It’s hard to make a summer evening spent listening to the music of the greatest film composers unpleasant, yet somehow the Hollywood Bowl managed to do that last Friday night.
The “John Williams: Maestro of the Movies” concert last week incorporated many musical faux pas, and while some were unavoidable (like the Bowl’s hard, wooden benches and disengaged and chatty patrons), others were not.
The night began with Williams conducting music “From the Movies’ Golden Age,” with scores from such iconic film classics as “Gone With the Wind,” “Vertigo,” “Ben-Hur,” “Dr. Zhivago,” “Lawrence of Arabia” and “Now, Voyager.”
During the first half of the performance, various scenes from the films “Dr. Zhivago” and “Lawrence of Arabia” were spliced together and projected onto large screens. The effect was spectacular.
The music perfectly complemented the movie scenes, and the illumination of the Bowl’s shell with colors that matched the tone of each piece was incredible. When the theme from “Gone With the Wind” played, the Bowl glowed red and yellow with streaks of orange on the white arches of its dome, creating the effect of fire consuming a large plantation.
Unfortunately, the few pleasantries in the “Golden Age” half of the performance were short-lived and unintentionally climaxed the concert.
The second half, consisting only of music composed by Williams, featured music from unlikely films such as “Catch Me If You Can” and “Superman.”
Later, the music from the “Harry Potter” film series was played in unison to an odd mix of film clips that contrasted rather than complemented the music. If in a scene Harry Potter was battling the villain Voldemort, the music on stage was strangely cheery. If the film clips were of Harry with his friends or parents, the music became dissonant.
The result was an uncomfortable, poorly juxtaposed mix of music and images that created confusion for the audience. What Williams is so skillful at is setting the tone of a movie scene, but unfortunately the “Harry Potter” portion of the performance was the complete opposite.
Although the music from Williams’ lesser-known works was interesting to hear, you just can’t beat the classics. The jazzy score from “Catch Me If You Can” was an especially refreshing change from the adventurous, fast-paced music from the Golden Age films. Still, few of the films featured in the later half of the concert were films that many Williams aficionados would expect to see in a collection of his best music – something that characterized the fatal flaw of the concert.
The “John Williams: Maestro of the Movies” concert tried to be two things and in doing so failed to do either. It tried to incorporate different film scores not featured in previous years, yet still tried to appeal to the die-hard Williams fans who each year come to the concert excited, often with lightsabers in hand.
The result was a less-than-enthusiastic crowd listening to an unenthusiastic conductor. Throughout the performance Williams looked bored, only becoming animated in the encore – a portion of the concert many patrons missed. The wings of the Bowl were largely empty, whereas in previous years they had been completely filled – a reflection of the lack of interest when compared to earlier shows.
The sound projection of the orchestra at the Bowl was poor, even to the point of being barely louder than a conversation. It made the chatty kids behind and the octogenarian humming alongside perfectly audible.
Many of the charms of the Hollywood Bowl, though, are an inextricable part of the experience. Spending a night in the warm outdoors while picnicking is an essential Southern California summer experience. The concert, however, was not one of the Bowl’s most memorable.
In short, the magic of the maestro was missing this time.
