Film screenings with live music benefit all.
The romance of “La La Land” played out onscreen to a packed house Saturday at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, but the jazzy score was heard courtesy of the musicians who filled the Walt Disney Theater’s stage.
Pairing movie screenings with a live orchestra has taken off, and it’s not hard to see how this combo art form benefits both the arts center and the audience.
For concertgoers, it’s a way to see a favorite movie in a new light. Multiple Oscar-winner “La La Land” certainly struck a chord. Established film series, with built-in fan bases, have also proved exceptionally successful. Just last month, the arts center presented the original “Star Wars” with live music.
A Harry Potter concert series has proven so popular that the third installment was announced before the second had finished its run.
Fans show their appreciation by dressing up — Hogwarts robes, wands and a particularly striking Beauxbatons Academy uniform were all spotted at the “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” this month. For Saturday’s “La La Land,” more than one woman paid tribute to the distinctive yellow dress worn by actress Emma Stone as Mia.
For fans, these movies can create a sense of camaraderie; for the arts center, they help it achieve its mission of reaching different elements of the community. It’s fair to think that a portion of the audience, especially the at kid-friendly films, will never have heard a live orchestra play. With their familiar characters and exciting stories, these films are an effective way to introduce the thrill of live orchestral music.
On that score, “La La Land” didn’t fare as well as the movies that preceded it. The filmmakers made it tricky — with closeups of the movie musicians playing that didn’t always precisely match what the audience was hearing live. And the amplification in the Disney hall sometimes gave the music a slightly tinny quality.
But “City of Stars” and the planetarium sequence sounded lush and lovely, as did the overture that prominently features the lilting, ubiquitous love theme of Mia and Sebastian (Ryan Gosling).
About 150 people paid to stay for an after-party in the small Pugh Theater featuring eight musicians from the Dr. Phillips Center’s jazz orchestra. The space, set up with clubstyle tables, had good, bright acoustics for the mostly peppy tunes — another way to let folks sample the joys of live performance.