Star Wars has arguably the most iconic set of leading songs of any movie out there. Whether the “Star Wars Main Theme” or “The Imperial March” (think any Darth Vader entrance), anyone who has lived through or in the last…. 40+ years (!!?) can likely identify the provenance of a given Star Wars tune within a few bars. Given that familiarity, how then does one make such music and the movies they accompany come alive again, anew, for both long-time fans and new generations? Perhaps the answer lies in a return to the basics – the orchestras that perform these remarkably catchy, powerful works of art – in their natural settings, a symphony hall. It was exactly this type of scenario that recently saw your reviewer settling into the comfortable chairs at Seattle’s scrumptious Benaroya Hall – a now nearly 25-year-old venue that remains at the top of the game for acoustic performances and as a home for symphonic music. In this case, the 2500-person main hall was the setting for the Seattle Symphony playing a showing of the film Star Wars: The Force Awakens on July 14th
To be more clear: in this case, Benaroya Hall was the setting for a showing of the Star Wars movie, with sound effects and vocals – but no music. Rather, the Seattle Symphony, directed by Lawrence Loh, a conductor who specializes in adapting film scores to a live orchestra, played, uninterrupted, straight through – providing the brilliant John Williams score in epic fashion. The results were nothing short of spectacular. The film itself is, arguably, an excellent, gripping continuation of the original Star Wars saga, building on some of the same characters and themes (and set within the lifetimes of the characters introduced in the originals). However, being set to live music brought a whole new level of emotional engagement, with highs somehow higher and lows viscerally lower.
Part of the genius of this approach to combining live music and film was that, for the most part, the performance by the Seattle Symphony was so flawless as to be simply a soundtrack, mostly to be celebrated for the fact that it never drew attention away from the film. However, here and there, one’s eyes would wander down from the screen to reawaken the watcher to the fact that the moving, complex, clarion orchestral score was, in fact, being performed live by an incredible orchestra. Notably, to the lay listener, the performance was flawless; the thunderous precision of the music perfectly complemented the film, rhythmically and aurally.
It is perhaps unsurprising that this performance was musically pretty flawless. The Symphony and conductor Loh have undertaken such endeavors together before – including previous performances of similar adaptations of all three original films. Additionally, just this year, Loh has conducted or will conduct a “Salute to John Williams” series, “Harry Potter 4: The Goblet of Fire, Live in Concert,” ”Home Alone: The Film in Concert,” and numerous others. This approach would seem a brilliant way to reel in new audiences to live symphonic music and is an experience that this writer hopes to repeat with subsequent films.
In the interest of broadening the scope of this review, your reviewer asked his companion, a nine-year-old Star Wars aficionado, for his thoughts. A somewhat-edited version of those follows:
The show was awesome! When we got there, there was a concession stand outside so you could bring snacks & drinks into the auditorium. Once we got inside, they started playing a very powerful tune, the Star Wars main theme and the movie started in the background.
When they started playing the main theme, you could feel it inside your chest. That part was amazing. If you didn’t look down to see the orchestra, you might not have known it was there; they made the sound so clean.
I appreciated how they played quietly so you could still hear the dialog and sound effects of the movie.
I feel like the Symphony enhanced watching the movie – it made you feel more like you were in the movie (in a galaxy far far away).
Overall, I think they did a great job and I definitely think seeing this kind of show is better than just going to a movie because of the beauty of Benaroya Hall. The orchestra makes you feel alive, makes you feel like you’re watching the movie from the perspective it’s filmed in.
The part I didn’t like was that I felt like the audience clapped over the music, clapping for the movie and not for the symphony players. They clapped when things happened in the movie, like when someone made a new appearance. Of course, that’s not the orchestra’s fault at all – it’s entirely the audience’s fault – but I didn’t appreciate that. I think the symphony couldn’t have done better.
