One of my fondest memories when it comes to a concert-going experience was back in 2011, when my family and I went to Star Wars: Live in Concert at the TD Garden in Boston. The music, being by John Williams and from his iconic score for the first six Star Wars films, was excellent, the audience was filled with fans both young and old, the announcer was a pre-recorded James Earl Jones (the voice of Darth Vader), and the whole event was hosted by C-3PO himself, Anthony Daniels.
Admittedly, though, I have to imagine that I was the only member of my family that felt in place at this venue; my parents didn’t grow up with Star Wars and neither did my siblings (or me, for that matter, but that’s a whole other story), so they probably felt the most out of place with all the orchestral music played against the sounds and sights of the Star Wars universe.
Well, after all these years, I now know how my family felt, because it’s more or less how I felt seeing the wonderful Disney’s The Nightmare Before Christmas with Danny Elfman at the Hollywood Bowl this past Friday. Don’t get me wrong. I really like The Nightmare Before Christmas; I’d probably go on record saying that I love it. But I didn’t grow up watching this movie every Halloween, and only saw the film for the first time last year. With all of that in mind, you can imagine how amazed I was this past Friday to see the Hollywood Bowl, with its capacity to hold 17,500 people, filled pretty much to the brim with people singing along while the movie played, the orchestra played along, and many of the original singers (including Danny Elfman himself) reprised their roles for the songs.
It was a fun time; The Nightmare Before Christmas is already a fun, darkly cute animated movie to watch around Halloween, and to have the original cast return to sing the songs that some fans can sing in their sleep is always a treat.
These kinds of concerts always interested me, since you could very easily just sit at home and watch the original film and the original recordings of all the song. But there is something more organic about a live performance.
For one thing, there can be mistakes; Danny Elfman himself made a mistake by coming in a full minute early for the “Town Meeting Song.” Of course, the reaction from the audience and Elfman’s handling of the situation quickly made it a forgettable hiccup of the evening.
In a live performance, you can also see these voice actors and singers relive the songs that they are known for and that made these characters so memorable. The two best examples of this were when Ken Page, the original voice of Oogie Boogie, and the original voices of Lock, Shock, and Barrel (Paul Reubens, Catherine O’Hara, and Danny Elfman, respectively), took to the stage for their songs. This is the time for these kinds of concerts; when most, if not all, of the singers and voice actors are still around and are still available to do these performances. You can’t hear Gene Kelly do a live performance of Singin’ in the Rain at the Hollywood Bowl in 2016 since he’s dead, but you can still hear Danny Elfman, Catherine O’Hara, Ken Page, and other voice actors who first brought the music The Nightmare Before Christmas to life.