With cinemas closing left and right and streaming services continuing to upend the entire moviegoing experience, it’s great that modern-day film classics are now finding new life as multimedia experiences with gigantic screens and immersive live music.
That will be the case with E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial in Concert, which will be shown on Saturday, March 14, at 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. in acoustically pristine Steinmetz Hall at Dr. Phillips Center.
While the adorable alien from the 1982 family film directed by Steven Spielberg tries to “phone home,” a full complement of musicians from the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra will replicate, with perfect synchronism, the Oscar-winning soundtrack by the legendary John Williams.
Past features that have been reborn as orchestral events include Batman, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Orchestras use conductor monitors, click tracks and edited film stems (prints with isolated audio tracks for dialogue and sound effects) to make certain that every note is in the right place.
The print of E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial that’s coming to Steinmetz Hall will be a high-definition version projected on a special 40-foot-wide screen, thereby enabling attendees to see every crease and indentation on the cuddly title character’s furrowed brow.
Leading the Phil will be Australian guest conductor Nicholas Buc, who in addition to his extensive experience conducting live music at movie screenings across the globe, is a composer in his own right. (He’s a past recipient of the Elmer Bernstein Award for film scoring.)
Dr. Phillips Center is located at 445 South Magnolia Avenue, Orlando. For more information, call or visit the website.
