Monday, September 10, 2018

Show Review: Star Wars A New Hope in Concert


Last night, Conklederp and I went to the Oregon Symphony as they were showing Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope while the Oregon Symphony Orchestra performed the music.  It was basically the same set up as when we saw Jurassic Park back in April.

My first real question though going into last light was which version of A New Hope they were going to show, although I was pretty sure that since 1997 it has only been the Special Edition version that is screened in theaters (and symphonies).  So, true to form, it was I was half correct, in that it was the Special Edition, but it was the 2004 DVD release where the CG Jabba was a little less horrible to look at.

Two interesting things of note were the sound quality of the music, and the music itself.  Now, I have no idea what to chalk it up to, but when I compare the symphony during A New Hope and Jurassic Park, which was performed by most if not all of the same people, the music to Star Wars sounded closer to what you  might hear on the soundtrack.  In Jurassic Park, there were times where the music sounded just a little bit different than it did during the movie and on the soundtrack.  During Star Wars however, for the majority of film, I had completely forgotten that the symphony was even there.  Sure the background effects, and some of the dialogue was a bit quieter than what you would expect at a movie theatre, but that is what the subtitles were for, and would rather have the dialogue drowned out a bit rather than the music quieter.  The other music related point was that during the Cantina scene, they used the music from the movie.  I think that I was just so caught up in the movie that I hadn't realized it until Conklederp pointed it out a few seconds into the scene.

One other thing that Conklederp even brought up, was that it was nice to have subtitles up, especially so considering that it is a Star Wars movie and some nouns are a little hard to either understand or visualize how they are spelled.  Like, for the longest time, I had thought that Princess Leia was saying "Tatooine" as the location of the secret rebel base, not "Dantooine."

Overall, I would love to see another movie (that I really want to see) performed at the Schnitz, but the next three movies on their line up I am either "okay" to "eh" about.  I mean, sure I love The Nightmare before Christmas, but unless you have Danny Elfman up there singing the part of Jack Skellington, I do not know if I really want to pay the $45+ for tickets for that show.  Then there is Star Trek Beyond, which I enjoyed, but not $45 enjoyed, and lastly is Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, which was enjoyable to see Alan Rickman and Gary Oldman in the same movie, but I have never been a big Harry Potter fan.  Hell, I would probably pay a stupid amount of money if they put on a Star Wars celebration showing Episodes I - IX along with Rogue One, Solo, and whatever is next up for the Star Wars Story line.  Now, if you have Raiders of the Lost Ark, or Waterworld up on that screen with a live orchestra, and I will be there will loud and shiny bells on.



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

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