1956... Budapest is rising...

First, if you haven't already, please send me your address for Christmas/Chanukah cards!

While waiting for a lengthy compile to complete at work today, I got the idea to remake Chess. I've only heard the music; it's never been well-received as a musical, so I haven't been able to see it. Downloaded the libretto...

Ugh. I see why. The first act builds the suspense so well, only to fall completely flat in the second act. We're talking month-old open bottle of soda flat.

My thought is to tweak it a bit... keep as much of the original music as possible, but change the roles a bit, and change plot complete. Perhaps instead of US vs. USSR, recast it as Kasparov vs. HyperBlue, a mythical successor to IBM's DeepBlue. The American will instead be the project manager, set on not just proving his excellence in creating such a powerful machine but also humiliating Kasparov.

Hmm...