{"id":49056,"date":"2011-10-15T15:02:49","date_gmt":"2011-10-15T20:02:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/?p=49056"},"modified":"2011-10-15T15:02:49","modified_gmt":"2011-10-15T20:02:49","slug":"az-fotr-concert-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/2011\/10\/15\/49056-az-fotr-concert-review\/","title":{"rendered":"AZ FOTR Concert Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

morphiaflow<\/strong> writes: I live in Glendale, AZ and attended the premiere of the LORD OF THE RINGS\u2014FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING symphony concert tour last night (Wednesday October 12, 2011), at the Jobbing.com Arena. I offer my thoughts on the event for any who might care.<\/p>\n

For starters, let me state that I\u2019m a lifelong Tolkien\/LOTR fan, as well as a fan of Peter Jackson in general, AND Howard Shore\u2014I love not just his film scores, but as a huge Saturday Night Live fan, the fact that he was a crucial part of that show in its formative years makes him an extremely interesting individual to me. So the Jackson\/Shore\/Tolkien association has always been a multiple win in my book.<\/p>\n

Also, back in fall 2009 I attended the \u201cStar Wars In Concert\u201d tour at the same venue, which featured musical suites from all six films, with live orchestra and choir, hosted and narrated by Anthony Daniels (C-3P0). The musical selections were arranged more or less chronologically in the Star Wars saga, but sometimes linked by a theme, a character or a specific part of the story arc, and were accompanied by visuals (but not dialogue) from the Star Wars films. <\/p>\n

Tickets are still on sale at lordoftheringsinconcert.com<\/a> <\/p>\n

This was an extremely entertaining and effective way of conveying the emotional core of the Star Wars films in a new form\u2014strictly through its iconic visuals and music\u2014and certainly, proved a worthy template for other such endeavors. Given how much I love the music for LORD OF THE RINGS\u2014which seems to just get better and more impressive as time passes\u2014I was really looking forward to seeing it get similar treatment.<\/p>\n

Now, before anyone goes accusing me of making unfavorable comparisons to Star Wars (please, I have no interest in that age old debate, I\u2019m a lifelong and equal fan of both Lucas and Tolkien), it really, truly IS a valid comparison in this case\u2014especially given that the advertisements for the LOTR event seemed to promise something very similar, and along the lines of (I guess) previous LOTR symphonies that have previously been done elsewhere.<\/p>\n

So bearing all of this in mind I was VERY excited to attend, doubly so because it was the opening night, right in my hometown.<\/p>\n

Upon entering the lobby I saw that\u2014like the Star Wars concert\u2014there were various props from the film. (I presume they were the actual items and not replicas.) Elven helmets, Boromir\u2019s sword, Gimli\u2019s axe and helmet, life-sized Lurtz and Nazgul models\u2014all very cool to see up close. I wish I\u2019d brought a better camera than the one on my phone. Sadly, there was only a little bit of stuff, but it was still a nice touch. (Equally sadly, it was packed up and gone by the time the concert was over, thus denying those\u2014such as myself\u2014who\u2019d planned to explore and examine it all afterwards the opportunity to do so.)<\/p>\n

I purchased a program\u2014slick, glossy, colorful, and a classy job all around ($25)\u2014as well as the 2-disc LOTR symphony CD ($30\u2014I haven\u2019t listened to it yet, but I look forward to it.) I wish I could have afforded the $60 for Doug Adams\u2019 \u201cMusic of LOTR\u201d book which was also on sale, but my budget had already been exceeded for the night. Thank gods they didn\u2019t have the \u201cComplete Scores\u201d box sets there as well or my temptation would have runneth over.<\/p>\n

Anyway, on finding my seats, I was disappointed to see that there were maybe 1000 people (1500 tops) in a 12000+ capacity venue. Well, it WAS a school night, and we ARE in a bad economy, and the event was maybe not as well advertised as it might have been, but still\u2014I missed the energy that a larger crowd would have provided. (I\u2019m sure the California and Vegas shows will be much closer to sold out.)<\/p>\n

Jobbing.com Arena is a fairly new venue, with excellent sound, and there\u2019s really not a bad seat in the house, so that was all a plus. There was a giant screen at the far end of the auditorium, suspended above the platform with the performers on it, and then a number of floor seats\u2014though less than half of what the floor could actually hold. (The whole back half of the floor\u2014after the sound booth\u2014was empty.)<\/p>\n

In any case, shortly after I arrived, the concert began\u2026and so did my gradual disappointment.<\/p>\n

Rather than play a selection of music from the entire LOTR trilogy with accompanying visuals, they chose to show the entire film\u2014the theatrical cut\u2014while the orchestra and choir recreated the film\u2019s score. (Obviously they had a specially edited version of the film that only contained dialogue and sound effects.) English subtitles were displayed through the whole movie. There was an intermission at the end of \u201cThe Council of Elrond\u201d, exactly where the disc breaks off on the Extended DVD, and the musicians played on through the full closing credits sequence.<\/p>\n

Let me go into the positives. Everything about the presentation was spot-on and uber-professional. (Not that I would expect any less.) I have not one single complaint about the quality of the music, the musicians, the performances or the overall production. Ludwig Wicki was an excellent conductor, the Munich Symphony, the Pacific Chorale, and the Phoenix Boys\u2019 Choir all acquitted themselves beautifully and more than did justice to the original music, and as for soloist Kaitlyn Lusk\u2014she has the voice of an angel, and the looks to match (I confess to being somewhat smitten). I simply cannot say enough positive things about any of them\u2014every person on that stage was phenomenal.<\/p>\n

And it is doubly impressive that they were able to play continuously for over three hours, so perfectly synchronized to the screen\u2014to a movie that I and so many others know every scene and beat by heart. To someone incapable of reading or playing music, such as me, that degree of recall, discipline, whatever, is truly breathtaking and astonishing. My hats off to all who made it happen so smoothly and seamlessly. Their work was magnificent.<\/p>\n

So then, why did I find the overall event so underwhelming?<\/p>\n

It isn\u2019t any one thing, it\u2019s a number of factors. First, I\u2019ll be the first to admit that my disappointment may stem in part from my mistaken expectation of something like the Star Wars concert\u2014though in my defense, I\u2019ll reiterate that this is precisely what much of the advertising implied.<\/p>\n

On the irritating side, the music frequently drowned out the dialogue completely, and while the subtitles made up for this, they also distracted throughout\u2014you can\u2019t help but read them, which de-focuses your concentration from the main reason you\u2019re there, which should be the music itself.<\/p>\n

Beyond that, though, it comes down to the simple fact that as technically impressive as it was, it was neither dynamic\u2014there was no element of \u201cshow\u201d to speak of\u2014nor emotionally engaging. The flip side to the fact that the musicians and singers produced note-perfect renditions of the film score is that, plain and simply\u2026I might have just as easily watched the film at home on DVD. If I closed my eyes, or used my hand to block the platform from my field of view and only looked at the screen, I\u2019d never have known there were live musicians playing.<\/p>\n

I suppose that could be read as a compliment, but for an event that\u2019s built up as \u201clive in concert\u201d, I don\u2019t think this is a very good thing at all. And in any case, if I\u2019m going to watch the DVD, it\u2019s not going to be the theatrical cut (though I admit, it was better than I remembered it being\u2014while it misses the subtlety, depth and nuance of the Extended Cut, I\u2019d forgotten how tight and relentlessly paced it was.)<\/p>\n

I suppose the best comparison I can make is this: I now have some idea what it might have been like to attend the spotting or scoring session for the film (discounting the presence of the audience of course). While that might be exciting for some, it wasn\u2019t for me. (Maybe if I were sitting in Abbey Road studios, soaking in the vibes of the Beatles, the Floyd, Rush and of course, Mr. Shore, it would have been different\u2026but I wasn\u2019t, and it wasn\u2019t.)<\/p>\n

But ultimately, I guess, I just expected more and better. And I am certain I\u2019m not the only one\u2026a number of people, including most of those in my row, left at the intermission, and didn\u2019t return.<\/p>\n

Let me make it clear: it wasn\u2019t bad. I didn\u2019t hate it. It didn\u2019t suck. It\u2019s always a pleasure to see LOTR on the big screen, even in its truncated form. I was just\u2026overwhelmingly\u2026underwhelmed. Because unfortunately, the total effect was neither as interesting nor as entertaining one might have hoped.<\/p>\n

To fans of LOTR thinking of checking out this event, please don\u2019t let this review discourage you. Perhaps you will have a completely different take on it. I\u2019ll say only this, go in knowing what to expect, and judge for yourself.<\/p>\n

To Mr. Shore and\/or anyone else connected to the event, please know that my critiques are not coming from a place of deliberate negativity. They are made and offered with genuine love and respect, and it is my hope that, perhaps, they may be of some value in future iterations of this event.<\/p>\n

And I do look forward to those future iterations. Even if there are no drastic changes made to the presentations of The Two Towers and The Return of the King (presuming they happen), I\u2019ll still attend. I just hope they do it\u2026better.<\/p>\n

Morphiaflow<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

morphiaflow writes: I live in Glendale, AZ and attended the premiere of the LORD OF THE RINGS\u2014FELLOWSHIP OF…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[15,14,5,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-events-concerts","category-events","category-lotr-movies","category-fotr-movie"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1tLoH-cLe","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49056\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}