Commentary
A Dangerous Game
Director Jim Sharman told Tim Rice that he and Andrew wrote great
shows together because Tim was so cynical and Andrew was
so romantic. Rice says, "It's because I had too much love as a child
and Andrew had too little." Whatever the reason,
Andrew's rather simplistic and familiar-sounding style of music
eminently suited Tim's intellectual and complicated style
of lyric writing. As the pair went their separate ways after
Evita, finding other collaborators with the same
qualities proved to be difficult for both men.
Rice's prior work reflected his fascination with larger-than-life
figures, but he had little chance in Joseph,
Superstar or Evita to do more than comment on these
historical lives. He did have things to say. Andrew's
music usually came from the heart and his scores' lush romanticism
mirrored inner feelings. Tim had never really had
the opportunity to use his lyrics to express himself. Chess
may have been inspired by real events but the
opinions, emotions and characters were his own. Rice is very private
about his personal feelings and will almost never
divulge anything below his engaging surface personality, except in
his lyrics.
Chess
In 1972, the eyes of the world--and of Tim Rice--were on the
Boris Spassky-Bobby Fischer match in Reykjavik as the U.S. and
U.S.S.R. battled it out for supremacy on the chessboard. Rice
had an idea that a story about people's relationships set
against an international chess match would illustrate and
illuminate the Cold War's East/West conflict. But other things--
Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita--intervened. It
was 1980 before he got an outline down on paper and
presented his ideas to Andrew Lloyd Webber, who was immersed in
Cats, his first show without Rice.
When a New York producer approached Tim about meeting Benny
Andersson and Björn; Ulvaeus, late of the rock group ABBA,
he was intrigued. Ulvaeus and Andersson were looking for a new
venture and liked Rice's Chess idea. They formed
a company, Three Knights Ltd., to produce Chess.
The Album - November 1984
Andersson and Ulvaeus were master record producers and it was
agreed they would follow the procedure Rice had used
successfully in the past with Evita and Jesus Christ
Superstar. They released a double concept album
in 1984. Tim was hopeful, "If it's a mega-hit or even a small
one we'll go for the show version in London in early
1985. If all this happens according to plan I shall then retire
forever! If it all goes wrong I shall retire forever!"
The two-record set was introduced with five one-night concerts
throughout Europe (see more about these and other concerts
of Chess in the Variations
section). One song, "One Night in Bangkok" became
an international hit. The album and the concerts were
rapturously received and there was no question if it would be
staged, only when.
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