Whenever we think of La La Land, a lot of us will remember the Oscars fiasco of 2017 where La La Land was mistakenly named the best picture over the rightful winner, Moonlight.
However, aside from mix-up that became something the film would be associated with many years down the road, there is no denying that the original songs and score have been somewhat of a ear worm for most. In fact, before Ryan Gosling gave us his Ken-ergy in Barbie, he was serenading us with his sultry vocals in La La Land.
While I may not be a fan of the film per se, I am definitely someone who appreciates the original scores in a movie, especially one like La La Land.
Unlike most symphony concerts where the orchestra performs the score in its entirety, this was a different experience altogether. La La Land in Concert not only featured the Metropolitan Festival Orchestra and a live jazz band who was conducted by the film’s original composer Justin Hurwitz, but also a screen which played the full duration of the film.
What this essentially means is that whenever Emma Stone or Ryan Gosling breaks into song on screen, the live orchestra will be accompanying them as they sing.
Even though this isn’t the first time I have attended such an experience, it was definitely the first time that I thought that the format did not exactly work for the film.
This, was largely in part to the singing being done on screen, which created a sort of disillusion for the live orchestra that was playing, and it was something I felt from the moment the film started with the huge number “Another Day of Sun”.
What would have felt like a great moment for the orchestra to shine became a bit of a confusion where I struggled to believe if the music that I hear came from the film itself or the orchestra on stage. This was something that kept coming up for me, all throughout the first half of the show, because there was just so much happening and I was unable to fully appreciate the score in certain moments of the film.
While I understand that the whole experience cannot be without the main stars of the show singing, it was hard for me to discern what was live and what wasn’t. I ended up spending a lot of the time looking at the orchestra just so that I can remind myself that it was a live trumpet player performing, and not the one I see in the film.
The second half, after intermission, was slightly better but that was probably due to the montages in the film which gave the orchestra and the score an opportunity to finally stand out. These were the moments where I could truly appreciate the nuances of the score and feel like the film is there as visual support for the live orchestra.
Suffice it to say that my experience at the concert was less than satisfactory but I might just be one of the rare fews who would have preferred this to be a full-on symphony-like concert, without the film in the background to distract.
