Featuring a live orchestra, the 1991 kooky film received its world premiere screening at the Royal Albert Hall last night.
This world premiere screening, with a live performance of the film’s score wonderfully brought to life by the orchestra who capture the film’s quirky charm perfectly was a perfect way to get Halloween celebrations started early.
With people even getting into the spirit of the film by dressing up as some of the characters there was eagerness on all sides from adults who enjoyed the film when it was originally released to kids who had yet to experience the film that was infectious.
It has to be said that the audience attending this concert were probably some of the best behaved I have ever seen. I went expecting quite a few people to move about going to get drinks etc – but the complete opposite happened as everyone just sat back enjoyed the film and the live performance from the orchestra who were equally enthusiastic.
Acoustically, the sound was slightly echoey making it slightly difficult to hear the film perfectly but also given the trickiness of getting the balance between the live orchestra and the screening to work in perfect synchronicity this wasn’t a major problem – easily resolved with the help of subtitles in case the audience missed anything.
But as well as the screening of the classic 1991, the concert was also an opportunity for audiences to really hear and appreciate Marc Shaiman’s wonderful score performed live. This was a joy to listen to because it is so easy to miss so much of it when watching the film at home and this was a great way to redress this balance.
Throughout, the orchestra were lively, energetic and enthusiastic, rewarding them with a rapturous applause at the end – with the crowd even joining in with the finger snapping tune of the iconic theme at the end. It can’t have been easy to rehearse and bring the score to life in perfect synchronicity with the film but there was not a hiccup in the proceedings for the orchestra.
Overall, this was a wonderful evening to celebrate film as well as the importance of music in film.