The Salt Lake City performance of Star Wars in Concert Friday night was quite a thing to see.  Taking place at the major Arena in Salt Lake City, the one that houses a professional basketball team of some manner, the mood was one of excitement when I arrived, along with Anakin, my son.

When we arrived, we were directed instantly to the museum area of the arena where we were greeted by four original costumes from the movies, some backdrops and a display of some blasters.  It made me wonder if the size of the travelling exhibit was based on the size of the venue, the crowd, and the length of the visit.  In any case, it was thrilling to see Darth Vader and a Queen Amidala costume, which were the centerpieces of the collection.  I’ve seen a few different Amidala costumes and the more I see them the more I marvel at the craftsmanship involved in making costumes for a film.

Once we got our over-priced popcorn and Dippin’ Dots, we dispensed with the pleasantries and got to our seats.  We were reasonably close to the orchestra, but up the right side and let me assure you, we had pretty good seats.  But seeing the way the show was designed, you want to spring for the floor seats front row and center.  The stage is designed so that there are pyrotechnics closest to the audience.  Beyond that is the area where the narrator (Anthony Daniels, whom I interviewed about this here) walks back and forth.  Immediately behind him is the orchestra, with the choir standing behind and slightly above that.  And then above and behind all of that is the screen.  From front row-center, you have to look through each element to see the element beyond it.  From the side, I was forced to split my attention between the elements, as though I were looking at a cross section.  I liked my seats, to be sure, and I loved the show, I’m just saying that if you haven’t seen it yet, understand that the show is designed for the center-floor seats and it’s worth paying extra for them.

The show began with the familiar chord of THX certification and the Fox Fanfare.  There was a pause and with a rush, the curtain snapped open  and the Star Wars Symphony Orchestra launched right into the main theme from A New Hope.  We were treated to images across the films and a light show that got progressively more complicated as the show went on.

The Orchestra was spot on in their performance.  In fact, the only thing I could say about them was that they were too perfect and performed the songs (with very few exceptions) exactly how we remember them from the movies or the accompanying soundtrack CD.

The music was varied from both the newer scores and older and played most of the strongest pieces in Williams’ portfolio, including three of my favorites, Across the Stars from Attack of the Clones, and Princess Leia’s Theme and Binary Sunset from A New Hope.  The fourth runner-up there was Battle of the Heroes from Revenge of the Sith.

Largely, the images matched the visuals in a way that made me connect with the story and the way they threaded the pieces together made a lot of sense.  They tried to tie the narrative in a very economical way and to tell the story in sweeping musical movements that were incredibly emotionally charged.

It’s a truly amazing thing to see an Orchestra playing any composers music for two-plus hours, but it’s doubly so to see an Orchestra dedicated to the music that John Williams contributed to Star Wars in front of the largest LCD screen I have ever seen in my entire life.

This is the sort of thing I’d go to see over and over again if it weren’t a travelling show.

Though they aren’t the best, I took some pictures from the event with my iPhone, in case you’re interested to see the set-up in the slideshow over at my Examiner page.