The crushing tear of the mighty Orca's bow rang through The Mann Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia last Saturday. The Great White's destruction was projected in high definition as part of The Mann Center’s “Jaws in Concert.”
"Jaws," the original summer blockbuster, kicked off this season's Movies @ the Mann series. With the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia performing the score live, it brought a new found excitement to re-watching Steven Spielberg's 1975 classic about a Great White Shark marauding off the coast of Amity, which according to Mayor Vaughn (Murray Hamilton) means friendship.
Audience members were part of a full sensory experience as the Orchestra, conducted by Dirk Brossé, heightened the excitement and anxiety as they performed the Academy Award-winning score by John Williams. Even though I’ve seen the movie many times, listening to the memorable music being performed live made it feel like I was watching the movie for the first time.
As Police Chief Martin Brody (Roy Scheider) throws chum off the stern, he comes face to face with the shark. The music begins as Brody jerks his body up, a cigarette still dangling from his lips, as he slowly walks backwards to Quint and states, "We're going to need a bigger boat." The string section steadily builds as Quint and Brody scan the ocean, until the music erupts as the shark deliberately swims by the Orca. "That's a 20-footer," says Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss). "Twenty-five," says Quint.
Since we don't see much of the shark until the finale, Williams' music instills the fear of what is lurking beneath the dark water. It sounds genius now, but it was a necessity 43 years ago because the mechanical shark, nicknamed Bruce, could stall the moment it hit the water.
The concert reminded me of a “Rocky Horror Picture Show” experience. Many in the audience were wearing T-shirts featuring the "Jaws" movie poster, as well as button-down shirts decorated with tiny embroidered sharks. Fans cheered when salty sea captain Quint (Robert Shaw) dragged his fingernails down the blackboard at the emergency town meeting about whether to close the beaches, "Y’all know me. Know how I earn a livin’. I’ll catch this bird for you, but it ain’t gonna be easy. Bad fish." Actually the audience clapped for all of Quint's memorable lines, because everything he said (and sang) was amazing.
Just as the shark was chomping on Quint, a real life storm hit as thunder, streaks of lightning and buckets of rain surrounded the Mann. It heightened the excitement of watching a quintessential summer movie, while listening to a superb live orchestra perform the memorable score.
If you go: The Movies @ the Mann series continues this summer with three more events featuring the Philadelphia Orchestra including: "Star Wars: A New Hope" on July 20; "A Championship Season" presented by the Mann Center, the Philadelphia Eagles and NFL Films on July 24 (which a portion of the proceeds support the Mann Center's free arts education programs and the Eagles Autism Challenge) and "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" on July 26. For all Movies @ the Mann performances, audience members are encouraged to pack a picnic and enjoy a night of music and film under the stars.
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