this is no two hander. The supporting cast are first rate, playing the entourage. Buffy Davis swaps genders as Fischer’s manager and early chess mentor with panache. Solomon Israel’s vocal talent as Dr. Henry Kissinger provides a couple of pivotal moments of government pep talking. Naturally like most of the rest of the cast he has duel roles in this case as Fischer’s second, William Lombardy.  Rebecca Scroggs as psychologist Nikolai Krogius is one of several Russians trying to figure out Fischer’s behaviour. Something that equally exasperates strategist Efim Geller (Gyuri Sarossy) as the tournament descends into complete paranoic frenzy. Beruce Khan as Iivo Nay, Spassky’s sparring partner, finds himself at the centre of suspicion as the tournament progresses in a performance that goes from comedic to hunted. If Fischer lets his guard down with anyone it is his assigned Icelandic bodyguard Sæmunder ‘Sæmi-Rokk’ Pálsson,  a performance of quiet wisdom by Gary Shelford. Watching over the proceedings with a fascinated eye is Max Euwe, the president of the World Chess Federation, ably played by Simon Chandler, who can see both the political and human failings during the long drawn out battle of the board. Late in the day Fischer’s mother Regina visits, estranged from her son for ten years, this is not the emotional reunion she might have hoped for. Emma Pallant gives a flavour of their strained relationship during an uncomfortable encounter.

 Emma Pallant and Robert Emms

Director Annabelle Comyn does an excellent job of presenting the warring factions and the intensity of the tournament in her production. She keeps the pace going for this lengthy piece (and it could easily lose 15 minutes without detracting from any viewpoint). The designer Jamie Vartan makes the most of the budget by keeping the visuals none intrusive save for some moments on period television monitors or projection, and the sympathetic lighting by Howard Harrison completes the mood. The tension of the games is convincingly achieved despite no real chess being played.

Tom Morton-Smith has crafted a play which through the prism of a near sixty year old chess championship is eerily reflective of the political landscape we find ourselves in today. Ravens is a fascinating new play which deserves a wider audience and I certainly hope finds one. 

 Simon Chandler and Robert Emms

TELL ME ON A SUNDAY AT 40

Back in the 1978, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s star was very much in the ascendant. He had scored three game changing musicals with Tim Rice, and had a number one album with his Paginini Variations. Admittedly there was one flop on his dance card, his collaboration with Alan Ayckbourn of  P.G. Wodehouse’s Jeeves novels, but still for a composer who had just turned thirty years old he was doing pretty well. As the world waited to see what his next major musical would be, Lloyd Webber’s thoughts were turning towards something a little smaller scale. Lloyd Webber had been caught up for a number of years with the worldwide smashes of Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita, and felt he wanted to counter balance all the big brash productions with a far more intimate piece. Initially there had been talk of a linked series of songs for a one woman show with Tim Rice, but this came to nought. Andrew then took the idea to Don Black, who had written the lyrics to huge hits like ‘Born Free’ for Matt Munro and the James Bond themes ‘Thunderball’, ‘Diamonds Are Forever’ and ‘The Man With The Golden Gun’ with John Barry. Crucially Black was also versed in writing for the theatre where he had also had enjoyed some success with Billy (music by John Barry again) and Bar Mitzvah Boy (with Jules Styne). Black remembers in a 2014 interview:

“I remember getting a call from Andrew, it must have been in 1978 or something like that (I’m not very good with dates), and Andrew said ‘Do you fancy having some lunch?’ And we just talked over lunch in Knightsbridge. I was living in Basil Street just behind Harrods, and Andrew came and played me a tune which turned out to be ‘Come Back With The Same Look In Your Eyes.’” 

Don Black, Marti Webb, Andrew Lloyd Webber.  1979.

The song ‘Come Back With The Same Look In Your Eyes’, a ballad in which the singer waves off her beau optimistically, in the hope that he’ll feel the same when he returns, was indeed the first lyric to be completed. The original recorded version was by Scottish folk singer Barbara Dickson who was in the throws of a decade long pop career, having given the Rice / Lloyd Webber outfit a hit single with ‘Another Suitcase In Another Hall’ from their Evita album. A single recorded in America was issued in August 1979, although it pretty much came and went unnoticed. However, it didn’t matter much as Black and Lloyd Webber had already found their ideal English girl. It was actor Gary Bond (then playing Che in Evita) who suggested to Lloyd Webber that he hired his friend Marti Webb as an alternate Eva Peron to Elaine Paige, as a result of Paige having vocal problems doing eight shows a week. Andrew had been much impressed with Marti’s large ‘chest voice’ vocal range, and with Marti only performing two Evita shows a week, she was free to work on the new material Don and he had started to write. Working on a series of connected songs, they plotted the journey of a girl from Muswell Hill (a suburb of North London) and her arrival in New York, along with her experiences as she entered into relationships with various men along the way. A plot device to move things forward came with the girl’s letters home to her mother. The composers were delighted with Marti’s performances of the new material they were writing, and as the piece progressed found themselves starting to write specifically for Marti’s vocal range and style. It was clear from then on that Marti Webb was the only choice to debut the piece they were now calling Tell Me On A Sunday.

“I had just taken over in Evita in 1979, a week in and Andrew Lloyd Webber asked me out for dinner with Don Black the lyricist. They told me they'd been working on a new project and asked if I would like to be involved. They'd only written a couple of songs so it was a work in progress, and of course, I jumped at the chance! I then went to stay with Andrew at Sydmonton House where a car would take me to and from the theatre every night, and during the day we would work on the songs in the studio. The songs were written one by one, so it was very unusual for an artist to be involved in the creation process. Don Black said to me, a phone call can change your life and it's so true. There are moments in your life you would never have imagined what happened and then suddenly you're there and living it and it's very surreal." Marti Webb 2014

Marti Webb during the BBC concert 1980  

By January 1980 all the tracks had been recorded and a full album was issued consisting of seventeen tracks linking a young woman’s journey to America as she searches for love.  The album opens with the most commercial song, the barnstorming ‘Take That Look Off Your Face’ and soon encompasses a row with an errant lover  ‘Let Me Finish’,  before a resolute song of moving forward ‘It’s Not The End Of The World (If I Lose Him)’.  After a letter home the ex-pat finds ‘Sheldon Bloom’, whipping up a jazzy storm as she is wooed by this sassy showbiz Mr. Big.  But life in Hollywood isn’t all it’s cracked up to be (‘Capped Teeth and Ceasar Salad’).  Sheldon clearly doesn’t measure up as we find out in ‘You Made Me Think You Were In Love’.  Hope is on the horizon with a younger suitor ‘It’s Not The End Of The World (If He’s Younger)’ and another letter home to Mum is called for.  ‘Come Back With The Same Look In Your Eyes’ brings hope that some time away from each other will strengthen the union, however ‘Let’s Talk About You’ sees a female friend bringing the news that Mr. Younger isn’t perhaps being as faithful as he could be, and Marti turns on the source of the bad news.  Feeling utterly humiliated Marti reflects on how she might expect to be told such devastating news, a short reprise of the opening song sets the scene for the emotionally charged title track ‘Tell Me On A Sunday’.  Perhaps not learning her lesson,  a new suitor is on the horizon.  Someone not 100% available, ‘It’s Not The End Of The World (If He’s Married)’.  A rather upbeat ‘I’m Very You, You’re Very Me’ establishes that the pair are having a good time whatever the limitations of their relationship.  It doesn’t last long though, ‘Nothing Like You’ve Ever Known’ is a bleak look at the human condition. Finally in a reprise of ‘Let Me Finish’ we are back to the beginning,  hopefully with lessons learned. 

The album runs at just over 41 minutes in length and is packed with some of Lloyd Webber’s most infectious melodies.  A concert version from the Royalty Theatre in London was arranged and recorded by BBC television. Marti of course sung the piece with Harry Rabinowitz conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra along with most of the musicians who had played on the original album.  These included Lloyd Webber’s trusted core of Rod Argent, John Hiseman, Barbara Thompson and John Mole. All of whom had also recorded Variations with Andrew in 1978.  The concert was broadcast on 12th February 1980 to great acclaim, so much so that it was repeated on 9th March.  36 year old Webb found herself at the centre of a media storm with the single from the album ‘Take That Look Off Your Face’ reaching #3 in the charts (involving appearances on Top Of The Pops no less) and the full album reaching a highly impressive #2. Marti undertook a whistle stop promotional tour of Europe where the single and album did surprisingly well, establishing her as an up and coming name in music. As Lloyd Webber moved into gear to get Cats purring on the West End stage, it seemed that Tell Me On A Sunday had proved a huge success for all concerned. Non-English language versions of the record started to appear. Gitte Haenning providing the song cycle in both German (Bleib Noch Bis Zum Sonntag) and Danish (Sig det på en Søndag). Whilst Maria Wickman delivered a version for Swedish listeners (Säg det på en söndag).

 

Moving forward a couple of years, and with Cats now a smash hit in London, appetite for Lloyd Webber’s music was vociferous. In 1982 Evita was still playing the West End whilst Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat along with Jesus Christ Superstar were doing fantastic business on tour. So what could be done to further the public’s desire for more Lloyd Webber? Cameron Mackintosh had an idea. Why not pair Tell Me On A Sunday with Andrew’s other stand alone album hit, his Variations on a theme by Pagnini? It would be ‘A Concert For The Theatre’. Wayne Sleep had wanted to use Variations in order to create a ballet for his own dance company Dash, but now Mackintosh and Lloyd Webber enticed him into their new show which would be called simply Song & Dance. The production was directed by John Caird and the all important ballet choreography by Anthony Van Laast. A rotating two level steel truck was the basis of the set for the song, with the orchestra also on moveable trucking to allow them to come forward as necessary. The space was then cleared for the dance section, both acts enjoying back projection to enhance the mood. Marti Webb readily agreed to reprise her album role, and the scene was set for a truly unique piece at the Palace Theatre, London. The opening night was set as 26^th March 1982 (and duly recorded on press night 7th April for releasing as a live album) where Song & Dance proved a sensation for audiences. Tell Me was expanded, adding several new songs in a bid to increase stage time to around one hour. Chief among these was a major new ballad right in the middle of the piece. Black and Lloyd Webber realised that Tell Me lacked an out-and-out love song.  The result became ‘The Last Man In My Life’. 

The 1982 original Andrew Lloyd Webber produced studio single

The track was issued as a single record to coincide with the opening of the show and proved a very popular new addition. The Song section opened on ‘Let Me Finish’ with the most popular song, the hit ‘Take That Look Off Your Face’ moved to where the short reprise had once been before the title track. However it was thought that having ‘Take That Look Off Your Face’ open the show, as on the original album, was a much more striking opening, so a few months after opening night and the live album being recorded, the composers changed the order and also added a closing refrain of the same song to give the piece a more optimistic finale ending, bringing the cycle full circle. Other new song additions for the stage version included ‘I Love New York’ and ‘Married Man’. The end of the show brought song and dance together with another new song. Andrew’s ‘Variation 5’ had originally been given a lyric by Tim Rice and performed by Paul Jones as part of the 1978 BBC’s Songwriters programme focussing on the pair. The lyrics were perhaps not Rice’s best...

You, you have so much to say / In such a magic way / An overnight sensation / Crowds come easily to you / They love the ballyhoo / The stunning presentation / Young, an object of desire / Lights everybody’s fire / Your honeyed words are flowing / Name the cause and I’ll be there / You burn, you really care / All purpose and all knowing.

 The first recorded version of Unexpected Song 1981

However, in 1981 when Lloyd Webber and Don Black were in the process of revising Tell Me for Song & Dance, the pair produced a duet single for Marti Webb and Moody Blues’ frontman Justin Hayward of the same melody, now called ‘Unexpected Song’:

I have never felt like this / For once I’m lost for words / Your smile has really thrown me / This is not like me at all / You don’t know what I’ve done / I’m like I’ve never known me / Now, no matter where I am / No matter what I do / I see your face appearing / Like an unexpected song / An unexpected song that only we are hearing.

However, by the time the show opened, the song to close the show using the Variation 5 melody emerged as ‘When You Want To Fall In Love’ and was performed by Marti, Wayne Sleep and the entire company as an encore piece.

Time, the song begins in time / The dance begins to stir / Once more the world is turning / So, the music plays again / And we’re back on the floor / Once more the spark is burning / Hands and faces turn around / A half remembered sound / The sleeping heart is waking / When you want to fall in love / You may find less than love / But that’s a chance we’re taking.

 

The leading ladies at the Palace

 

Lulu 1983

 

Graham Fletcher 1983

The 12 week run was extended and extended. Marti left the company to be replaced by Gemma Craven, Lulu and finally Liz Robertson. The Dance section saw Stephen Jefferies and Graham Fletcher replacing Sleep in leading the 9 strong ballet troupe.  

Song & Dance closed on the 31^st March 1984 having clocked up an impressive 781 performances. Before the sets were dismantled, the BBC and Sony teamed up to record the show, this time with Lloyd Webber’s new wife Sarah Brightman taking on Song, partnered with Wayne Sleep leading the Dance. Before a specially invited audience on 28^th April 1984, Tell Me was performed for one last time at the Palace, jettisoning ‘The Last Man In My Life’ in favour of ‘Unexpected Song’ as the big love ballad, showcasing Brightman’s unique three octave soprano range. An LP and video cassette were duly released. The LP replaced the live 'Unexpected Song' with the studio version, although the original perfromance could still be heard in the video. BBC TV broadcast the entire show on Bank Holiday Monday, 27^th August 1984.  By that time Marti Webb and Graham Fletcher had already taken the original production out on the road for a national tour, playing to packed houses with pretty much the same song set list save for Marti having her own ballad back. 

 1984 - Song & Dance on tour for the first time

 The Australian cast of Song & Dance 1983

During all this activity an Australian production of Song & Dance had opened in 1983 with Gayle MacFarlane and John Meehan starring.  Replicating the Palace Theatre production,  the show played seasons in Sydney and Melbourne and a two track single of songs from Tell Me was issued by MacFarlane to promote the show.

 

Bernadette Peters as Emma

Interest had been shown in bringing Song & Dance to Broadway, but Lloyd Webber especially felt it wouldn’t work in its concert format for New York audiences. Both Tell Me and Variations had been hit albums in the UK, this was not the case in America. Richard Maltby Jr (who had conceived and directed the smash hit Ain’t Misbehavin’ on Broadway) was brought in to direct and work on the lyrical content with Don Black, whilst Peter Martin, of the New York City Ballet, was assigned the vital choreographing duties. What emerged was a total make-over for the show. Broadway diva Bernadette Peters came onboard to workshop the new version over five weeks, rebuilding it from the ground up. The girl now had a name, Emma, and she came to New York as a hat designer. Numerous lyrical changes were implemented, along with revisions of the existing music. A brand new song was added, ‘English Girls’ (the melody of which later resurfaced as ‘Tire Tracks and Broken Hearts’ in Jim Steinman and Lloyd Webber’s 1996 adaptation of Whistle Down The Wind). Peters’ cod English accent now seems a bit overdone but her performances of the songs cannot be faulted, most particularly ‘Unexpected Song’ which went on to become one of her signature concert pieces.

He has got everything / But all he wants is me / He loves to hear me talk / How lucky can you be? / He loves to hear me say / “When does the post arrive?” / So I keep talking / I just keep talking / and he just keeps saying he can’t live without me / English girls get all their own way / English girls know just what to say / An accent works wonders / That’s why English girls do great in L.A.

"Oh excuse me... I've got to go to the loo... the loo! Oh yes, from London, we'd love to come to your party!"

Extract from 'English Girls' by Black, Maltby Jr & Lloyd Webber

The second half – led originally by Christopher d’Amboise and Gregg Burge – features the spurned younger man in Emma’s life explore his own romantic journey before being reunited with Emma at the end of the night.  This American adaptation started previewing on 18^th September 1985, and gave it’s final performance on 8^th November 1986, by which time Betty Buckley had succeeded Bernadette Peters for the last four weeks.

The most influential theatre critic of the time,  Frank Rich of the New York Times, was notoriously not a fan of Lloyd Webber’s. “Empty material remains empty, no matter how talented those who perform it.” He noted.  “The men who created Emma are Don Black, who wrote the lyrics used in the even drearier 1982 London version of Song & Dance, and Richard Maltby Jr. The gifted lyricist and director who receives credit for providing the show’s Broadway edition with 'additional lyrics' and its 'American Adaptation'... Mr. Maltby has injected his customary professionalism into the inept London text.”  Whilst most of the review is a eulogy to Bernadette Peters for lifting the piece out of the quagmire, Rich had some words for Andrew too.  “In Act II, Mr. Lloyd Webber provides no original music – this show is as miserly as his Cats is profligate – but instead offers his own variations on Paganini’s A-minor Caprice.  Rachmaninoff need not worry. Mr. Lloyd Webber’s main contributions to Paginini, conducted by John Mauceri, are electronic gimcracks and a rock beat.”  Ouch!  

 

Angelika Milster in Song & Dance

 

Marti Webb and Wayne Sleep in the 1988 production of Song & Dance

The following year a brand new production of Song & Dance opened a European tour and came to Britain in 1988. The original German leading lady Angelika Milster having been replaced by Marti Webb, once more pairing her with Wayne Sleep in the Dance section. With new set by Roger Glossop and direction from Anthony Van Laast, the latest version pretty much followed the 1984 tour in terms of content. The show was successful enough to be awarded a West End run at the Shaftesbury Theatre opening on 5^th April 1990 and playing the summer months in London. 

Don Black spent some time with actress Shirley MacLaine trying to expand Tell Me into a movie vehicle for the great American star, but ultimately this came to nought. It would take over a decade to provide the next milestone in the Tell Me evolution. 

 

At the end of 2001 two events happened by complete coincidence. Denise Van Outen sang ‘Take That Look Off Your Face’ at the Royal Variety Show. I met her afterwards and we got talking about her musical theatre aspirations. This led to a discussion about re-visiting Tell Me. Three days later I got a call out of the blue from Matthew Warchus. He asked me if I would be interested in him directing a new version of Tell Me. Here was one of those opportunities to put two and two together. I contacted Don, who was intrigued. The consequence was that Denise, Don and I have re-shaped and expanded Tell Me. There are five completely new songs and several of the original have been extensively re-worked. We tried the new Tell Me at the Sydmonton Festival last year and were encouraged enough to offer our efforts to you tonight. Andrew Lloyd Webber programme note, 2003.

 

Denise Van Outen in Tell Me On A Sunday 2003

The new production of Tell Me On A Sunday, as a stand-alone piece devoid of any dance, had its official opening night at the Gielgud Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue on 15^th April 2003. The five new songs mentioned by Lloyd Webber for this latest version were ‘Goodbye Mum, Goodbye Girls’ (as the girl waves goodbye for a new life in the US), ‘Haven In The Sky’ (a homage to international flying), ‘Speed Dating’ (a comedic song focussing on the horrors of dating in the noughties), ‘Tyler King’ (a rocker about her new high flying showbiz agent boyfriend) and ‘Somewhere, Someplace, Sometime’ a finale ballad whose melody owes something to the ex-Starlight Express song ‘Next Time You Fall In Love’. The new version was warmly received by the critics and audiences alike, revelling in the central character having been invented for the Bridget Jones generation. Marti Webb took over the final few weeks of the run, performing a hybrid version of the original and the revised. Marti also headed a UK tour of the production. On the tour the song 'Sheldon Bloom' returned to the show, and the melody of the song 'Tyler King' was now used for a new lyric 'Men'.  Strangely Marti did not perform her own big ballad from the first days of Song & Dance 'The Last Man In My Life'.   The tour dates were shared with EastEnders actress Patsy Palmer and sometime member of the pop group Steps, Faye Tozer.

The next major outing for the show occurred in 2010 and was again a UK touring production, starring Merseyside actress Claire Sweeney. Don Black again adjusted the lyrical content to include some Liverpool colour, and the content proved a hybrid mixture of songs from the new and revised versions as well as what was promoted as a new song, ‘Dreams Never Run On Time’, but is essentially a revised lyric to ‘Somewhere, Someplace, Sometime’. 

 

Marti at the Duchess Theatre 2014

 

Marti telling it on a Sunday through the years

Marti Webb returned to the role for a fifth time when BBC Radio 2 asked her to perform the original version of the song cycle for a broadcast in early 2014. This was so successful that a one week engagement at the St. James Theatre transferred to the Duchess Theatre in the West End for three weeks

“It had many reincarnations, and each time we did it Don changed the lyrics and updated them. We decided to go back because we wanted to do the original album, unlike the television one. We added ‘The Last Man in My Life’ because Andrew loves that song. We also put in a very short reprise at the end of ‘Take That Look Off Your Face’, because he liked the idea that it started and ended with that. There were a couple of lyrics that Don edited, but otherwise it is basically the original album.” Marti Webb, 2014.

Most recently in 2016 singer Jodie Prenger has taken Tell Me out on a UK tour, once again to great personal acclaim. It seems the appeal of the piece is timeless. The themes of love, rejection, loneliness and enlightenment never fail to touch a chord with successive generations of theatre goers.  It hardly seems possible that it is forty years ago that Marti Webb delivered Don Black and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s one act song cycle to an unsuspecting television audience. Long may we be captivated by letters home, caesar salad and parks covered with trees. Let the final words be from the lady at the centre of the show courtesy of Don Black:

I must go to Brooklyn and Washington Heights / So many delights I’ve yet to try /And when I find out where the Guggenheim is /  I promise I won’t walk by / Take that look off your face / I can see through your smile / You would love to be right / Well I’ll sleep like a baby tonight / You may think that I’ll never change / But wait and see / Take that look off your face / You don’t know me

An MP3 album compilation of tracks from popular and rare recordings of Tell Me On A Sunday from around the world is free to download HERE