Raq! That's amazing!!!

I want to hear all about it!

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I'm really excited. A concert under the stars, with the Parthenon lit up behind us! I hope I can take photos. My DH found an article about it on TORN [link] although it doesn't say much.

Of course, now I'm stressing about what to wear, since it's a bit of a hike up to the theater, and most of my dressy outfits are designed to be worn in air-con.

But still - SQUEEE! I'm betting good money that we'll be the only people in attendance who saw each movie opening night, saw the Trilogy, and own all the soundtracks and EE DVDs.

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Performances are so fun there; I saw a modern ballet once. And LOTR symphany = SO MUCH BETTER than Yanni Live at the Acropolis (which album my MIL owns.)

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And LOTR symphany = SO MUCH BETTER than Yanni Live at the Acropolis

As we were finding our seats last night, one of the All-State folks was asking an usher, "Is this where Yanni performed?!?"

So, yeah, last night was the concert. The "real" one is tonight and all 5000 seats are sold out. Last night was a corporate event for All-State insurance. Random thoughts:

• When people say "the new theater" and mean a structure built in 191 A.D., you know you've got history.
• The skene, rough stone arches, partially fallen into rubble, looked a lot like the ruins of Osgiliath when viewed in context of LOTR.
• When they lit the rough rock face in reds and oranges, it was an awesome Mount Doom or Moria.
• There was a circular screen hung over the orchestra, where they projected artwork by Howe, Lee, and Tolkein. I loved that they used artwork instead of movie stills, but when pencil sketches are zoomed in on to a tiny detail and projected at 30' across, you can't tell what they are.
• It was really great to hear the pieces interpreted by different musicians than on the soundtrack albums.

The US Ambassador made a remark linking the Mediterranean with Middle-Earth (the Med is also "Middle of the Earth" in Greek), which struck me oddly, since he's about the last person you'd expect to even have heard of Tolkein. That, combined with the MC's description of the LOTR suite as "The most important classical work of the 21st Century" (um, yeah, not lots of competition) made me start thinking about the lasting impact of Tolkein's work.

I think we are too close to it now, but 100 years from now it will no longer be the sole province of geeks. It's getting away from that already, with the movies. The audience last night were not the people you would associate with LOTR, yet, whether they saw the movies or not, here they were, hearing the music, seeing the drawings of the Ring and the Fellowship and dragons and the map of Middle-Earth, and they weren't deriding it. And there were 450 people on stage who also know a bit of the story and world now, even if they haven't read the books or seen the movies.

PJ brought LOTR to the masses, but I think Howard Shore's work will carry into the future, and somehow legitimize it. The LOTR suite should become like the Nutcracker, something that everyone can hum the themes from.

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As we were finding our seats last night, one of the All-State folks was asking an usher, "Is this where Yanni performed?!?"

...

...

Of the Acropolis.

...

...

I have no words.

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I have no words.

Oh, are you sure "philistines" didn't pop up in the back of your mind somewhere?

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I think we are too close to it now, but 100 years from now it will no longer be the sole province of geeks. It's getting away from that already, with the movies.

And already, Tolkien was chosen "Author of the 20th Century," so we're a good deal down that path even without the movies, but I love the idea of the Suite becoming a new Nutcracker.

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It's funny, with the Nutcracker comparison, that my family has already taken on the movies as a holiday tradition (the whole trilogy on Boxing Day. Partly to avoid the crowds, partly as a detox from the rushing around, partly because we're all geeks). I could also blame the movie release dates, though.

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This past Christmas Hubby and I said, "What are we going to do on Christmas afternoon? There's no Ring movie!" Hubby added, "He'll have to do the Hobbit and the Silmarrilion, then."

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Oh, are you sure "philistines" didn't pop up in the back of your mind somewhere?

I have to admit it skipped through mine...although more at the times the audience applauded in inappropriate places, but whatev. They applauded, which was nice. Standing ovation, even, which was another thing I'd forgotten about Americans; they seem to give standing o's for everything.

The young boy soloist was pretty good, and the mezzo-soprano was awesome.

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