All orchestral concerts could benefit from random bursts of flame during the performance.
A forty-foot tall LCD screen showing movie clips perfectly timed to the music couldn’t hurt either.
These are the lessons I learned at Star Wars in Concert.
Simply put, it was one of the most entertaining things I ever saw: an entirely new way to look at orchestral music. Classical music for the ADD generation – you have to present images with the sounds because our brains can’t conjure the images anymore. I couldn’t honestly tell you if showing battle scenes behind a performance of the 1812 Overture would cheapen or enhance the experiment but I’d sure like to see it tried by a serious orchestra.
On top of boiling jets of fire, smoke, lasers and very-big-teevees; Anthony Daniels came out to narrate the whole thing complete with a very nifty wardrobe malfunction at an appropriate moment.
A triumph. A tour de force. I am damn glad I went.