Today I had the pleasure of attending the Orchestra Iowa concert entitled "Disney in Concert". As the name suggests, the concert involved Disney music- but it wasn't just the music. There were songs, as well as pieces from the instrumental scores. Four vocalists, two male, two female, all amazing, were featured as well, on a variety of different songs. There was a screen in the backdrop showing clips from the Disney movie that the music came from as well.
The concert started with a medley of music from many different movies, and clips from an even wider assortment of movies- all accompanied by the talented instrumentalists of Orchestra Iowa. While this opening was fantastic and incredibly well-done, there were some parts that, if there hadn't been a program and the movie clips, I would have a hard time making out what movie they were from. And I am a die hard Disney fan.
A Tangled compilation came next, which featured a vocalist who was so incredible she sounded exactly like Mandy Moore, who voiced Rapunzel in the film. I have two complaints about this part: one, the film being played was behind the music during the song "When Will My Life Begin?", and that the part that included "Kingdom Dance"- the best instrumental piece on the soundtrack, was much too short- they only played the intro, while the song really gets good towards the end, and it was as background for narration/introduction to the movie- less than ideal circumstances for which to hear the song. In the movie, "Kingdom Dance" is a montage dance scene, not background noise for talking.
Now, I could go part by part and review each individual song, or I could do a broad, general review and point out some highlights and general comments. I'm going to do the latter.
Overall, the concert was very enjoyable for all ages, with excellent programming and performances, especially with the four soloists they had. They all had great voices, able to manipulate them in ways that only voice actors should, and sing in crazy voices that sounded exactly like the characters they were playing- one guy was able to make his voice sound like the Genie, Olaf, and Sebastian! One of the two guys managed to hold a French accent for the entirety of "Be Our Guest". The only thing that I have to say that isn't good about the four singers is that one of the two girls, the girl with the darker hair, had an indescribable 'thing' to her voice that I just didn't like- her voice just didn't sound as full or dark as the other girl's.
Besides for that, my other real complaints were that the canopy above the stage was blocking part of the screen, the clips weren't with the music, there were really annoying kids behind me, and, lastly, and probably most importantly, it didn't last long enough- I wanted more, especially instrumentally, with perhaps some Pixar music, or at least more music from non-princess Disney movies- the only one they truly did in that regard was Lion King.
For everything that was a negative, there were many more good things. Like the aforementioned singers. The orchestra itself was also quite good, with many notable musicians- shout out to Joanne Chadima.
The arrangements were quite good, and some of my personal favorites included the Frozen medley, "Circle of Life", the Princess and the Frog medley, the Sidekick compilation, and the Villain compilation. I know that sounds like the whole show- because it is almost the whole show! I found every second of this show enjoyable, and recommend it to anyone and everyone.
No comments:
Post a Comment