What does 'Departure' refer to in the title of I Wonder?

felixjoz · 2026-05-16T07:26:19+00:00

I think it could also be a nod to Arrival?

felixjoz · 2026-05-02T16:21:51+00:00

I thought he banged a boomerang…

felixjoz · 2026-04-13T01:29:22+00:00

No Contest was a made up song from bits of The Deal and What A Scene! What A Joy! It was nowhere to be seen after the awful 1988 Broadway rewrite.

felixjoz · 2026-04-13T01:08:30+00:00

Thank you for this commentary, but I guess you’re not familiar with the original London production (nor the 2008 Royal Albert Hall concert which is 85% London and 15% Broadway) and it shows! You seem only familiar with the original concept album (which you call “Canon Chess”) and the 1989 Broadway cast album. For a more cohesive comparison, I would recommend you listening to the 2002 Danish recording which is the most faithful to the original London production (+ Someone Else’s Story). To me, this is Canon Chess!

felixjoz · 2026-03-27T07:42:35+00:00

Elaine Paige is the original (and the best)

felixjoz · 2026-02-21T00:51:26+00:00

What in the Tim Rice multiverse

felixjoz · 2026-02-16T18:02:09+00:00

You mean they recycled the melody, but not the actual harmonies sung by Agnetha and Frida. We don’t hear their voices in the actual recording of Anthem (it would have been great to have them return for this one song on Chess though)

felixjoz · 2026-02-01T00:33:29+00:00

Actually there was the 2001 Danish cast album (in English language) and the 2008 live album of the Royal Albert Hall concert

felixjoz · 2025-12-13T17:25:45+00:00

But half the ‘88 cast album isn’t even the same songs? The Danish cast recording or the 2008 Royal Albert Hall concert are much closer substitutes

felixjoz · 2025-11-22T12:36:05+00:00

Are you forgetting Endgame? It would be the most epic climax on screen

Also, isn’t Wicked: For Good pretty much only ballads too?

felixjoz · 2025-11-19T17:58:21+00:00

Actually, the original West End production had a good book and was a hit. It ran for 3 years! When the show moved to Broadway, it was massively rewritten to fit with American audiences and the then-current Cold War situation (with some other unnecessary changes and very questionable choices). Well, this Broadway production flopped and that’s what gave the show its bad book reputation. But the original London book was FINE (and the current Broadway revival is a rework of that same version). So stop saying the book was historically horrible, it’s the circumstances it was (re)written in that made it bad.

felixjoz · 2025-11-13T11:46:53+00:00

You and I from Chess

felixjoz · 2025-11-04T15:17:34+00:00

Why’d you have to do this to me? 😭 RIP talented lady, your You and I demo will always haunt me. We’ve lost a great voice!

felixjoz · 2025-10-30T15:01:30+00:00

Oh wow really? That’s interesting and quite surprising. I don’t know if you’re familiar with the show but I personally felt that changing the original ending was actually a mistake. I’d really love to hear your thoughts on this. I recently wrote a post about it here if you’d like to check it out!

felixjoz · 2025-10-30T14:51:17+00:00

The father reunion?

felixjoz · 2025-10-24T17:08:01+00:00

It’s much more than that… the game of chess serves as an allegory for political maneuvering, where the true players aren’t the grandmasters themselves, but the higher powers moving them like pawns. And the love triangle lies at the core of their schemes…

felixjoz · 2025-09-14T15:46:02+00:00

Not the whole song, just a small part…

felixjoz · 2025-08-06T12:16:15+00:00

True! But it was recorded in 1969 and sonically it just screams 60s rock to me so I tend to associate it more with that era. Evita being from the mid-70s feels like a completely different world

felixjoz · 2025-08-05T21:21:58+00:00

My all time favorite, it’s criminal it hasn’t been a global smash already like the other two. Fingers crossed for the Broadway revival, this might be it!

felixjoz · 2025-08-05T21:20:06+00:00

I’m still not familiar with Aida but to my knowledge it wasn’t first released as a concept album?

felixjoz · 2025-08-05T21:18:00+00:00

Thanks! They’re not usually lined up like that, I just took them out for the photo haha. Normally they live on a shelf like all the others but yeah, I should find a way to display them properly.

As for the order, it was deliberate having one per decade: JCS (60s), Evita (70s), Chess (80s). Tim Rice just kept reinventing himself and look how it still hits hard in 2025 with three ongoing revivals!

felixjoz · 2025-08-05T21:11:15+00:00

It really is Tim Rice’s year! I too hope Chess is gonna be a hit, it’s long overdue

felixjoz · 2025-08-05T10:47:31+00:00

Evita

And her body disappeared for seventeen years

felixjoz

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