Fresh from its World Premiere at the Royal Albert Hall on Monday, Danny Elfman’s Music from the Films of Tim Burton arrived in Leeds yesterday for a performance which brought the famous film scores to life.
Performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra under the baton of John Mauceri, Elfman’s compositions were brought centre stage and complemented by a backdrop of original film sketches, drawings and story boards alongside clips from the films themselves.
The visuals didn’t last for the entirety of the scores but this didn’t matter because we were there to listen to them in isolation, free from the iconic Tim Burton landscapes that hold our gaze (and consequently most of our attention). We could create our own imagery, sewing the illustrations on screen together to piece together the story as the storyboard will have shown it; we were reminded of the scenes that stuck with us the most via the aural reinforcement and when Danny Elfman took to the stage, we could enjoy his theatrical performance.
We were treated to delights from Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, Beetle-Juice, Batman and Batman Returns, Edward Scissorhands, Big Fish, Mars Attacks!, The Corpse Bride, Frankenweenie, Alice in Wonderland, and of course, The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Elfman’s stage appearance for The Nightmare Before Christmas score undoubtedly caused the greatest excitement of the entire evening. The man himself reprised his role as Jack Skellington and performed Jacks Lament, ‘What’s This?’, ‘Poor Jack’ and ‘Oogie Boogie’s song’ with Mauceri taking the role of Sandy Claws.
Seeing Elfman bring Jack to life before our eyes (complete with Jack-esque gesticulations) was mesmerising, he embodied the character in such a way that at times I forgot about the film visuals behind him altogether.
Whilst you may be able to hear other film scores performed by the likes of the John Wilson Orchestra, they don’t perform the way Elfman and the BBC Concert Orchestra did last night, they don’t pull you in as though a stage show would. This alone makes me wish that more people had visited the arena last night to experience the collaborative relationship between music and storytelling firsthand, to see the importance that this has in filmmaking and our experience of film.
Danny Elfman’s Music from the Films of Tim Burton will be stopping of at Glasgow SSE Hydro this evening and the NIA in Birmingham tomorrow. Ticketing information is available on Ticketmaster.
The first direct arena have a number of upcoming events with more being announced each week.
You’ve got me hooked – I had no idea it was all from Tim Burton films nor whom had scored it. Thanks!