I don’t know how I missed this show when it was first announced back in the Spring, but I’m happy I came across an advertisement on Facebook a few weeks ago. It felt like I couldn’t text my friends fast enough and ask them if they’d be interested in going with me. I’ve never had a problem with going to a show by myself, but I knew that a few of my girls were HP fans and I figured they’d be interested in this live orchestration…well I was right. I ended up scooping up tickets for myself and Jas and when Saturday came around we were buzzing like kids on the first day of school. After exchanging a few texts back and forth about what to wear and ultimately deciding on all black we were on our way.
Parking downtown was a nightmare! I didn’t realize the show was sold out, but the almost full parking garage definitely informed us of that. We were finally able to snag a parking spot, and a great one thanks to our keen property management eyes and ability to read the details, and headed up to will call for our tickets. We were pretty high up in the theater since I’d gotten the tickets so late, but we were able to see everything! We had a great view of the symphony, screen and the choir. In fact, I would alternate looking at the big screen and at the conductor’s screen where there was a metronome on his and cue indicators. It was like the best of both worlds for me. My inner band nerd got a fix and I had a blast watching and reacting to the movie with other Harry Potter fans. We cheered and booed at the appropriate times, even cheering for Professor Snape even though we knew that he was a “bad guy” in this one.
I didn’t get a chance to snag a cup of Butterbeer before the show started, but I grabbed one during the intermission and I wasn’t disappointed. In fact, the who afternoon was quite delightful. It’s been years since I’ve seen a Harry Potter film on the big screen and the live orchestra with it only made it that much better. I would love to see the others in the series done that way, but I know that it would be a bit harder to do. The running time of the movies alone are a bit much, and adding in an intermission would turn it into a 4-5 hour feat. As a musician I know how strenuous that can be on your chops.
Anywho! I wanted to share the next best thing with you guys today. I came across this Spotify playlist a while back and listen to it whenever I need a good Harry Potter fix (especially “Hedwig’s Theme” from the first film) and I thought y’all might like it too. Take a listen below and let me know if you’ve seen a live orchestration of one of your favorite films in the comment section, or tweet me!
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