The Empire Strikes Back in Concert

I am such a fan of the Utah Symphony Films in Concert so I try to attend every concert in the series each season.  Last night Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back was shown on the big screen while the orchestra played the amazing score by John Williams live.  This movie begins after the Rebels destroy the Death Star.  Darth Vader searches the galaxy for Luke Skywalker, who begins his Jedi training with Yoda, leading to an epic confrontation between the two of them.  I love this movie so much and the experience of watching it with a really rowdy crowd, many dressed in costume, was so much fun!  The score is iconic and the orchestra played it brilliantly.  I was positively giddy when the instantly recognizable "Star Wars (Main Theme)" played during the opening crawl and so was the crowd because the cheering was very enthusiastic!  I particularly loved all of the brass during "The Imperial March (Darth Vader's Theme)."  This gave me chills every time it was repeated because I was so terrified of Darth Vader when I saw this movie for the first time.  I also really enjoyed "Han Solo and the Princess," especially when Han and Leia kissed each other!  The crowd was amazing and there were massive cheers when Luke, Leia, Han Solo, Chewbacca, Darth Vader, C-3PO, R2-D2, and Lando Calrissian appeared on the screen for the first time but the character that got the loudest applause was Yoda!  My favorite scenes were during the Battle of Hoth when Luke brings down the AT-AT walkers, when Yoda lifts Luke's X-wing fighter out of the swamp using the Force, when Leia tells Han that she loves him before he is frozen in carbonite, and when Darth Vader tells Luke that he is his father after their lightsaber duel.  It has been a long time since I've seen this movie on the big screen and I certainly enjoyed it last night.  This concert will be repeated again tonight and I highly recommend getting a ticket (go here).

Note:  Abravanel Hall was visited by Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) and Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) who were attending Fan-X next door!  It was quite exciting!