Prime gets his geek on: Star Wars in Concert

Prime · 2009-12-02, 16:50

So, because my wife is awesome she got me tickets to Star Wars: in Concert for my birthday. Here are some thoughts for those who are thinking about catching the show:

The show essentially consisted of 2 parts, the prop displays and the concert itself. The displays included mostly costumes, but also a few cases of weapons and helmets, and even one containing the original music sheet of Duel of the Fates. For me, seeing a real R2 was pretty awesome.
While the prop displays were good, I wish there was a little more. A bit of a letdown but cool nonetheless.
while people were seating, they were blasting sound effects over the sound system. Tie Fighters, droids, weapons and lightsabers, and podracers among them. I still love the "womp-womp-womp" sound of Selbulba's pod.
The orchestra had I'm guessing about 200 musicians arranged in a semi-circle with the conductor in the middle with his back to us. Above them was a giant screen. The picture quality was amazing. Very vibrant and crisp.
The show ran for about 2 hours, with a short intermission "between trilogies".
Anthony Daniels hosted and was very entertaining, and certainly popular with the audience. Between each musical segment he sort of retold parts the saga in a very condensed way. I actually thought that part was very well done. Made the saga sound very much like a fairy tale.
The format was a bit different that I expected. It was a cross between chronological and themes. If anyone has the Star Wars: A Musical Journey DVD that came with the Ep 3 soundtrack, it was similar to that. So they kind of went through the films in order, but each section had a bit of a theme, such as characters or say the Millennium Falcon or clones. Scenes from the films were sliced together as the orchestra played a particular part of the score, like the Imperial March. They even started the show with the THX and 20th Century Fox music.
R2-D2 got the loudest cheers of any character. By far.
In addition to the scenes from the films, the musical segments had shots of the orchestra or parts of it spliced into it.
The encore was the Imperial March.
If the prop display was a slight disappointment, the show itself was the exact opposite. I was blown away, frankly. Seeing and hearing the full effect of so many musicians playing so many memorable pieces was incredible. It really hits home how complex these sorts of scores are. It is one aspect of the saga that has truly remained exceptional throughout, IMO.
I was expecting a bit of a geek/fanboy fest as I assumed that such a show would have a more hardcore audience than a regular film. However it seemed to be the opposite. There were very few people wearing costumes, and the age range was from 3 to 90. Lots of cheers the whole way through.
That range of demographics really showed me how wide an appeal SW really has. From people who saw ANH in '77 while in college to 5 year olds who are just getting into Clone Wars, they were all there. That is a truly rare thing these days.
It was very cool having a SW experience with a lot of people again, and having everyone go home ecstatic. My last experience was Clone Wars.

If you have the means, I highly recommend seeing it. It's a SW show that pretty much eliminates the grievances of many, and focuses on "the good stuff". In a time where much in the way of SW spin-off products are mediocre at best, this is one that is very much of top quality.

txa1265 · 2010-02-04, 13:59

Cool - thanks for sharing that experience!

2009-12-02, 16:50	#1
Prime Echobase's Yojimbo Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: The Edo Period Posts: 1,847	Prime gets his geek on: Star Wars in Concert So, because my wife is awesome she got me tickets to Star Wars: in Concert for my birthday. Here are some thoughts for those who are thinking about catching the show: The show essentially consisted of 2 parts, the prop displays and the concert itself. The displays included mostly costumes, but also a few cases of weapons and helmets, and even one containing the original music sheet of Duel of the Fates. For me, seeing a real R2 was pretty awesome. While the prop displays were good, I wish there was a little more. A bit of a letdown but cool nonetheless. while people were seating, they were blasting sound effects over the sound system. Tie Fighters, droids, weapons and lightsabers, and podracers among them. I still love the "womp-womp-womp" sound of Selbulba's pod. The orchestra had I'm guessing about 200 musicians arranged in a semi-circle with the conductor in the middle with his back to us. Above them was a giant screen. The picture quality was amazing. Very vibrant and crisp. The show ran for about 2 hours, with a short intermission "between trilogies". Anthony Daniels hosted and was very entertaining, and certainly popular with the audience. Between each musical segment he sort of retold parts the saga in a very condensed way. I actually thought that part was very well done. Made the saga sound very much like a fairy tale. The format was a bit different that I expected. It was a cross between chronological and themes. If anyone has the Star Wars: A Musical Journey DVD that came with the Ep 3 soundtrack, it was similar to that. So they kind of went through the films in order, but each section had a bit of a theme, such as characters or say the Millennium Falcon or clones. Scenes from the films were sliced together as the orchestra played a particular part of the score, like the Imperial March. They even started the show with the THX and 20th Century Fox music. R2-D2 got the loudest cheers of any character. By far. In addition to the scenes from the films, the musical segments had shots of the orchestra or parts of it spliced into it. The encore was the Imperial March. If the prop display was a slight disappointment, the show itself was the exact opposite. I was blown away, frankly. Seeing and hearing the full effect of so many musicians playing so many memorable pieces was incredible. It really hits home how complex these sorts of scores are. It is one aspect of the saga that has truly remained exceptional throughout, IMO. I was expecting a bit of a geek/fanboy fest as I assumed that such a show would have a more hardcore audience than a regular film. However it seemed to be the opposite. There were very few people wearing costumes, and the age range was from 3 to 90. Lots of cheers the whole way through. That range of demographics really showed me how wide an appeal SW really has. From people who saw ANH in '77 while in college to 5 year olds who are just getting into Clone Wars, they were all there. That is a truly rare thing these days. It was very cool having a SW experience with a lot of people again, and having everyone go home ecstatic. My last experience was Clone Wars. If you have the means, I highly recommend seeing it. It's a SW show that pretty much eliminates the grievances of many, and focuses on "the good stuff". In a time where much in the way of SW spin-off products are mediocre at best, this is one that is very much of top quality. __________________

2010-02-04, 13:59	#2
txa1265 Father Jedi Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Corning, NY USA Posts: 2,462	Cool - thanks for sharing that experience! __________________ Dopelar effect (n.) The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly. Check out my blog.