Movie theatre now featuring live symphony performances

Previously on this blog I’ve written about the Metropolitan Opera Series that via a satellite feed from New York City, one can attend Saturday matinee live opera broadcasts at the Galaxy Movie Theatre in Nanaimo. This year the movie theatre has been expanding its offerings with plays by the National Theatre of England and ballet productions from the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. On Sunday afternoon I attended a live performance by the Los Angeles Philharmonic led by its dynamic music director Gustavo Dudamel from the iconic Walt Disney Concert Hall. The Disney Hall in LA is quite different from your normal concert venue. The audience seating in the theatre completely surrounds the performers. 

Like the Metropolitan Opera Series, the in-theater movie audience is able to experience up-close and dramatic camera shots of the event. Coupled with the superb surround sound system at the Galaxy, plus special interviews with the conductor and the Orchestra's musicians, the experience adds a dimension to the concert that those actually on-site in Los Angeles don’t get. The pre-concert interviews gave the movie theatre audience a unique opportunity to learn more about the music and the music-making process, as well as gain exhilarating insights into Dudamel's musical background and his phenomenal relationship with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

The program on Sunday was an all Tchaikovsky extravaganza featuring three orchestral fantasies or overtures inspired by Shakespeare plays - Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet and The Tempest. Apparently Tchaikovsky’s regard for Shakespeare was so strong that he tried to learn English so he could read the Bard in the original. On the performance four Hollywood actors were invited to set the Shakespearean scene for each score. One was Orlando Bloom who, as Romeo, wandered through the orchestra and using a stepladder climbed aboard on every elevated surface surrounding the stage. Anika Noni Rose as Juliet used a theatre entranceway tunnel as her balcony. Malcolm McDowell was perched in the organ loft as the ghost of Hamlet’s father. 

However not everyone enjoyed the show. I read online the Los Angeles Times’ music critic’s review of the concert complaining, “the video crew cared little about what the live audience saw. The detritus of ugly cameras disgracefully cluttered the graceful lines of Disney’s stage. A ladder, used as a prop, looked like something left behind by workmen. In physics, you can’t watch an electron without changing it. Similarly, you can't film concerts without changing them. This isn’t a benign business.” Ouch! I got the feeling he doesn’t want to share his city’s marvelous orchestra with the rest of North America. However, in fairness he did state “the next morning I couldn’t get the surging love theme from Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet out of my mind. So powerfully convincing was Gustavo Dudamel’s performance that he made it somehow feel Shakespearean, even though it really isn’t.”

PHOTO : Gustavo Dudamel conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra in an all Tchaikovsky concert broadcast live from the Walt Disney Concert Hall on Sunday afternoon to movie theatres throughout the US and Canada.

The movie-house big screen events continue at the Galaxy in Nanaimo with a classic movie series. On Wed Apr 6 at 7pm and April 17 at 1pm, Jack Nicholson’s One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) will screen. The Sound of Music (1965) plays May 18 at 6:30pm and Sun May 29 at 12:30pm. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) Jun 15 at 7:00 pm and Jun 26 at 1 pm. Spartacus (1960) July 13 at 6:30pm and Sunday July 24 at 12:30, and M*A*S*H (1970) Aug 17 at 7pm and Aug 28 at 1pm.

The Bolshoi Ballet plays live from Moscow on screen at the Galaxy on Sun May 29 at 11am with Coppella. On March 20 the dance/musical Lord of the Dance in 3D opens for a limited run. And if you can believe it, a production called Mulroney: The Opera plays on April 16. I’ve viewed the trailers and it looks to be a real hoot. The synopsis on Cineplex.com reads, “Joyously irreverent, Mulroney: The Opera blends political satire with an original operatic score. It is at once a comedy, a tragedy and always thoroughly epic in its portrayal of contemporary political life in Canada. Within the ‘Holy Grail’ of musical forms – the Opera - these stories, scandals and real-life politicians are finally given the larger-than-life platform they deserve.”

Purchasing my ticket to see the LA orchestra perform on Sunday proved to be entertaining in itself. In the box office lineup was a woman who asked what movie I was attending. I said the Los Angeles Philharmonic. She only caught the words Los Angeles and proceeded to tell me she’d been looking forward to seeing the movie for months. I realized she was there to see Battle: Los Angeles, which had just opened at the Galaxy. Rather than interrupt her I let her prattle on. She was a dead serious science fiction movie freak and outlined the plot premise to me in great detail. It got to the point were I believed she was convinced that aliens were responsible for the earthquake in Japan. Admittedly I enjoy sci-fi flicks myself and did take in the movie the following afternoon. 

If you’re looking for a mindless shoot’em up action thriller this will be your cup-of-tea. The plot – Aliens 

attack Los Angeles in August 2011. Where they come from is not readily explained. Think a mixture of Black Hawk Down, Independence Day, Saving Private Ryan and a host of WWII films - only with physically gooey beings encased in technologically advanced flying machines from outer space. This one has to be seen on the big screen or you will lose half the effect as the sound makes the film virtually land in your face. Not something that would even be considered for an academy award nomination but lots of fun.

To confirm showtimes and purchase tickets for all special events go online to http://www.cineplex.com/Promos/Onlineticketing.aspx

The following link was sent to me recently by a blog reader. It’s a wonderful story about a young English jazz pianist that was featured on the television show 60-minutes. Check it out at:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ak2jxmhCH1M&feature=player_embedded

Whistler experience unforgettable

Last week proved to be a little hectic so I skipped writing a Blog. Pat was flying to Calgary to adjudicate at a music festival and with the uncertain weather conditions I thought we might have to dash over to Vancouver to guarantee she made her flight. Flying in and out of the Nanaimo airport during the winter months can sometimes be problematic, although it’s improving with better high-tech navigational aids. Several flights had been cancelled the day before due to blowing snow. However the weather cleared in time for Pat’s scheduled flight from the island and she connected through to Calgary with little delay. 

While Pat was in Calgary my plans called for heading over to the mainland and chalking up some mileage on my new skis. I did delay leaving home due to the Academy Awards being on the tube Sunday evening. I wanted to see if my prediction that The King’s Speech would be the big winner this year would pan out. It did, although I was fit to be tied when some TV technician on the channel I was watching must have toggled the wrong switch and I found myself staring at a vulgar episode of Beavis and Butt-Head the exact moment the envelope for Best Motion Picture was being ripped open. By the time the Academy Awards came back on my cable service the show’s credits were already rolling. I had to check Facebook to see who’d won best picture.

Bright and early Monday morning I boarded a 6:30 ferry to Horseshoe Bay. By 10:30 I was standing in line at the Whistler Gondola Lift ready to hit the slopes. The mega-million dollar Sea-to-Sky highway built for last winter’s Olympic Games certainly has resulted in a quicker and less stressful drive to Whistler. With runs 10 times longer than those on Courtenay’s Mt. Washington I was a pretty tired (senior) dude at the end of the day.

Before leaving home I’d spent some time surfing the Internet looking for reasonably priced accommodation at Whistler. Not an easy task with the average rate for a hotel room in the area running between $200 and $300 a night and up. However, I eventually found a small Bed & Breakfast Lodge on Green Lake north of Whistler Village towards Pemberton with a surprisingly low rate in the $100 range. The young staff was very attentive and went out of their way to insure my stay was pleasant. 

When traveling I always read the local area’s newspapers. Scanning something called the Pique Newsmagazine, I learned that all the hype suggesting that the worldwide exposure given to Whistler during the Olympic Games would boost foreign ownership of real estate in the resort town has turned out to be something of an illusion. Research over the past year has shown an opposite trend, a movement away from foreign ownership. Assessments have also eased although that fact means little to a retired teacher like myself when I gasp at real estate ads showing price tags between 3-million and 5-million dollars. Before the Olympics there were 1,534 residential titles registered by foreign addresses. Today the foreign statistics confirm Americans own 883 Whistler homes, the British 158, Hong Kong residents 161, 16 by Mexican nationals, and 11 by Bermudians, dropping the total to 1,230. 

Before heading for the slopes on my second day at Whistler I was in contact with my brother Terry via Skyp on my Laptop computer.  He suggested I ride the Peak-2-Peak Gondola between Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains. First a confession - I have an inbred fear of heights. Just looking at a photo taken from the observation tower of the Empire State Building to the streets below can make me feel nauseous. When I visited Britain with Terry a couple of years ago there was no way he was going to convince me to ride The London Eye, a gigantic Ferris wheel located on the banks of the Thames near Westminster Bridge.

Map showing the Peak-2-Peak Gondola between Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains.

However, in spite of my height related phobia, just before lunch I decided to board the Peak-to-Peak Gondola from the Whistler side for the 4.4-kilometer ride across the valley to Blackcomb. Did I enjoy the experience? Quite frankly I found the ride absolutely terrifying and don’t plan to do it again, ever. Causing my knuckles to appear even whiter as I gripped a window ledge safety bar, was a jovial fellow skier who pointed out that the gondola was the highest lift of its kind in the world and we were dangling over 1400 feet above the valley floor. For a good look at the Peak-2-Peak Gondola check out the video on the Internet at: http://ww1.whistlerblackcomb.com/p2pg/video/documentary.asp

Don’t get me wrong. I love skiing and as long as I’m speeding downhill on terra firma and decisively in control there’s nothing more exhilarating. It’s just getting to the mountaintop while sealed in a plexiglass pod or openly seated in a chair preciously suspended from a thread of steel cable above the treetops that I find unnerving. 

The big storm that cancelled the ferries last Wednesday brought a ton of snow to Whistler. After removing over a foot of snow burying my van, I punched my way out to the main highway from my lakeside B&B. It was a slow trip behind a snowplow down to Squamish. Beyond Squamish the winds were howling at gale force velocity but the highway was clear of snow all the way to Vancouver. I had a ticket that evening to see the Broadway musical Legally Blonde playing at the refurbished Queen Elizabeth Theatre.

Based on the 10-year old movie that launched Reese Witherspoon’s film career, this live version of Legally Blonde had a fantastic cast of youngsters fresh out of American university musical theatre programs. If this is the level of talent coming from such programs the Broadway shows of the future are in good stead. Having a seat directly behind the musical director I had a clear view of the orchestra pit crammed with enough computerized hardware to launch the space shuttle, enabling eight musicians to sound like 25. My advice to music students – learn to play the piano because that’s where the professional show band work is these days. Good percussionists are also in great demand. 

PHOTO: Newcomer Nikki Bohme starred as Elle Woods in the musical Legally Blonde. There were moments when the whole show stood still when the dog she’s holding (the program credits pocket pups named Frankie and Chico) flawlessly performed a little trick running on stage to bark and then stop on cue.

I took a bit of a detour on my return to the island, taking the ferry to Victoria. Some panic ensued when my battery died in the parking lot before loading. However a BC Ferry employee jump-started my van and I managed to get aboard with only minutes to spare. 

Checking the Victoria paper for live entertainment and being a weekday, my choices were limited to some high school shows. However as a retired music teacher I’m forever supportive of young talent and decided to drop into Herman’s, a Capital City jazz haunt that’s been around for over three decades. On stage youngsters from the Esquimalt High School jazz program were performing their weekly Thursday 5pm jazz jam. I had a nice chat with the venerable Victoria pianist and vocalist Louise Rose who was at the club listening to some of the students she mentors. For those who don’t know Louise, she is a Victoria institution who in her younger years studied with the likes of Oscar Peterson, Duke Ellington and Leonard Bernstein.

PHOTO: Veteran Victoria jazz pianist and vocalist Louise Rose continues to mentor young talent in the Capital City.

Leaving Herman’s, I walked a few blocks to the McPherson Playhouse to catch St Michael’s University School’s production of My Fair Lady. It’s been many years since I’ve heard the musical performed with full orchestra and the students played the score at a musical level well beyond their years. The entire production was absolutely first rate – lively and visually stunning.

PHOTO: Olivia Krusel played Eliza Doolittle in St Michael’s University School’s production of My Fair Lady.