Two Hours' Traffic

There's a special frisson in the air when you are in a theatre full of the exact same kind of nerds, a sort of joyful communion that exists when the special give and take between audience and performer is ramped up for an Event.  You can tell it's there in a few different ways- the sell-out crowds, for one. The bathroom queue conversation is another: "How many stagings have you gotten to see? What are your thoughts on [notable stage actor name]'s version? Do you think they'll incorporate the special lyrics from the Australian production in [second act song]?"  And then there are the flurries of applause that break out when a beloved actor that no lay person would ever recognize steps center stage, or the passionate inhalations of breath scattered across the theatre when the song you've been waiting years to hear this particular actor sing starts to swell.

Yep. Those nerds.  You know them.  You may well be one of them- I certainly am.



CHESS is the inaugural…