onodrim

I did! It was a fabulous experience. I'm pretty sure the current tour will be over by Christmas and I believe it's already out of the states. However, having been "on the inside" I can tell you that they're gonna do the tour again in a year or so, and definitely hit all the big cities again, and maybe some different smaller ones.

If it does come back around, I *highly* recommend seeing it. The level of production that went into the show is unbelievable. The way it works is that the orchestra, the top-notch London Philharmonic, plays a piece exactly as you hear it on the soundtrack with video clips playing on the massive screen behind them. They weren't scene for scene, more just thematic snippits. For example, during Duel of the Fates, one of the songs I sang, there were clips of not only the Darth Maul fight, but other notable lightsaber duels and gun fights. However, it's all planned very specifically so that beats in the music line up with lightsaber hits, or other similar things, on the screen, and also various laser effects throughout the theater. In order to make this work, everything is timed out with a computer, so the conductor not only has his physical music score in front of him, he has an entire computer display that gives him the tempo (speed of the music) and shows him what's on screen at the time. I wouldn't want to have to juggle all that, quite an impressive job! Also, each musical segment is introduced by Anthony Daniels (C3PO) who did a phenomenal job, talk about charisma and charm. Anyway, the point is it's quite a show and certain to entertain.

Finally, having been backstage with the orchestra and Anthony Daniels (and even George Lucas who came to our show! I'm told it's the only one he came to other than the premiere, apparently he has a girlfriend in Chicago), and the production crew, I can tell you that everyone involved in this was incredibly friendly and excited to be a part of it. It was such a cool experience to not only work with such amazingly talented people, but also share in our mutual geekiness and love of Star Wars.

Oh, and if it does come back, everyone should come to see it in Chicago with my choir. Since the choir is only used in two songs, instead of traveling with a choir, they hire a choir in each city for the concert. In talking with the orchestra, we discovered that often the choirs are really terrible. Sometimes they're so bad that they cut the choirs mics off, or in really bad cases, dismiss the choir altogether and use a backing track they have if needed. However, the orchestra said we were wonderful and in the top three choirs they've worked with, woot! I might just be famous yet!

Here are two videos of my choir singing in Chicago. The sound and quality isn't great on either, and they're cut off early, but it gives you an idea at least. The second video doesn't have sound till :30 seconds in, let it load.



There are other videos on youtube of various performances, check 'em out!

(Oh, and if you're in Chicago and want to see my choir do something else, hang out with SecretMethod70 and amonkie on Sunday December 20th, and see Handel's Messiah, ticket info on apollochorus.org Okay, done plugging )

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"The world is so exquisite with so much love and moral depth, that there is no reason to deceive ourselves with pretty stories for which there’s little good evidence. Far better it seems to me, in our vulnerability, is to look death in the eye and to be grateful every day for the brief but magnificent opportunity that life provides"
-Carl Sagan