John Williams at Tanglewood
Film Night Tribute to Warner Brothers
By: Charles Giuliano - Jul 19, 2009
Tanglewood was packed last night, with a full house in the shed, and little or no wiggle room on the lawn for the annual John Williams Film Night. In the past it has been presented mid week but now wisely moved to prime time on Saturday night. For once this summer, it didn't rain. Folks eager for just a taste of summer and the great Tanglewood tradition jumped at the chance to spread their blankets.
During opening remarks Williams commented that this may have been the eleventh or twelth Film Night but he wasn't quite sure. He recounted how enjoyable the occasions had been to present his many scores for films and to arrange many of the classic compositions which have so enriched the medium.
For this program he assembled scores for Warner Brothers Films. It was incorporated in 1923 by four Jewish brothers from Poland. The original family name was Wonskolaser and they also Americanized their first names: Harry (Hirz), Albert (Aaron). Sam (Szmul) and Jack (Itzak).
During the era of silent film the first star for the studio was the dog Rin Tin Tin who was signed at $1,000 a week to woof, woof. The canine's producer was the legendary Darryl F. Zannuck. An early star was John Barrymore. On the verge of bankruptcy in 1927 Warner Brothers released the first talking picture "The Jazz Singer" with Al Jolson. The infusion of cash put the studio at the forefront of Hollywood musicals. The epics by Busby Berkeley sustained them through the Depression until in a driving under the influence accident Berkeley was arrested for killing three people. When the era of musicals ended in the 1930s the studio reconfirgured with the gangster films starring Edgar G. Robinson and James Cagney. In 1942 the studio produced a masterpiece in "Casablanca."
With such rich history to draw upon it proved to be a wonderfully delightful and entertaining evening under the stars. Today we discuss film or the cinema but when I was growing up we went to the movies. There were two theatres within walking distance of my home in Brookline, Mass.; the Cleveland Circle Theatre and the Coolidge Corner Theatre. Now and then I would make it to the exotic Egyptian in Brighton. On Sunday's the family would walk up and down Washington Street with the Paramount, Laughing Pictures, Mayflower, and nearby Metropolitan. Mom liked the foreign films at the Exeter Street Theatre. In a pre television era we went to the movies.
Williams always opens a Film Night with a medley of his greatest hits. The audience always applauds the few bars from "Star Wars" arguably his best known and most popular score. Born in 1932, Williams has to be the most prolific composer of his generation. He has won five Academy Awards and holds the record for most nominations. In addition to countless films he has also written for television including the theme music for the Olympic Games.
After the opening medley he performed a suite from "Far and Away" that conveyed traditional Irish melodies and rhythms. From an Andre Previn score he conducted an arrangement of the "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" with a violin solo by Tamara Smirnova. This was followed by the exotic "Devil's Dance" from "Witches of Eastwick." He informed us it was John Updike's only film script.
The first segment of the program ended with his score for "E.T. The Extra Terrestial" with 'Three Million Light Years from Home" "Stargazers" and the magnificent harp solo of Ann Hobson Pilot on "Adventures on Earth."
Following intermission Williams introduced Frank Langella who utterly charmed the audience. He said that he was completely surprised to be on stage in Tanglewood for the first time since the 1960s. "I just happened to be in the Berkshires, driving around in my car. Just happened to be wearing a Tuxedo, and wandered back stage. John Williams gave me this book (he showed it to the audience) which I am now going to read."
In several sequences Langella narrated a capsule history of the studio. The program started with Korngold's " Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex." On a screen we then enjoyed a montage of musicals including Jolson, Cagney (remarkable song and dance from "Yankee Doodle Dandy") and those Berkeley dance kaleidoscopes . Langella commented "What would that cost to produce today?"
Of course in that era actors, singers and dancers were under contract. During the Depression era those girls in the Berkeley extravaganzas like "42 Street" ate in the canteen and got just enough for carfare and rent. But it was a job. The stars fared better and there was a sequence devoted to one of the most successful women of her time Bette Davis. She became the first female president of the Screen Actors Guild. Langella made much of what Kim Carnes sang as "Bette Davis Eyes." He told us how a never produced play "Everyone Goes to Rick's Bar" became the classic "Casablanca" and the first romantic lead for Humphrey Bogart. There was a tribute to James Dean who only made three films "East of Eden" "Rebel Without a Cause" and "Giant" before he was killed in a car accident.
The studio's greatest all time franchise has proved to be Harry Potter which has earned a zillion dollar. The latest has just been released with two more in the can. Potter will soon be collecting Social Security or retire to the Old Wizard's Rest Home. It also franchised the super heroes like Batman and Superman.
The audience stomped, whistled and screamed until Williams and Langella returned. The actor cajoled the composer into performing "Dracula" which Langella quipped that he appeared in with a "lot more hair." Williams returned yet again with a bit of "Star Wars."
We went home whistling those happy tunes from a fabulous night at the movies. Until next year. What a treat.
Tanglewood this week
Tony Bennett performs on Tuesday July 21. This is a rare opportunity to enjoy one of the true legends of Jazz singing.
WEEK 4 (JULY 24-30)
GERMAN REQUIEM, DON GIOVANNI, GALWAY, AND TANGLEWOOD ON PARADE
In his final week at Tanglewood this season, James Levine conducts three major programs. On July 24, he leads Berlioz's Le Corsaire Overture and Harold in Italy, with BSO principal violist Steven Ansell, on a program with the Prelude to Mussorgsky's Khovanshchina and the dramatic Pictures at an Exhibition (orchestrated by Ravel). On July 25, Levine and the orchestra reprise last fall's moving performance of Brahms's A German Requiem, here to feature the distinguished Finnish soprano Soile Isokoski and German baritone Matthias Goerne, along with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus. On July 26 and 27, Levine conducts the Tanglewood Music Center Vocal Fellows and Orchestra, with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, in a fully-staged production of Mozart's dramatic Don Giovanni, sung in Italian with English supertitles. (A third performance on July 29 will be led by a Tanglewood Music Center Conducting Fellow.) These performances, like the 2007 production of Così fan tutte and last summer's The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, reflect Maestro Levine's commitment to preparing and performing full-length operatic productions with the talented young musicians of the TMC.
Conductor David Robertson and the BSO are joined by baritone Thomas Hampson and pianist Orli Shaham for an all-American program—Harris's Symphony No. 3, Thomson's Five Songs from William Blake, Barber Songs with Orchestra, and Bernstein's Symphony No. 2, The Age of Anxiety (July 26)
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Tanglewood on Parade is one of the festival's most beloved traditions (July 28). James Levine, Keith Lockhart, John Williams, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, and Leonard Slatkin share the podium for this lively evening of music by the BSO, the TMCO, and the Boston Pops. One of the highlights of the evening will be a TMCO performance of the Symphonic Dances from West Side Story, programmed in honor of Leonard Bernstein's 90th birthday year. The evening culminates in a performance of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture followed by a dazzling fireworks display.
As part of his 70th birthday celebration, Sir James Galway gives an intimate Ozawa Hall recital joined by his wife, flutist Lady Jeanne Galway, and longtime collaborator, pianist Phillip Moll (July 30).