Showing posts with label Frankenweenie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Frankenweenie. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 04, 2014

Sights and Sounds: 'Danny Elfman's Music from the Films of Tim Burton' live

John Mauceri conducts Hollywood Symphony during a selection
from 'Planet of the Apes' at Nov. 2, 2014 concert in Anaheim.
It had been more than 19 years since I had seen Danny Elfman in concert before I caught the legendary singer-songwriter/composer at Honda Center in Anaheim on Sunday, Nov. 2, 2014.
Indeed, as hard as it is to believe, it was on Halloween night (Oct. 31, 1995) when I was fortunate to cover Oingo Boingo's final performance at Universal Amphitheater in Los Angeles. That show, which if memory serves me well, ran an amazing 3 hours and 40 minutes, WITHOUT an intermission. It remains one of the most amazing rock shows I've ever attended.


Danny Elfman, lower left, singing selection from
'Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas' at
Honda Center on Nov. 2, 2014.
Fast forward nearly two decades to Danny Elfman's Music from the Films of Tim Burton that was being staged at the Honda Center (the final stop that included shows at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1).
The program itself was very impressive with conductor John Mauceri leading the Hollywood Symphony and Page L.A. Choir through a two-part program in musical selections from many of Burton's most classic films. From the fun and spirited selections from Pee-Wee's Big Adventure and Mars Attacks to more romantic scores such as Big Fish, Planet of the Apes and Frankenweenie, it was a thrill to hear Elfman's film music performed live in front of a large audience that was eager to hear it. 
The highlight of the evening was the chance to see and hear Elfman in person. He performed the majority of songs from Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas with a passion and zeal that befitted his engaging personality. Hearing his live performances of the wistful "Jack's Lament," jubilant "What's This?" and "Oogie Boogie Song" (the latter which he wrote but didn't sing in the film) was sheer joy. 

While Elfman will likely never reform the groundbreaking Oingo Boingo again, my suggestion is catch him next time he participates in a tribute to his film scores. That experience is a great one too.

Story and photo: Robert Kinsler

Friday, August 30, 2013

Danny Elfman to sing 'Nightmare Before Christmas' classics on Halloween

I hope everybody has a great weekend. Here is some pretty exciting news to send you on your way. I was at the fabled final performance from Oingo Boingo on October 31, 1995 and it was one of the concert events of a lifetime...

Danny Elfman's music from the films of director Tim Burton to be featured at Nokia Live in Los Angeles on October 31, 2013

Danny Elfman to perform for first time since Halloween night, October 31, 1995 

Celebrate Halloween 2013 with Danny Elfman’s Music from the Films of Tim Burton, a unique concert with the Hollywood Studio Symphony and the Page LA Choir conducted by John Mauceri, for one night only at the Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE on Thursday, October 31 at 8:15 pm.

The program includes newly created suites from all fifteen film collaborations of the legendary composer Danny Elfman and visionary director Tim Burton.  Elfman himself will perform his songs from “The Nightmare Before Christmas.”  He was the singing voice of Jack Skellington in the 1993 classic film.  The concert will be accompanied with large screen film clips, and the artwork of Tim Burton.

This will be Elfman’s first live U.S. performance since his Farewell: Live from the Universal Amphitheatre concert with Oingo Boingo on Halloween, 1995, and the West Coast debut of this concert.  The Nokia concert will follow the world premiere of this concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall, which has already completely sold out.

Danny Elfman's Music From The Films Of Tim Burton is produced by Columbia Artists Management Inc & Kraft- Engel Management.   Dates for a national tour of this concert are to be announced.

Tickets priced from $45.00 go on sale Friday, September 13 at 10am through
 AXS.com, and by phone at (888) 929-7849.  Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE is located at 777 Chick Hearn Ct., Los Angeles, CA 90015.  

There will be music from Batman, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Beetlejuice, Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, Alice In Wonderland and others on the program.   Among the most popular films of our times, the films featured in this concert have grossed over $3.5 billion dollars worldwide.

The concert is conducted by John Mauceri featuring the 87-piece Hollywood Symphony Orchestra and 45-member Page LA Choir.  Mr. Mauceri, regarded as one of the world’s leading conductors of live film music, was Director of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra for 15 years.  For his farewell concert in 2006 Mauceri commissioned Danny Elfman to compose The Overeager Overture.  Mauceri also conducted the recording of Elfman's classical work, Serenada Schizophrana.

Danny Elfman and Tim Burton's collaboration has spanned 27 years from Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985) through Frankenweenie (2012).  They are currently working together on Big Eyes starring Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz about painter Margaret Keane for 2014.

Elfman won the Grammy Award for Batman.  He has been nominated four times for the Academy Award for Best Score for Milk, Good Will Hunting, Men In Black and Tim Burton's Big Fish and nominated for three Golden Globes for Alice In Wonderland, Big Fish and The Nightmare Before Christmas.   The retrospective box set Danny Elfman & Tim Burton's 25th Anniversary Music Boxfrom Warner Bros. Records was nominated for a Grammy.  Elfman’s recent scores include Silver Linings Playbook and Oz: The Great And Powerful.


About Danny Elfman and John Mauceri

Over the last 30 years, four-time Oscar nominee Danny Elfman has established himself as one of the most versatile and accomplished film composers in the industry. He has collaborated with such directors as Tim Burton, Gus Van Sant, Sam Raimi, Paul Haggis, Ang Lee, Rob Marshall, Guillermo del Toro, Brian De Palma, and Peter Jackson.

Beginning with his first score on Tim Burton’s Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, Elfman has scored a broad range of films, including: Milk (Oscar nominated), Good Will Hunting (Oscar nominated), Big Fish (Oscar nominated), Men in Black (Oscar nominated), Edward ScissorhandsWantedCharlie and the Chocolate FactoryMission: ImpossiblePlanet of the ApesA Simple PlanTo Die ForSpider-Man (1 & 2), Batman, Dolores Claiborne, Sommersby, Chicago, Dick Tracy, The Nightmare Before Christmas and Alice in Wonderland.

Elfman's most recent projects include Silver Linings Playbook, Oz: The Great And Powerful, Hitchcock, Epic, and the Errol Morris Documentary The Unknown Known: The Life And Times Of Donald Rumsfeld.

A native of Los Angeles, Elfman grew up loving film music. He travelled the world as a young man, absorbing its musical diversity. He helped found the band Oingo Boingo, and came to the attention of a young Tim Burton, who asked him to write the score for Pee-wee’s Big Adventure. (28 years later, the two have forged one of the most fruitful composer-director collaborations in film history.) In addition to his film work, Elfman wrote the iconic theme music for The Simpsons and Desperate Housewives. He also composed a ballet, Rabbit and Rogue, choreographed by Twyla Tharp, a symphony Serenada Schizophrana for Carnegie Hall, an overture The Overeager Overture for the Hollywood Bowl, and, most recently, Iris—a Cirque du Soleil show at Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre. Danny Elfman’s music from the films of Tim Burton will be having its concert premiere at London’s Royal Albert Hall. “Having a particular style is not bad,” says Elfman, “but I prefer to push myself in the direction of being a composer who you never know what he’s doing next.”

John Mauceri’s distinguished and extraordinary career has brought him not only to the world’s greatest opera companies and symphony orchestras, but also to the musical stages of Broadway and Hollywood, as well as the most prestigious halls of academia. Regarded as the world’s leading performer of the music of Hollywood’s émigré composers, he has taken the lead in the preservation and performance of many kinds of music and has supervised/conducted premieres by composers as diverse as Debussy, Stockhausen, Korngold, Bernstein, Hindemith, Elfman, Ives, and Shore. As an accomplished recording artist, John Mauceri has over 70 albums to his name, and is the recipient of Grammy, Tony, Olivier, Drama Desk, Edison, Cannes Classique, Billboard, two Diapasons d’Or, two Emmys, and four Deutsche Schallplatten Awards.
 
Danny Elfman