To test whether a live orchestra mixed with a montage of clips from
Star Wars on the world's largest video screen would have the desired impact, I had my own young Jedi with me Friday night.
He is, of course, the target audience of the
Star Wars In Concert show.
His reaction: a hearty thumbs up. Either that, or he was trying the Jedi Mind Trick on me.
I believe it was the former: I saw a lot of smiles on this 10-year-old
Star Wars enthusiast.
It definitely was a night for kids. Or the kid in all of us.
Oh, you'd see an adult dressed as a Storm Trooper or Jedi (I saw a girl with Princess Leia hair buns in the concession line). But throughout cavernous Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, scores of young Jedi Knights carried plastic light sabres and were swashbuckling with either a small Darth Maul or Boba Fett.
But when the orchestra played and the gigantic video screen lit up, the crowd of about 12,000 turned its attention to the show.
Irving native Mark Watters,
who was profiled in the Oct. 23 Irving neighborsgo, directed the John Williams scores and the orchestra sounded flawless, a concern given the concrete-and-steel stadium's reputation of sound distortion.
One of the biggest cheers came when concert host Anthony Daniels hit the stage. Not all of the young Jedis knew exactly who he was by sight, but their suspicions were confirmed when the Brit broke into C-3PO mode.
Our seats were in the stands. We tried the Cowboys Stadium floor where the orchestra played in the east end zone as a big screen illuminated behind it. Nah. It couldn't beat sitting higher up where better viewing of the massive video board made the show electric.
(With all the Death Star references and Emperor Palpatine appearances on the big screen, you couldn't help but think of this immense stadium and Jerry Jones and whether a proton torpedo could be fired into a womp-rat-sized hole somewhere ... nah. Never mind. I was
Star Wars geeking.)
I heard a few grumblings that the show wasn't as impressive as it could have been. That might have to do more with the scope of the stadium rather than the effort. The concert should play stronger in small venues.
The only glitch might have been at the end of the performance. Daniels and Watters took their bows and exited stage right. Parents and young Jedis delivered a standing ovation, but not an extended one as they turned their attention to a quick exit.
As the applause waned, Daniels and Watters reappeared for a curtain call. The crowd, most perhaps unfamiliar with traditional stage-style curtain calls, seemed a little confused.
Awk-warrrrd. But when Daniels announced that they weren't done, the crowd settled back in and parents pocketed the SUV keys.
When the credits appeared on the big screens, everyone bolted into the cool evening, hopeful of using Jedi Mind Tricks on confused stadium parking-lot attendants.
