If you’ve had trouble getting into the Easter season this year, a trip to the Valley Performing Arts Center this past Wednesday evening would have cured your doldrums. Even Stewart Copeland, the famed drummer who composed the music for the famed silent version of the Ben-Hur film admitted during the Q&A before the show “even I, someone who’s not religious, was moved by it.
At the time, the Golden Age film (taking 3 years to complete) was the most expensive ever made at the unbelievable $4 million, while the cast numbered in the hundreds of thousands, which included then- unknown extras like Clark Gable and Carole Lombard. Thanks to the painstaking “defrosting” and editing of the film by Copeland, as well as adding his own exciting score, the timeless biblical story came to life before eyes that may have never graced a Sunday School class.
The 90 minute film, in and of itself, was fascinating in that color enhancements were used during the original editing to create various moods. Thus, you get a full color Nativity scene and Roman victory celebration, blue hued desert scenes and leper colonies, dark black and white severity of the Roman army’s strong arm and pink tints of gentle reunions.
Stewart’s score was conducted by Richard Kaufman and adroitly performed by the Pacific Symphony, with the addition of Nick Brown’s guitar and Copeland handling the “RAMMING SPEED” percussion. Reflecting Copeland’s introductory statement that “the music of a silent movie is music that flows,” the 90 minutes of music included Middle Eastern exoticism in the desert, thunderous poundings of Roman battles and imperialism, dramatic chaos of chariot races and agonizing walks along the Via Dolorosa.
The captivating mix of expressive faces, mood changing screen colors and dynamics of music made seeing a movie feel fresh again, even one almost 100 years old. And as far as its message, like the dialogue card said, “is the only true hope for this world.” It is as true today as it was last century as well as 2000 years ago.
One of the most surprising successes of the season. And this weekend is Palm Sunday to boot!!!
Upcoming events at the Valley Performing Arts Center include Cyrus Chestnut w/ Turtle Island Quartet Apr 04, John Pizzarelli Apr 09 and Savion Glover w/ Jack DeJohnette May 05