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It was George Lucas who once said that Star Wars could be viewed as a silent movie, without the need for sound effects. But it's telling that he couldn't envisage the trilogies without the music, and tonight the grand themes of John Williams were showcased in the most spectacular manner imaginable. |
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The enormous O2
Arena in London - officially the worlds most popular and successful
music venue - played host to the opening night of a Star Wars
spectacular that's set to travel the globe. |
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Friday 10th April 2009 |
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| Mark - "It's a fair drive down from Lightsabre Towers in Lichfield to the O2 Arena in Greenwich, about 2 hours 40 according to my trusty TomTom, but I managed to get to the show about around 6.30pm. As the photo's show, the weather was less than complimentary, more like Kamino weather than Tatooine, but I didn't care. Tonight was the opening night of Star Wars: A Musical Journey, and a sky full of typically British weather wasn't going to dampen that." | |||||||||
| James - "For us it’s about an hour’s drive from North London down to Greenwich. I’d already done it once this week when I was lucky enough to watch the rehearsals on Wednesday so I knew where we were going, although we too relied on TomTom to ensure we navigated the field of speed safety camera on the approach to the Blackwall Tunnel." | |||||||||
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| Mark - "Never having been to the O2, and only having seen it flying into London from above or from a distance at Celebration Europe a couple of years back, I was really taken by the scale of the building. It's taken a lot of flak over the years - the phrase 'white elephant' springs to mind - but the manner in which the venue has turned around from being widely derided into becoming this planets premiere music venue is certainly to be applauded." | |||||||||
| James - "I agree, things have really turned around for this venue and it was probably the best choice for this type of event. My only complaint was the lack of signposts for parking when you arrive at the venue. I’m glad I was there earlier in the week as it made it easier to navigate on this return trip. I still think there’s a lot more to be made of the area around the arena – only one side has been developed with a Cinema, the Body Works exhibit and a plethora of restaurants." | |||||||||
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James - "We’d got there quite
a bit earlier on as we wanted to avoid any traffic as there were issues
with the Jubilee line. We’d decided to make an afternoon of it and we
took a picnic. We also had to photograph the remainder of the exhibition
which accompanies the show and will companion the Musical on its World
Tour. It was here that we also caught up with the curator of the exhibit and former Lucasfilm employee David Iskra. The children really loved the exhibit and enjoyed getting up close and personal with Vader, Chewbacca, C-3PO and the Ewoks especially. We then made our way to the VIP lounge where we caught up with our dear friend Jeremy Bulloch and his wife Maureen and we spoke about many things including his 10th grandchild that was born in early February.” |
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| Mark - "I managed to get James on the phone, grabbed my ticket from the guest list and wandered into the VIP lounge where after catching up with James and his lovely family he introduced me to David Cox of The Outside Organisation, who were in charge of media and publicity for the event. David was rushed off his feet but took a minute to say hi, which was much appreciated. We chatted for a few minutes, and then it was 7.15pm and time to go into the auditorium for the show." | |||||||||
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Mark
- "In front of the stage was a huge drape, hiding the stage from
our view, and as the auditorium filled there was an audible buzz of
excitement. After watching Jeremy Bulloch and wife walk through the crowd to their seat I got chatting to the guy next to me who turned out to be David Sinclair, music critic for The Times. During the show we swapped notes and it was a pleasant opportunity to be able to put my Star Wars knowledge to good use." |
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| James - "We sat practically opposite Mark on the other side of the stage. We had a great view of the whole auditorium and we watched in excitement as it started to fill up. Every few moments there were sounds of lightsabres being ignited and fighters flying overhead helping to build tension before the start." | |||||||||
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Mark
- "Ok
- show time. The lights dropped and the THX intro boomed out,
followed by the familiar 20th Century Fox fanfare, played live.
Then on the screen, the worlds largest, the words 'A long time ago in a
galaxy far, far away...'
appeared and the crowd went wild as the curtain shifted to reveal the
80-piece Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Dirk Brossè,
blasting into the 'Main Title' from A New Hope." Accompanying the music on the screen were images from all six movies, light bathing the orchestra as the cameras gave us a panoramic view of the Royal Philharmonic at work. The intro ended with the closing notes of Return of the Jedi, indicating that the music we would hear tonight would be concert pieces and not exact replicas of the film orchestration." |
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| James - "I’d seen the opening at Elstree and I knew what to expect. The curtain reveal is like a huge mouth opening up to reveal the stage, orchestra and screen. I watched my children’s faces as they looked on in awe as the show started and they both sat on the edge of the seat completely captivated about what was literally unfolding around them. As the last note played Anthony Daniels was introduced to the audience.” | |||||||||
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| Mark - "Our host Anthony Daniels arrived on stage, looking as dapper as ever. No cue cards, no autocue, just a radio mike and 20,00 fans to please Anthony launched into a dramatic narration introducing us to the story of Star Wars, starting right at the beginning with 'Duel of the Fates'. | |||||||||
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| The stage suddenly opened up to reveal huge side screens packed with action from the movies and scenes from The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones. | |||||||||
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| The next piece focused on Anakin, with 'Padme Meets Anakin' focusing on our young hero right through The Phantom Menace and up to the death of Qui-Gon on Naboo. | |||||||||
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| Our next piece gave Anthony Daniels a great opportunity to describe to great effect the genius and sheer brilliance of a certain golden protocol droid, much to the comic dismay of conductor Brossè who gave him a withering look. Classic moment which really set the warm tone for the night. | |||||||||
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| To accompany the images, focussing on Droids throughout the saga, the Royal Philharmonic played 'The Moisture Farm' from A New Hope, with images taken from not only all six films but also all versions - the macrobinoculars still had their numbering in English and not aurebesh. Again this piece was a concert piece, reworking the length and ending with a great shot of the Rockwart from Return of the Jedi eating his evening snack and belching happily. | |||||||||
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Next Anthony introduced Anakins' skills as a pilot, which focussed on
the legendary Boonta Eve Classic from The Phantom Menace. The
orchestra boomed out 'The Flag Parade', and it really began to set in that
there's nothing quite like hearing an 80-piece orchestra going at it
full tilt. Again a concert piece, there were some very unfamiliar
pieces in here which makes me certain there will be a CD release of
Musical Journey somewhere down the line - we're being introduced to
snippets of unheard music here tonight. Next up Anthony introduces the tragic love story of Anakin and Padme with 'Across the Stars', accompanied by gorgeous images from the prequels and highlighting the tragedy of Anakin's downfall and the ruination of their love. |
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'Battle of the Heroes' bombastically detailed the next segment as we
watched Anakin and Obi-Wan go at it in Revenge of the Sith, interspersed
with sepia images from The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones to
illustrate just how far young Anakin had fallen, from The Chosen One to
the man who would bring down the Republic. Finally before the intermission Anthony brought our rapt attention to the evil Empire. The Republic has been eaten from within and turned into the Empire, and the familiar chug of 'The Imperial March' ran alongside some very inventive use of production images and artwork mixed with classic trilogy scenes." |
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| Mark - "Intermission over we launched back into the galaxy far, far away with 'The Clash of Lightsabres', music taken from the fight between Luke and Vader at the climax of The Empire Strikes Back. To the delight of the audience, a laser show began, blasting green laser light into the O2 Arena in time to the music. The orchestration of the show was dazzling - as images appeared on the screen the music cues nailed them every time. Fantastic work all round. | |||||||||
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Anthony Daniels returned and mentioned a legendary starship piloted by a
certain cocky smuggler - Han Solo and the Millennium Falcon -
it's at this point that Anthony opens
his jacket to reveal a golden waistcoat and impersonates C-3PO declaring
"The odds of successfully navigating an
asteroid field are approximately 3720 to 1". The
crowd roared and applauded their approval as we corkscrewed our stock light
into 'The Asteroid Field' from The Empire Strikes Back, with classic
images of Obi-Wan tackling the Geonosis asteroid belt, the Death Star
run from Return of the Jedi and shots from the Pod Race thrown in for
good measure. The thrill of the chase is evident in all of Lucas'
films, and that's displayed brilliantly here Next segment shined a light on Princess Leia with the concert piece 'Princess Leia's Theme', beautifully played and phrased. Images from A New Hope, Empire and Jedi accompanied the piece alongside production art and illustrations. A gorgeous piece of music choreographed perfectly by the images. |
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| Anthony turned our attention from Leia to her twin brother Luke - the hero of the second trilogy - as we We're treated to one of the classic themes from A New Hope, 'Binary Sunset'. A dreamers theme, showing Luke's frustration and eagerness to see what's beyond the horizon we're suddenly treated to a rendition of the 'Cantina Band' music, with images from both A New Hope and Jabba's Palace of Return of the Jedi mixed in. This really got the crowd up and moving and was a great moment. | |||||||||
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With a smile at the corner of his lips Anthony introduced the next
segment, focusing on Yoda. At this the crowd broke into loud
applause and cheers as 'Yoda's Theme' played out to images of the
diminutive Jedi Master training Luke on Dagobah, alongside gorgeous
artwork of Yoda by Ralph McQuarrie, Marie Severin and Tsuneo Sanda
amongst others. The Empire was the focus of the next piece with the triumphant music 'Superstructure Chase' from the climax of Return of the Jedi as the second Death Star was destroyed and the first attacked in A New Hope. The Battle of Hoth was seen as we realise the awesome might of the Galactic Empire. |
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Anthony returned to remind us of the saga's two twins - 'our only hope'
and 'another' - Luke and Leia. The concert piece 'Luke and Leia'
ran with images of brother and sister from the three films and
highlighted the close relationship between the two long-lost siblings. 'Forest Battle' was the music on show in the next segment as the Battle of Endor raged on and above the forest moon. A concert piece included on the original releases of the soundtrack, this was interspersed with images of the Battle of Naboo and the Gungans fighting back, a very similar battle both thematically and structurally from The Phantom Menace. |
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'Light of the Force' from Return of the Jedi played alongside images of
Vader's death on the second Death Star, and we were thrown back to sepia scenes
of Anakin from The Phantom Menace and shown again his downfall from
Chosen One to redeemed Jedi Master. A very touching piece, the
images were excellently chosen. We were on the last segment and Anthony Daniels addressed the crowd with 'May the Force be with you, always'. 'The Throne Room' and 'End Titles' from A New Hope roars out alongside images of Vaders defeat of Palpatine and the galaxy celebrating. Another clever concert piece, this drops into 'The Birth of the Twins', their naming and 'Padme's Destiny', the closing music from Revenge of the Sith before bowing out with poster images of all six films, the score's recording dates and images of George Lucas and John Williams together. The crowd react with a 20,000 strong standing ovation that lasted several minutes. The orchestra and conductor then took their bows alongside Anthony, and a very satisfied crowd began to filter out of the arena." |
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Mark
- "The
show's an absolute triumph. It reminded me of just why I love Star
Wars so much. It's not only a part of the fabric of my life and
something I inhabit every day through the website, but it ignites my
imagination like nothing else does and it has done that since 1977. George Lucas wanted to be here for the show but couldn't fly in as he is busy in pre-production of Red Tails, and the maestro John Williams is booked up years in advance, but believe me when I say that while John and George might not have been here (even though Paul and Ringo could have attended) the Force was certainly present tonight. Click here for a brief audio review I recorded on the way home after the show. If it comes to a city near you, get a ticket. If you've got something arranged, cancel it. As a Star Wars fan you do NOT want to miss this!" |
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James - "I’ve
seen the show about three times and each time it just gets better and
better. The thrill of sitting on the George Lucas Stage at Elstree and
watching this for the first time was so special but seeing the final,
finely tuned production (no pun intended) with 20,000 other people, with
such an amazing atmosphere blew me away. There really aren’t enough
superlatives to describe how amazing this experience is. When I asked my
children (aged 7 and 9) their thoughts, they said it was better than any
of the films - you can’t really get a better endorsement than that. For me this was really something very special and it captures the essence of what made Star Wars such a phenomenon in 1977. Over thirty years later it’s still pulling the crowds and a new generation of children can experience Star Wars in a way that’s enlightening and simply spectacular. I whole heartedly agree with Mark, this is a show that no Star Wars fan can really afford to miss. Before we left the O2, I was fortunate to catch up with Howard Roffman, president of Lucas Licensing, and who we'd previously spoken to a couple of weeks ago. I thanked him for a fabulous night and he was relieved the first night was over, for him and everybody involved at Lucasfilm and Another Planet, it had taken a long time to get the show to opening night but from the audiences reaction and the broad smile on his face it had most definitely been worth it.” |
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For further information: Click here to listen to the Force-Cast Special Report featuring Mark and James Click here for Mark Newbold's report on The Official Star Wars Site Click here for Mark and James report on the Sci-Fi Channels UK site Click here for David Sinclair's review in The Times Click here for Kaleem Aftab's review in The Independent |
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