There was no way we were not going to this event. Only a serious fan would go to a concert to listen to the best of the musical scores of all six Star Wars movies (originally composed by the great John Williams), performed by the 86-piece Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra and Choir, while viewing a mix of clips from all six movies in perfect synchronization, and with a bonus laser light show. It was quite the production. To further remove any doubt as to what kind of fans we are, we even went as far as dressing up our toddler as a young Anakin Skywalker with a costume that his daddy picked up for him last Halloween, accessorized, of course, with a lightsaber that his mama got for him.
This very same lightsaber was wielded around by our little Liam (hoisted up on daddy's shoulders) as we tried to make our way through the pressing crowds. Anybody would have been annoyed to be on the receiving end of one of his jabs, but not any of the Star Wars fanatics we encountered. They thought it was all too precious to see our little Liam as the spitting image of little Anakin. I even spotted a few people taking pictures of our young "Padawan". Most of the crowd sported Star Wars t-shirts while others donned a full Star Wars-themed costume.
Oh, and did I mention we had floor seats?!, Uh huh, yeah, and right by the aisle, too, because aisle seats are a must if you have to drag your wiggly toddler to any kind of theatrical event. Yes, it is safe to say we are real Star Wars fans.
When the lights quickly dimmed, we knew we were all going to experience the best in sound when the THX trailer burst out from their high tech sound systems. It was quickly followed by the Twentieth Century Fox march theme. Then came the Star Wars opening theme with these famous words displayed on the largest LED screen, standing three stories high, that has ever toured:
"A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..."
These unmistakable words were met with nearly deafening cheers, applause, accompanied by loud whistling (mostly coming from my husband) and the squeals of delight and non-stop applause from our two and a half year old son who at this point was standing on his seat. The voice of James Earl Jones greeted us and introduced us to the narrator, Mr. C-3PO himself, Anthony Daniels.
It was interesting to see the different reactions of the audience. There were some humorous moments, mostly by the narrator whom at times flashed a gold vest whenever he went into C-3PO mode. At one point during Anthony Daniel's narration, an audience member near us let out the perfect wookiee growl after the mention of Chewbacca's name. For most of the time though, it almost felt like we were all at a rock concert. For my husband, who had seen the original Star Wars movie all of 15 times the week it premiered in Australia, twice on opening day, it was practically a dream come true. It was a spectacular show and worth every penny to see the expressions on both my boys, one of them who was teary-eyed. Guess who?
During the intermission, I walked with Liam a couple of yards up to the front to get a better view of some of the instruments. Then, he spotted some boys with illuminated lightsabers clear across the coliseum floor, so we maneuvered our way over there as fast as we could. As soon as Liam could make a clean break, he just ran as fast as his little legs could carry him, to join them in their "battle". So much fun!
After the show ended, we were dismissed with the Star Wars blessing of "May the force be with you." We made our way to view the exhibits that were positioned all around the coliseum, but the crowds made it nearly impossible to view them all. My husband, though, did not seem bothered since we had already seen a much larger and more detailed exhibit at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney when we were in Australia visiting his parents almost a year ago last December.
Here are some pictures* of our Star Wars-filled afternoon:
Having his fill of popcorn and cherry water (brought from home!)
Careful of the lightsaber-wielding Padawan! 
It's C-3PO !! 
"A guy can only be called 'Annie' so many times before he snaps!"(Doesn't little Liam look a lot like this child actor, Jake Lloyd? -That hair!)
Having a little lightsaber fun during the intermission 
I think Liam would rather go back to the children playing with the lightsabers. (A little smoke for the ambiance) 
The grand finale! 
Close-ups of the orchestra 
Dirk Brosse, conductor extraordinaire
Our little Anakin checking out Yoda
Liam was probably thinking, as we all were, "Dude, aren't you a little old to be doing this?"So much Star Wars fun! Still curious about this spectacular event? Read about it here and take a look at this clip!
*My husband has some great shots, so when I do find them, I will include them later in this post.
2 comments:
It looks like you had a marvelous time! I love how Liam looks. Can't wait to see more pictures!
Wow!! Cool!!
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