Sally Hunt – Walterdale Theatre

Meet the Cast of CHESS – Kate Wylie is Svetlana!

What is your role in Chess? I am playing the character of Svetlana, Anatoly’s (the Russian Chess Champion) wife. She faces a lot of struggles including being a woman in communist Russia and dealing with a dying marriage. Her future is very uncertain through much of the production.

What is your background in theatre? At Walterdale? I grew up doing theatre – musical theatre in particular. I am a graduate of the MacEwan Theatre Arts Program, although in those days it was Grant MacEwan College. When I moved back to Edmonton from Toronto after a very long hiatus from theatre, I did my first production at the Walterdale – Nine. I then had another opportunity to work with the amazing Kristen Finlay and Sally Hunt again on The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee with ELOPE theatre. Since then I have been away from the theatre completing my MBA. It feels great to be back at Walterdale!

What brought you out for this show? What drew you to it? I grew up listening to the LP of the original concept album of Chess. I am definitely showing my age when I say it was an LP! It has always been one of my favourite musicals. The music is fantastic and full of interesting layers. In spite of the fact that it is such an amazing show, it rarely gets produced. Because of that, I had to jump at the chance to do it. Lucky for me, our lovely director was willing to accommodate my rather crazy schedule, which included a study tour in Europe during the rehearsal period. Thanks again for that Kristen!

Why do you think audiences should come see this show? What do you think they will take away from it? The music first and foremost! There are such great tunes in this show. The show also provides an interesting journey back into the years of the Cold War. The 1980’s do not seem like they were that long ago but the world has changed an absolutely incredible amount since then. It’s fascinating looking back.

Chess is a Board Game… What’s your favorite Board Game? Why? Got any funny game-playing stories? My favourite game to play is Cribbage. I grew up in rural Saskatchewan, where everyone plays Crib and my great-grandmother (G.G. we called her) taught us all to play, usually around the tender age of 8. She was ruthless! She would steal your points if you didn’t count them right. Needless to say you learned how to count properly pretty quickly! My husband and I also played Crib on our first date….maybe that sounds lame and I should be ashamed to admit it but it was sweet and fun. I won both games – he’ll claim he let me win but knowing how competitive he is there’s no way that’s true!

Meet the Cast of CHESS – Todd Hauck is Anatoly

What is your role in CHESS? I’m playing Anatoly, the Russian chess champion. He is passionate and thoughtful, and has dedicated his entire life to the game of chess. He hates the politics and propaganda that he constantly has to deal with and wishes he could be free of those distractions, allowing him to simply concentrate on the game. Not long after meeting Florence, his opponent’s second, the two fall in love. His love for Florence forces him to make some very difficult choices throughout the show.

What is your background in theatre? At Walterdale? I’ve been involved in theatre for about 5 years now, and absolutely love it! I have made some of the best friends I have ever had through theatre, and I’m constantly amazed by what wonderful people the Edmonton theater community is made of. I have never had the pleasure of doing a show at Walterdale, but have seen many shows here and wanted to perform here for years. I can’t wait!

What brought you out for this show? What drew you to it? I had the pleasure of working with Sally Hunt (our musical director) on a show a couple of years ago, so when I heard her speaking about this show I immediately looked into it, and instantly fell in love with the amazing music, story, and characters. Anatoly is such a pleasure to play, and his songs are some of the best that I have ever had the chance to learn.

Why do you think audiences should come see this show? What do you think they will take away from it? The music is really amazing, with examples of thus about every style all wrapped up into one show. Classic musical theatre, pop songs, ballads, rap… It’s all in there and beautifully written. The cast is packed with truly gifted performers, all working very hard to bring this show to life, and I think audiences will be blown away with what they see and hear.

Chess is a Board Game… What’s your favorite Board Game? Why? Got any funny game-playing stories? We have recently began having some family Monopoly games, and my kids have a ball playing it. Last time we had a game my middle daughter Lilly went so far as to prepare herself by applying war paint to her face before we started! It was hilarious!

Meet the team of CHESS – Sally Hunt is Music Director

What is your role on the production? I am the music director, so I have ultimate responsibility for every note you hear. The music, while beautiful and very catchy, is surprisingly complex throughout – it is much harder than it seems. Throw in some singing in Hungarian, and the need to pare down a very full orchestration to a small ensemble suitable for a space like Walterdale, and I have spent many hours going through over 300 pages of music. And I have loved every minute of it!

What is your background in theatre? At Walterdale? I’ve been a music director and teacher for over 25 years. I currently teach musical theatre at the Citadel Theatre’s Foote Theatre School. As a music director, I seem to do shows with either very long titles – The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, A Tale of Two Cities, The 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Die Dreigroschenoper (the original German title of The Threepenny Opera) — or very short titles — Shout, Nine, and now Chess. My most recent work with Walterdale includes The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, The Threepenny Opera, and Nine.

What brought you out for this show? What drew you to it? This is one of my favourite scores of all time. From a purely musical perspective, it is one great song after another, so who wouldn’t want to work on that? This was also another opportunity to work with Kristen Finlay. This is our fifth show as a director/music director team, and I love the creativity and vision she brings. It is always a great pleasure to assist her in bringing a show to life on the stage.

Why do you think audiences should come see this show? What do you think they will take away from it? The story itself has surprising twists and layers – Cold War politics is not a common backdrop for musical theatre, so it is definitely not your typical “boy meets girl” musical. The big draw of this show, though, has to be the music. It is SO GOOD! I guarantee people will be singing the songs as they head home.

Chess is a Board Game… What’s your favorite Board Game? Why? Got any funny game-playing stories? When I was a child, my father found a book on old board games, and decided to build some for us. He made a number of games, including Go and Nine Men’s Morris. You’ve likely heard of Go, but Nine Men’s Morris is a little more obscure. A version of it dates back to ancient Egypt, it gained popularity in medieval England, and is mentioned by Shakespeare in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Hmmm, sounds somewhat like the opening song of this show…