ASO reaches far galaxy with Star Wars scores

The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra turned Little Rock’s Robinson Center Performance Hall into a galaxy not so far away Saturday night.

The extensively decorated lobby was full of stormtroopers and other denizens of George Lucas’ universe, available for photos. Many orchestra members were in costume, and so was a good share of the audience, wearing various robes and masks (including a few large — and small — Darth Vaders and a youngster in an inflatable BB-8 get-up) and brandishing lightsabers. A cadre of Imperial troops “dragged” a cuffed conductor Philip Mann to the podium.

The “Music of Star Wars” program, not quite as broad as initially advertised, skimmed lightly through four decades of big-screen movies but skipped the animated film and TV series and three made-for-TV films.

Almost all of it came from scores by John Williams, and cunningly exemplified Williams’ musical inventiveness

and use of themes and motifs to represent various characters as well as the richness and lushness of his orchestration and the cohesiveness that has successfully tied the films together.

The opening was a suite of bits from the original film trilogy, minus the “Imperial March,” which Mann excised to use for the costume contest parade. The rest came from recent films in the canon (including segments from The Force Awakens, among them the “Scherzo for X-Wings”; The Last Jedi; and Michael Giacchino’s score for Rogue One) that made for just as good performing and listening but wouldn’t be quite as familiar even to folks who had seen the movies. A big backdrop screen displayed Star Wars trivia and other useful bits of information.

The program repeats at 3 p.m. today at Robinson, 426 W. Markham St. at Broadway, Little Rock. Those in costume will be eligible for prizes. Ticket information is available by calling (501) 666-1761 or online at ArkansasSymphony.org/starwars.