Last night I got to see the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas while the Utah Symphony played the score by Danny Elfman live and it was so much fun! I usually think of this as a Halloween movie (it is one of my favorites and I watch it at Halloween every year) but it also works really well for Christmas and this concert was a great way to start the holiday weekend! Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King and leader of Halloween Town, is getting bored with scaring everyone with the same old tricks every year so, when he accidentally discovers Christmas Town while wandering through the woods, he decides that Christmas is a more appealing holiday and that he should take it over this year. He has the best trick-or-treaters in Halloween Town, Lock, Shock, and Barrel, kidnap Santa Claus, assigns the rest of the residents the job of making toys, which are terrifying, and delivers them with a disastrous result. Will Santa Claus be able to escape from the Oogie Boogie and save Christmas in time? Only Tim Burton could dream up such a macabre, yet strangely enchanting, world filled with quirky characters brought to life with brilliant stop-motion animation. The sold-out crowd at Abravanel Hall was in a really festive mood and there were cheers and applause when each character first appeared on the screen (the Mayor of Halloween Town got the loudest applause), when Jack first visits Christmas Town, when Sally escapes from Dr. Finkelstein, and when Jack rescues Santa and Sally from Oogie! Hearing the Utah Symphony play Danny Elfman's iconic score was such an immersive experience! I especially enjoyed the chimes in "This is Halloween" (the people around me sang this song out loud), the themes played by the brass in "What's This?" and "Kidnap the Sandy Claws," the themes played by the woodwinds in "Making Christmas" and "Oogie Boogie's Song," and the plaintive melody played by the strings in "Sally's Song." I thoroughly enjoyed all of it! I don't think I will ever tire of Utah Symphony's Films in Concert series because attending these performances has become one of my favorite things to do! The next Film in Concert will be An American in Paris (go here for tickets) and I can't wait!
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