NODA Award Nominations 2004

Chess wins award for Best Director at the Manchester Musical Awards

Manchester Musical Awards 2003 Nominations

March 2003 saw the curtain close on another excellent Romiley Operatic show as we saw the last night of Chess draw to a close. Nearly 3000 people witnessed the extraordinary talent, both on and off stage, that went together to produce a show described by one audience member as 'a professional amaetur production'.

Chess is a vibrant and dramatic musical composed in the mid eighties by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus of ABBA fame with lyrics by Tim Rice. The composers used a diverse selection of musical styles to create this show with hit numbers such as One Night in Bangkok and I Know Him So Well. The principal pawns are a love triangle: the loutish American grandmaster, the earnest Russian champion and the Hungarian-English female chess second, who arrives at the international championships with the American but falls for the Russian. From Tyrol to Thailand the players, lovers, politicians, CIA and KGB make their moves to the pulse of this monumental rock score.

Chess has a musical style all of its own, and quite unlike any musical which has gone before. It varies from hard rock to soft ballad, sometimes within the space of a single scene, and there are plenty of moments when a more classical style shows through.

The following is a copy of Sheryl Haydock-Howorth’s review of ‘Chess’ which appeared in the May 2003 edition of NODA North-West News. As most of you will know Sheryl is our new NODA Regional Representative.

This production of Chess could have graced any West End stage. It has to be one of the most professional shows staged by amateurs in a very long time. Not only did it have an exceptional line up of principals, but the choral singing was magnificent and full credit goes to MD Claire Sweeney. Chess in itself is a most complex show to follow, but with the technical input computer graphics and multimedia co-ordination it took the audience through the story with ease.

Lucy Roylance as Florence was superb. Her vocal range left the hairs on your arms standing on end, Lucy is an outstanding amateur who should be professional. Rob Haslam as the Russian, Anatoly gave a most moving, sincere and self assured performance, again proving he has such quality in his singing. Simon Hardisty just gets better each time I see him, and also gave a professional performance as the American Freddie Trumper. Catherine Baddeley played the Russian wife Svetlana. Her duet with Florence 'I know Him So Well' was beautiful, they were so well balanced. Congratulations must also go to Shaun Penton as the Arbiter, Godfrey Roylance as Alexander Molokov and Brian Ganderton as Walter de Courcey who played such supportive roles and again showed what tremendous vocal talents they possess.

Combine all this excellent singing with good acting and as I said, a first class professioal show. Sharn Alexander's choreography was just right and again portrayed the storyline well throughout the dance. The effective set, dramatic lighting, excellent sound and props again helped to make this show such a success.

Having said that, all credit must go to Rod Goddard for his vision. The planning, and technicalities were enormous and not to be tackled lightly, first class help was provided here by Paul Moseley and Shaun Penton.

Many, many congratulations to you all, I know just how much hard work went into this production and thank you for your kind hospitality.

The Cast