The Freaks Come Out at Night
John Williams did his signature Hollywood Bowl night last Friday and Saturday. As usual, the Star War junkees came en masse with an amazing number of light sabers. It’s times like those when I regret not wearing my Darth Vader mask.
In any event, I couldn’t help but feel embarrassed by the display of geekdom. Probably because I am a closet geek. When my fellow concert goer started to wear her lack of Star Wars movie watching proudly, I had to start my geek ranting about why I loved Empire Strikes Back. It was a doomed conversation, but it did end with a “maybe” on her part so mission somewhat accomplished.
I also feel somewhat embarrassed for Williams playing the same few tunes ad nauseum. In fact, he made the smart choice of playing a medley this time ’round…basically it displayed his famous themes in rapid succession as if just to get them out of the way. Of course, this was also the same presentation the LA Phil gave recently on the Fox lot so they were prepared for this. The crowd was quite genial, although erring on the annoying side with the lady next to me singing along with Williams’ familiar music (sorry, but I KNOW what the Superman theme sounds like and I came to the concert to hear Williams play it! @#*$&@!)
Actually, the first half did have some dignity with Williams playing his favorites from Hollywood yesteryear. Alfred Newman’s fanfare teased the audience a good one (it’s the one that plays over the Fox logo). And Rosza, Herrmann, Waxman (which I blogged earlier here)…it was all good, night under the stars music. Williams even threw in his own medley of Fiddler on the Roof featuring a virtuosic violin solo originally written for Isaac Stern, and played by concertmistress Bing Wang. It was as crowd-pleasing as the first half got.
The dance of the light sabers maintained the tone of the evening though and led us through four encores, including the Imperial March.
He ended his fourth and last encore of the evening with his NBC Mission Theme that acts as the signature for the nightly news. According to my friend, it is also used for news programs in Australia. It’s the way Williams traditionally tells the audience to go home. You can find a few different renditions of it at Network News Music. It’s a regal theme that always gets a laugh because of its unsung familiarity, and surprise surprise, it’s a real piece and not just a 30 second ditty.
In other Williams news, Ain’t It Cool News posted this Williams item with an mp3 of the newly composed Sunday Night Football theme.
In case you hate AICN, here it is for your listening pleasure:
Sunday Night Football Theme (mp3) - John Williams
All in all, it was a good evening, but one that made me slightly depressed. Who can possibly take over the mantle of greatest living film composer when Williams meets his maker? At age 74, the man is in good shape, and he did 4 movie scores last year…so it may still be a while. But no one even comes close to matching the kind of movie magic that any of Williams’ music does. Someone will emerge no doubt and people like James Horner, Thomas Newman, and Howard Shore have big followings and memorable music.
But Williams is Mr. Hollywood Bowl. And so we will make the pilgrimmage to his shrine and brave the crazies for one last moment with the grandeur of the movies in our collective imagination.
