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

There's A House Where No One Lives

Show Review: Jurassic Park in Concert

Over this last weekend, Conklederp and I went and saw the 1993 theatrical version of Jurassic Park.  That in and of itself would not be noteworthy except that tickets to see Jurassic Park were $30 and up.  The reason of such a high price was that the Oregon Symphony Orchestra performed the music to the movie live.  Sure, if you figure that 1/3rd of the ticket prices for the cost of the movie, which meant that we were able to listen to an orchestra perform the entirety of the Jurassic Park soundtrack for only $20.  I would have paid $30 to listen to just the soundtrack performed,

Before going into the movie, both Conklederp and I were wondering how it would actually work, beyond just having the symphony there playing the music while the movie aired.  Knowing only what I've gathered from watching special features on DVD's, there seems to be a fair amount of audio mixing going on, making sure that the music doesn't overpower the dialogue, swells here, or just plays quietly in the background almost as if you don't notice it at all.  So how much live/on-the-spot-mixing could occur with a live orchestra?

What I experienced (as I won't speak on Conklederp's behalf) was me leaving The Schnitz wondering why I don't just see every movie with a live orchestra?  That way-back in the day, seeing a silent movie (because there was no other option), meant that maybe you had a live pianist playing along with the movie, which must have been something like our experience, but on a less grand scale.  There were only a few times during the movie that I noticed that the music played was ever so slightly different than what was on the soundtrack.  Specifically with "Dennis Steals the Embryos" scene, the marimba (I think it's the marimba) didn't sound as clean as it is performed on both the soundtrack and in the movie itself.  Conklederp later said that she noticed the lack of choir, which I didn't even think about, especially during the scene when the group first comes upon the Brachiosaurs.  The rest of the time, I was so engrossed in the whole experience that I either did not realize that there was a live orchestra playing, or that I was so into the music that I was not paying attention to the music.

The only other odd occurrence was that there was an intermission, which I probably should have anticipated as those musicians probably needed a rest, both mentally and physically.  And the conductor too I guess.  The fact that there was an intermission was not so much the oddness, but where they placed it.  Right after Dennis Nedry crashes his jeep, the screen went black, which I know is something that does not happen at that moment, the "Intermission" screen came up and the house lights came on.  An added bonus though of having the intermission was that after the 20 minutes were up and the house lights flashed, the orchestra played the entr'acte, which just meant that there was more music from the film to listen to.

As the movie ended and the credits rolled, Conklederp and I noticed people getting up and leaving.  Why would you do this!?  I mean sure, we spent 40 minutes getting out of the parking garage at night because we stayed until after the credits had finished.  Oh, and after the LIVE ORCHESTRA HAD FINISHED PERFORMING MUSIC FROM THE FILM JURASSIC PARK.  I would have paid money (which we did) to hear music from this film performed by an orchestra, and here we were, and I'll be snookered if I would leave as the credits were rolling because that is perfectly acceptable to do in a movie theatre.

Anyway, it was an amazing experience that I would highly recommend to anyone who is able to attend a performance; although I do recognize that ticket prices vary by venue.  In my opinion though, completely worth the cost of seeing Jurassic Park for the 47,000,000 time.  Now to plan our next experience when Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope is performed in September; tickets go on sale May 4th.



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
Well Son You Got A Statement You'd Like To Make


P.S.  Something that I have noticed in the past, is that anytime the end credits theme from Jurassic Park is played, at least since about 1997, is that the music from The Lost World: Jurassic Park is used instead of what was written for the original film.  You can tell because the at about 2:12 in the original, there isn't the music that was used for The Lost World.  

You could say that I was a mix of emotions