Confessions of a "Rook"ie (Or "Pretty Much the Cheesiest Title I've Ever Written")

In high school I was a drama geek. To be more specific, the musical was my drug of choice. Shamefully so. While my peers discovered post grunge-era bands like Weezer and The Wallflowers, I was popping West Side Story in the (thoroughly outdated) Discman. Who needed rock and roll rebellion? I had Ragtime and Rent. But enough obnoxious alliteration, the point is I adored musicals the way most (normal) adolescents love their favorite band.

At 20 I discovered the sexiness of the guitar, the musicality of literature, and the broadway phase of my adolescent years was all but forgotten. Perhaps I should blame my rock star boyfriend? Or maybe we can chock it up to the narcissistic odd balls that dwelled in the drama department of my alma mater? The point is that, while attending the occasional musical was an acceptable evening activity, my tastes in music changed drastically after high school. The various original cast recordings filling the sleeves of my cd case found their way into Grey Whale CD Exchange, most likely funding my Elementary Public Health textbook (which, like most overpriced college books, I never read) and my first acoustic alt-folk fix.

In true donate-your-own-plasma-you're-so-poor fashion, I purged myself of all my musicals.

Except one.



Yeah, Chess. The early 80's-rockable, former ABBA-ite composed, ill-fated-relationshipped, Cold War politic-inspired musical with the World Chess Championship set in the background.

So you may be thinking, "Good heavens, Rookie, this sounds like a show business disaster." But, my lands, is it deliciously good! Brilliantly good. So, I'll concede, "One Night in Bangkok" is rather 1984 Billboard topping pop-ish. But have you ever heard "Anthem" or "I Know Him So Well"?

Genius lyrics, epically dramatic music, a sophisticated and layered story line--Chess is my perfect musical. While I've moved on from my former Broadway-love, Chess is the one musical I can't let go. I don't care what you say.

And tonight something good happened. While stopping by a blog I sometimes like to visit, I learned that tomorrow (Wednesday) night on PBS, Great Performances will be showing Chess in Concert! I feel oozingly happy with anticipation.

I'll most certainly be watching tomorrow.

And if you read this and decide to watch and then end up hating it, I'm sorry (sort of). Taste is a tricky and very individual thing. But that, my friends, is another post altogether.