Seeing How to Train Your Dragon, a movie that I love, while the Utah Symphony performed the amazing Academy Award nominated score by John Powell live in front of an enthusiastic capacity crowd last night was so much fun! The Vikings on the island of Berk are regularly attacked by dragons but Hiccup (Jay Baruchel), the son of the chief Stoik the Vast (Gerard Butler), is deemed too weak and awkward to fight them. He is apprenticed to the blacksmith Gobber (Craig Ferguson), instead, so he makes a mechanical device which he uses to shoot down the rare Night Fury dragon during an attack. When he discovers that the dragon was only wounded, he can't bring himself to kill him and sets him free. He eventually befriends the dragon, naming him Toothless because of his retractable teeth, and makes a prosthetic for his wounded tail fin so he can fly again. Hiccup ultimately discovers that everything the Vikings know about the dragons is wrong and that they must join together to face an even bigger threat. The score features lots of booming brass and percussion with elements from Scottish folk music (I wish that there had been a piper on stage) but my favorite pieces featured beautiful themes by the strings, including "Forbidden Friendship" when Hiccup finally gets Toothless to trust him (this received lots of applause from the audience), "Test Drive" when Hiccup learns to ride Toothless, and "Romantic Flight" when Toothless flies Hiccup and Astrid (America Ferrera) through the clouds and the Northern lights. I also loved the piano in "Where's Hiccup?" in the aftermath of the battle with Red Death. Since the music is so epic, the experience of hearing it live while watching the movie is incredibly immersive! I guarantee that if you love the movie you will love the concert! Due to popular demand, the Utah Symphony has added two more chances to see it (in June) but you need to act quickly because tickets are almost gone (go here).
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