John William's Spectacular

Some background music (Themes from Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back, Superman, Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T.)

Enriching our lives with some more culture this year, we went to the Boston Pops John William's Spectacular concert last night. Aside from the cramp quarters of being on the main floor, where the audience sits cabaret-style and can order food and drinks (they really pack you in there), and some tall people sitting in front of us, the concert was fantastic!!



Well, we took advantage of the food they offered since we hadn't grabbed dinner beforehand, ordering the following:

- a heartily thick Roast Beef sandwich on Cracked Wheat Bread
- Tuna Salad on Cracked Wheat Bread
both served with chips and a pickle

- bottle of Cabernet & Shiraz Blend, Mak, Coonawarra


- and for dessert, "Gourmet Chocolates" which were quite the rip-off. We felt ridiculous for having ordered it.



Finishing the bottle was a bit harder than I thought (I ended up feeling a bit buzzed when we left), but it went well with the environment - just wining and dining at a live symphony performance. One person next to me did whine about the melodic music of Geisha being too slow to go with beer and food and therefore made him sleepy.


Here are the selections John Williams conducted last night:

A Postcard to Boston: music by John Williams, "A Hymn to New England" - they showed a short film showing sights of New England

Three Pieces from Star Wars: Main Title - Anakin's Theme - Imperial March

Selections from Harry Potter: Hedwig's Theme - Aunt Marge's Waltz - Harry's Wondrous World

~Intermission~

Jim's New Life, from Empire of the Sun

Suite from Memoirs of a Geisha: Sayuri's Theme, The Chairman's Waltz, Brush on Silk

Flight to Neverland, from Hook

~Intermission~

Monsters, Beauties & Heroes: music from King Kong - Jaws - Casablanca - An Affair to Remember - Robin Hood - Superman - they showed a slideshow of photos, the last one being Christoper Reeves as Superman, as they played the theme to Superman



Theme from Cinema Paradiso

Tribute to Three Legendary Composers: Theme from Star Trek the Motion Picture (Goldsmith), Theme from Laura (Raksin-Morley), Theme from The Magnificent Seven (E. Bernstein)

The Olympic Spirit - they showed video clips highlighting memorable Olympic moments

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We thought that we would get to see movie clips from the films as they played, but I guess they didn't get permission to use them. This is John Williams, though...and if any one should get permission, he should! His music (along with all other score composers') really make the movies come together.



And then, when we thought the performance was over, we had the AWESOME surprise of TWO encores. He leaves the stage after the Olympic fanfare, and comes back onstage, absorbing the cheers and applause, and then readies the orchestra to play again...the audience silences.

Then with just a couple notes into it, the audience roars with joy as the theme to Indiana Jones begins. It's amazing that all this music came from this one man we're watching conduct.

Cheers and a standing ovation followed. He stood on the podium, basically asking the audience, "One more? Do you want one more?"

and before the music played, I called it. His finale was the theme to E.T. - oh, it just makes your heart ache for more. Just thinking of all those scenes that go along with the music...

Loved it...absolutely loved it.