Whether you consider yourself a Sith Lord or a Vulcan, you can call The Florida Orchestra your master this weekend. The Orchestra is showcasing its spectacular show of Star Wars vs. Star Trek. Needless to say this concert series is a cosmic collision of science fiction’s most notable titles, but what would these films be like without the compositions of John Williams or Jerry Goldsmith? They would be be nothing but film nerds running around in hot, sweaty plastic shouting out "pew pew" and who knows what else. Without Williams or Goldsmith these films and shows would never have reached the epic scale that they achieved, and The Florida Orchestra emulates that epic scale wonderfully.
FORCE FED
Ranking cosplay band Galactic Empire's metal Star Wars remakes
Conductor Michael Francis and his orchestra nailed Friday’s performance on the head. The night started with the music of Star Trek, surprisingly, there were a good number of Trekkies in the theater, and the Orchestra gave them their due by making each score a memorable one. When it came time for the Star Wars half, Francis and his orchestra let their maestro show.
Each member showed not only their love to the craft but to the stories they were telling, in the orchestra there were Blue Shirts, Red Shirts, Yellow Shirts too but there were Stormtroopers too. When it came time for the notorious theme — and dare I say, immortal — “Imperial March,” Francis let the hate flow through him, bent to the power of the Dark Side and let Darth Vader lead the orchestra. To say that by this time everyone (and I mean everyone, children and elderly alike) in the theatre was having a nerdgasm at that point would be an understatement, it was beyond climatic and in terms of scope and scale the entire show was epic.
As if the music wasn’t memorable enough, before the show cosplayers showed their love of the franchise by walking the floor of the lobby, posing for pictures and allowing grown men like myself to nerd out before the show. By the end of the night everyone forgot about the tension between Trekkie and Star Wars nerd and they were one with the force of the music. Luckily this concert series lasts through the weekend, so for those in the Bay area who missed they can catch a show twice on Saturday, February 10 at the Mahaffey Theater or can finish their weekend off with a Sunday on February 11 at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater.
For more information on this concert series or any other music event, be sure to hit up cltampa.com/musicweek.
Until then, live long and prosper.
