collecting: #6

this newsletter may contain broadway

THIS MUSIC MAY CONTAIN HOPE. by RAYE

Bet you thought I was done talking about RAYE. Nope! Still here!

In my last episode of collecting, I talked about how I fell in love with her previous record, and in the middle of collecting that post, RAYE released her sophomore album, THIS MUSIC MAY CONTAIN HOPE. I didn’t feel ready to talk about it then, but now I can deep dive and GUSH.

I first listened to this record in my headphones on a Southwest plane to Tampa for my cousin’s wedding. It was Friday night, the day of release, and I saved the album for plane listening because I wanted to fully immerse myself in the content. I sat next to a very sweet Black woman who told me later that she was visiting her daughter, and god bless her because I think I spent a good hour of the flight just stimming and weeping and bopping along in my seat. By the time we landed, she tapped me on the shoulder and asked what I was listening to because I was so animated. And thus began my newfound mission as a RAYE evangelizer.

If you don’t have experience with RAYE, you may not know what you’re getting into. RAYE (Rachel Keen), is ‘97 baby from London who draws inspiration from a wide variety of music genres. She’s soul and jazz and hip-hop and rap and pop and musical theater all at once. She uses big sweeping orchestras and bumpy bass beats to highlight her ridiculous vocal timbre and range, all the while singing hard-hitting lyrics that are somehow both sad and hopeful.

This album, her second, is a massive undertaking, a whopping 17 tracks, clocking in at an hour and thirteen minutes. One of the most compelling parts of the project is that each side of the vinyl is indicative of a specific season (below). On first listen you may not notice it unless you know to look for it, but the more you spin the album, the more obvious it becomes. I’m a bit impartial to Spring and Summer, but you really can’t pick a bad side.

Truthfully, if you asked me which songs I’d recommend, I don’t have an answer. Every single track on here is a standout (perhaps with the exception of the Intro or the finale, though the finale is special in its own right). Just when I think I’ve picked a favorite, a new one gets stuck in my head. So here’s an abbreviated summary of some thoughts.

The first few songs (okay, all of them) took my breath away with their orchestral production. The whole record is a masterclass on musical theater, and it isn’t even a broadway show. “WhatsApp Shakespeare” is a lyrical and instrumental masterpiece and “Winter Woman.” was one of my first listen favorites. I think I cried to at least five songs the first time I listened, and if I focus too hard during “I Know You’re Hurting.” and “Life Boat.”, I start weeping again. The middle part of “Hate the Way” when the male voices come in and Rach does that “toNiGHT ToNIIIght tOOOnIIIIGHT!!!!” gets me going every single time. Al Green’s part in “Henry” makes me cry. “Skin & Bones.” is such a wonderful bop and something about how she says AND A LIVER really scratches an itch. “Nightingale Lane.” was a grower but now I wake up singing it almost daily. “Fields.” Oh my god. The tears. But my genuine actual favorites are probably “Joy.” and “Happier Times Ahead.”

And yeah, when I first heard “Fin.” I gasped.

I’m still waiting for people who are smarter than me to write some pieces about this record (I would pay a nonzero sum of money to see an Alex Lewis Album Club discussion on this), but the least I can do is recommend it to you. I think I’ve told at least half a dozen different people - strangers and friends alike - that they need to hear this album, and I’m never going to stop!!!

RAYE ALBUM OF THE YEAR CAMPAIGN STARTS NOW!!!

Chess (The Musical)

2025 Broadway Revival at the Imperial
featuring Nicholas Christopher, Aaron Tveit, and Katerina Papacostas

Aaron Tveit in the 2025 Chess Broadway Revival

Now, I know what you’re thinking. You didn’t realize there was a musical about chess. And you had no idea that musical is about chess during the Cold War. And you didn’t know that the guys who did the music are from ABBA. And you’re asking yourself why the fuck would someone make this a musical and why would anyone revive it on Broadway?

Totally understandable.

Let me take you back to the beginning of my relationship with Chess. It’s 2008. I’m thirteen. At Target, I see a beautiful minimalistic CD with a bold red cover, and I notice my beloved Idina Menzel listed as one of the singers in this concert. I buy the CD with almost no knowledge of its contents and later find out that my mother has a very interesting backstory with this thing called Chess.

Mom has had beef with Chess since the late 80s. When she was studying abroad in Cambridge, she took a trip to the West End, and when faced with seeing shows, she decided to be unique. She refused to see what everyone else was seeing. She did not get tickets to see the West End production of Les Misérables. She instead saw Chess! (Broadway fans everywhere are weeping.)

By the time I fell in love with Les Mis a few years later, this story had become infamous to me, and I finally understood just how utterly devastating this was. Mom bemoaned her regret for years, but how was she to know? (Ironically, when I went to the West End in 2019, I boldly chose to see Mamma Mia! when I could have seen the original cast of Six, and I came to regret it only a few weeks later when I fell in love with Six. I think we have a curse with ABBA musicals and the West End.)

In 2016, the first of our mother-daughter broadway adventure trips, we saw Hamilton and spontaneously decided to rectify Mom’s mistake by seeing Les Misérables at the Imperial. (My favorite show, Natasha, Pierre, & the Great Comet of 1812, the musical about the very Russian War & Peace also called the Imperial home, and that was my last time stepping in that theater, August 2017.) The poetic end to this story is that this year, in 2026, we set off for our first New York trip together since 2020 and saw the Broadway revival of Chess at, you guessed it, the Imperial (coincidentally where the OBC of Chess ran in 1988). Mom remembered nothing of her first viewing, but both of us left the theater teary-eyed with a new appreciation for the show that has haunted both of us for decades.

That said, it’s a trainwreck of a musical and I am going to tell you why.

Chess, Original Broadway Production, 1988

The story involves a politically charged, Cold War-era chess tournament between two grandmasters, one American and the other Soviet, and their fight over a woman who manages one and falls in love with the other. Although the protagonists were not intended to represent any real individuals, the character of the American grandmaster was loosely based on Bobby Fischer, while elements of the story may have been inspired by the chess careers of Russian grandmasters Viktor Korchnoi and Anatoly Karpov. (x)

There’s a long and dramatic history here. Originally a concept album collaboration by Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus, and Tim Rice, this musical began in the West End in the 80s. It ran for three years in London but the original Broadway production only ran for two months in New York. This New York version was dramatically altered, with a new book and some changes in the music.

It’s had various productions pop up over the last forty years, but overall has become more of a cult classic than anything else. There was a concert production in 2008 with Idina Menzel and Josh Groban at Royal Albert Hall (the CD I mentioned previously), and though it was limited to a concert rather than a true musical theater production, many suggest that it is the definitive version of the show, more closely resembling the concept album and original West End production rather than the first Broadway version.

“Тim Rice – 80: The Hero and His Many Anniversaries. Part I”

With each new production, fans of the show must determine what has changed. Lyrics, book, song choice, plot, all things are subject to a rewrite. Tim Rice insists the show is about people and their relationships, while many productions will inflate the show to focus more on politics and the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. The most recent iteration, which I got to see in New York, is the 2025 Broadway Revival which is most notable for featuring Lea Michele as the female lead Florence Vassy, Aaron Tveit as Freddie Trumper (The American) and Nicholas Christopher as Anatoly Sergievsky (The Russian). Thankfully, I saw Katerina Papacostas as Florence, and my god, that woman has a bright future ahead of her. This new version goes so far as to link real life events (SALT II, Able Archer 83) with the happenings of the show. The Arbiter also makes a lot of snide comments about the current political climate of the US, which lead to many laughs and wide eyes.

Chess (2025 Broadway Revival)

The thing is, having seen a lot of musical theater in my time, I know that Chess is a monster to produce effectively. The music is challenging, with vocals that reach high and low and intense wandering lyrics. It’s about CHESS, which is a nightmare to stage and choreograph because how do you make a chess match interesting? The plot too is a bit strange because yes, it’s about chess matches, but it’s also about a couple falling out of love and a couple falling in love and a couple who’s estranged and it’s kind of about the KGB and it’s kind of about the CIA and it’s kind of about neither of those things and wait, what is the plot exactly? Even though it’s fiction, it includes a lot of historic context, which can be difficult to convey if you don’t include some form of a narrator. And ultimately, nothing about this show is easily accessible when we live in an era of jukebox musicals and musical adaptations. Fans of Dear Evan Hansen want pop songs they can hear on the radio. Fans of Hamilton want something powerful and easy to digest. This is the kind of show for fans of Great Comet: nonsensical, convoluted, and strange. It’s a marvel it got made in the 80s, but I left the show in 2026 wondering who the hell cares so much about this show to put it back on Broadway after a failed debut?

Then again, here I am, obsessively listening to the damn thing, so maybe it is good after all.

“Nobody’s Side”

Truthfully, the only reason I give a damn about this show outside of my mom is because of the main song for its female lead. I could take or leave the rest of the show, but this number makes the list of my top musical theater songs of all time. Sometimes I think it’s in my top 3.

Unbeknownst to me, the opening overture for the 2025 Broadway Revival begins with an orchestral instrumental of “Nobody’s Side,” and as I sat there, watching the big neon CHESS sign light up the stage, I burst into tears. This song has been there for me since I was thirteen with my iPod Nano, and it was surreal to get to see it in New York at my beloved Imperial theater.

While I think any version of this song is worthwhile, I was raised on the Idina Menzel version, and nothing compares to that. If you don’t listen to anything else from this show, at least listen to Idina and her riffs!!

Recently, after seeing the show, I’ve been diving into the other recordings, and even if the original broadway production is loathed by true Chess fans, I cannot discount how incredible Judy Kuhn’s version of this song sounds. (Judy Kuhn is the icon who sang for Pocahontas in the Disney film, and who originated the role of the mother Helen Bechdel in Fun Home.) I love this version not only for Judy’s vocals, but also because the production is so dramatically 80s.

Part of why I’m so upset by Lea Michele’s studio version is because the production is BORING! Even Katerina’s live version — which is supposedly the same as Lea’s because they are both performing at the Imperial in 2026 — was stunningly moving, with a bold production and even bolder set of vocals. (I am coming out as a Lea Michele hater though, so perhaps I’m biased.) ((Actually, I think they just did a bad job on the studio production. Boo.))

Sidebar: Can we talk about Lea Michele’s awful lip job?

“You and I'“

Not to spoil the whole thing, but most of the time (all of the time?), Florence and her later lover Anatoly are doomed from the start. They fall in love early in the show, and seemingly get a few years of romantic bliss, but eventually sacrifice their love for various mutual reasons. Their final love song, “You and I” which sometimes appears at other points in the show, is tragic, but my god is it beautiful. I love the Idina/Josh version (obviously), but the original version with Elaine and Tommy is wonderful too.

“Endgame”

Going into this show, I did not know much about Nicholas Christopher. He played George Washington in Hamilton in more than one production, and I figured that made sense since he does look similar to Chris Jackson, but I did not really consider him or his character more than that. And while I was blown away by almost everyone on that stage — Katerina slayed as Lea’s understudy and Aaron was a fabulously sexy asshole-loser and Hannah Cruz played a deeply unhinged Svetlana - but I left the theater in absolute awe of Nicholas Christopher’s power. Every song he sang was magnificent, but I cannot express to you the spiritual journey I went on while I witnessed his (and Hannah & Katerina’s) “Endgame” performance.

Nicholas Christopher in the 2025 Chess Broadway Revival

This is the pivotal climax number in the show that focuses on the final chess match. It’s Anatoly (The Russian who has now defected from the Soviet Union and now plays for the UK) versus a new Russian chess player whose name escapes me. The staging is brilliant in the revival. There’s a huge rectangular light that descends to the floor and surrounds the cast on stage, and as most of the ensemble is stuck within the boundaries of the light, Anatoly/Nicholas steps out and paces the stage with emotion, watching as his estranged wife Svetlana (Hannah Cruz) and his current lover Florence (Katerina Papacostas or Lea Michele depending on the day) rage at him (in his imagination?). Will he throw the match or will he reclaim his title as world champion? Which woman will he choose?

Svetlana/Hannah absolutely nailed this number. She becomes more and more unhinged, cackling with vicious laughter, shrieking LIAR! LIAR!!! And the whole piece culminates in one of the most breath-taking moments of theater I’ve ever had the privilege to witness: Anatoly/Nicholas somehow manages to hold out a big and bold note that feels like it lasts for a full minute at least. Then, just when the note seems to die down, when the ensemble takes their collective breath to sing the next part of the number, Anatoly/Nicholas KEEPS GOING WITH THEIR ENTRANCE. No breaths! No breaks! Just pure emotional power.

(Yes, spit was absolutely FLYING but my god, what a moment.)

The studio recording for the revival dropped today and while I have many critiques (I don’t think it lives up to the live performance I saw), Nicholas Christopher still sounds as deranged as when I saw him on stage! (Starting around 6:20.) His recording of “Where I Want to Be” is also fantastic. And Hannah’s version of “He Is a Man, He Is a Child” still blows me away.

The original recording above does not do that “Endgame” moment justice (when Anatoly lets out his big NEVERRRRR! around 9:54), but the full ten-minute piece is wonderful in its own right. It has two minutes of gorgeous, haunting choir music in the beginning, then a transition that leads into Anatoly’s part of the piece later on. On first listen, without the stage production to encourage you, it might not hold your attention, but now, having seen Nicholas Christopher work his magic, I cannot stop listening to this piece.

Okay I swear I’m done, no more chess.

The Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller

2026 Broadway Production at the Winter Garden Theatre
featuring Nathan Lane, Laurie Metcalf, and Christopher Abbott

I don’t normally see plays on Broadway, but Mom wanted to branch out and this season the Winter Garden Theatre is home to a well-reviewed version of an Arthur Miller classic. (Ironically, the last time I saw a play in New York a decade ago, Mom and I went to Walter Kerr to see Saoirse Ronan in The Crucible. Yes, be jealous. It remains one of the highlights of my life.)

And okay, yeah, I really wanted to see Nathan Lane live on stage. Sue me.

Now, I have not read Death of a Salesman. We only read Crucible my sophomore year of high school, and I don’t particularly care to read plays on my own (boo, shame). I had no context going in, and I figured that might be best. Mom also didn’t know the plot. Needless to say, we left with our jaws on the floor.

The premise of Salesman revolves around, well, a salesman. Set in the 1940s, it’s about a family of four as their patriarch Willy struggles to find work and meaning in his life at the age of 60. In parallel, his sons who are presently in their thirties, also fail to find work and are beaten down by their father’s perception of them and his expectations for their lives. The mother/wife Linda is concerned about her husband, believing he is preparing to commit suicide.

Not to spoil you, since this is a play from 1949 and Willy’s fate is near certain due to the title, but yes, he does in fact, commit suicide. The final scene is the family at his funeral.

Now, I have zero context for this show outside of the production I saw. I never read the play (I found a few passages to share here, but they’re just scenes I remember from the show), so I can’t know just how much of the stage directions are explicitly Arthur Miller’s and how much of them are director Joe Mantello’s, but I was utterly flabbergasted at this production. Nathan Lane shined, obviously, but the entire cast really put on a show for us. Christopher Abbott especially did a fantastic job playing out Biff’s big scene at the end. I wish I could read the play and see this show again because I know I would get so much out of it a second time with more context.

Curiously, I felt like this show shares a lot in common with Fun Home, if only because that musical is about a father who contemplates and then commits suicide after leading a double life. I would love to see a compare/contrast essay on these two works, anybody wanna write it for a class?

But Salesman is complex because it touches not only on mental health — Willy spends most of the show exhibiting either memory problems or strange nostalgic hallucinations — but also on capitalism and its effects on poor people. The show is set in the 1940s, much like when it was written and originally produced, but something about it feels oddly timeless, strangely relevant. Change the clothes and change some of the dialogue and you’d have a play that screams 2026. Even if language has changed and inflation has risen, the struggle for poor families in the United States has not ended.

It’s interesting seeing Broadway shows in New York because so often these plays and musicals are about real issues — Salesman is about how capitalism is destroying the American Dream, and the Chess revival touches on shady governments and power-hungry leaders (which is definitely not at all relevant) — and yet, there is this ridiculous disconnect happening. Broadway is not accessible. To see a show in New York, god forbid with the original cast, it is often expensive and exclusive.

Christopher Abbott for IndieWire

I pay hundreds of dollars (from show tickets to plane tickets to hotel reservations) every time I go to see shows, and I know just how privileged and lucky I am to do so. It was a miracle that I was able to see Nathan Lane and Laurie Metcalf at the Winter Garden Theatre, and yet, they spent the whole night acting out scenes that I related to in my own life. I walked out of the theater and wandered through Times Square with my mom, and I watched the ever growing wall of light-up screens advertising everything from movies to jeans to AI¹ apps.

How are we supposed to see and create and appreciate art when it is apart of the capitalist machine?

Solace House by Will Maclean

Releasing May 7 2026 (UK) and Oct 13 2026 (US)

Alex Lane spends his university summer with a collection of other misfit students as they work to clean out a mysterious hoarder house on the property of a past mental institution.

So. The bad news is, I cannot technically say what I want to say about this book in this newsletter because right now, this is pre-publication. I spontaneously requested an ARC on NetGalley because I wanted to feel alive, and in the end, I became deeply entrenched in the kaleidoscopic chaos of this book. Unfortunately, I cannot discuss this with anyone but Hannah. (Though, I am so privileged to have her because I felt unmoored when I finished this on the plane the other day.)

The good news is, if you’re from the UK, this book is coming out very very soon!!

Spring sampling

Hannah has a post sampling this book with her thoughts (and her newsletter is wonderful as well, she’s one of the first people I found on Substack), so I figured I was safe to offer my own version of this to you.

This book is pitched as The Haunting of Hill House meets The Secret History, which is a bit bold considering how high profile both of those works are. (I can’t tell if they mean THE Haunting of Hill house, the original text by Jackson, or if they mean some adaptation thereof, like Mike Flanagan’s beloved Netflix show. I think this distinction matters profoundly. I personally believe it’s closer to the show than the book.) The pitch is what lead me to pick this up, and while I understand why they might have chosen those, as they aren’t exactly wrong per se, I do think they mislead the reader to believe something other than what they’re getting.

Solace House is a strange combination of campus novel, horror, meta, and litfic. Many reviewers talk about how it feels like two separate books, and I think the fact that the author has a screenwriter background also plays into the way the book is written. It is unlike anything I’ve read, but it reminded me vaguely of Night Film and Neverworld Wake by Marisha Pessl, for reasons I cannot go into.

You guys know me, I’m a sucker for meta, and I’m a very forgiving meta reader. If you keep me compelled and entertained, I will let you take me anywhere. Sometimes I think the payoff is less important than the journey we take to get there. All of which is to say, I am still unsettled by the final part of this book. I’m still determining my feelings, still unraveling some questions, and I haven’t decided whether I’m satisfied or not. I have critiques, and I think Maclean could have done a few things differently, but I cannot deny how strongly this book had me by the throat.

In many ways, it’s a typical white man’s book. The main character is not entirely likable. The women in the story are not fleshed out and barely do much other than forwarding the plot. It’s nonsensical and convoluted. It definitely holds some questionable content and plays into certain stereotypes. Many people will hate this book and critique it into the ground. But.

It’s such a thrill to read. The tension is delicious, the build-up and suspense are what carries this novel to completion. It forces you to question what you known and pay attention. It’s entertaining. There’s a lot to digest.

But I still don’t know what it all means. I still wanted something more. And no, I don’t necessarily think it earned its comp titles, at least not in full, but I respect the attempt. I think it would make a wonderful miniseries. I think I am open to revisiting it in paperback form down the line. I think it gave me enough meat to chew on that I can give it 4.5 stars, if only because I cannot stop thinking about it.

Edit, a few days later: I connected with Héloïse because she also finished this book recently and in trying to nail down my thoughts in her DMs, I think I am one step closer to solving this puzzle. Or at least, I have more meat to chew on. I started taking physical notes and researching some things… I obviously cannot tell you fine people about it, but I’m desperate now to get my hands on a physical copy of this book. I wanna annotate this so bad. I cannot stop thinking about this book, and I think that means I liked it more than I initially believed.

A Reading Life from Petya K Grady

This is your not-so-gentle reminder that if you aren’t subscribed to Petya K. Grady, you are really missing out. I feel like I’m always bombarding her notifications with comments and restacks, but the truth is, I just think Petya is a wonderful person. She has excellent taste in books, obviously, but the way she writes her newsletter is deeply engaging and really fun. I love seeing what she’s up to, LOVE seeing her fashion choices, and I love seeing how she brings people together with her platform. Whether she’s sharing her monthly reading or highlighting the habits of other readers, she has a great way of building community through books, and I always feel more cultured after I read her stuff.

“Everything I read in March … and why I don’t really want to talk about it”

She recently put out a piece about her monthly reading, sharing that she’s interested in testing new ways of exploring books in her newsletter. She mentions “containers” in regards to reading and asks her readers to reflect on how they (we) structure their reflections and thoughts about what they’re reading. I think a lot of us get bogged down by format and structure when talking about books online, especially those of us who have been doing books online for a long time, and I love seeing new ways of thinking in regards to this phenomenon. Very curious to see where she goes - the comments on that post are wonderful!

I think what I like most about Petya, aside from her kind and glowing personality, is that she’s always trying to think more. Not necessarily in an academic way, not necessarily about the books themselves (though I know she is doing both of those things), but just in general. More thoughts. More thoughtful. She’s always trying to step outside the box and reflect on why she does what she does (as evidenced by her recent piece talking about her experience with resisting romance), and it leads her to live a very well-rounded reading life. A very well-rounded life in general.

If you’re looking for a place to start with Petya’s newsletter, she writes up these wonderful interviews with other readers and each one is unique and fun and full of recommendations. Some of my favorites are Justin Bryte from the band Fly By Midnight, Malala (yes, that one), Sam Rinko, Katie Vasquez, and Jacqui Devaney.

I also love her piece “Vernacular reading.”

So much good stuff over at A reading life!!

1. At intermission for Salesman, I looked over and saw the middle-aged man next to me using ChatGPT to find more information about the Studebaker car that was a prop on stage. It made me want to throw myself into the ocean.