Screenland at the Symphony prospers with performance of J.J. Abrams’ ‘Star Trek’

The Screenland at the Symphony series draws a somewhat different crowd to Helzberg Hall than the usual Kansas City Symphony performance.

For many, the sound of a full orchestra usually comes out of the speakers at their local movie theater. The audience for the Thursday night live orchestra viewing of the 2009 J.J. Abrams’ “Star Trek” reboot was rewarded with a ridiculously fun and exciting experience, a fantastic collaboration of music and film.

The performance was impressive even before it began, the instrumentation including reinforced wind sections, a cadre of players on piano, celesta and synthesizers, a full complement of strings and the complete battery of percussion, which took over more than half of the back tier of the stage.

An energetic audience was a multigenerational mix of the sci-fi series’ fans, and host Butch Rigby called for special acknowledgment for those audience members who dressed for the occasion in their Starfleet uniforms.

Award-winning composer Michael Giacchino (whose credits include Disney/Pixar’s “Up,” “Ratatouille,” “The Incredibles” and “Inside/Out” and television shows “Alias” and “Lost”) created a tightly knit score that supported J.J. Abrams’ film.

While this is not a stand-alone score, the bold, sweeping themes, tightly controlled harmonics, low brass-laden chords and brazenly clanging percussion affected an evocative musical identity, which the ensemble embraced with vigor and sensitivity.

Associate conductor Aram Demirjian admirably guided the orchestra, balancing the acoustic sound with the amplified output of sound effects and voices coming from stacks of speakers. He shaped the tension with massive crescendos and clean cutoffs. Demirjian and many key players had click track earpieces to help maintain cohesion (kudos to the production decision that ran subtitles with the movie).

Throughout the performance, the audience reacted emotionally, clapping after exciting rescues, chuckling at the deadpan jokes, breathless during moments of tension. The ending segment featured a return to the original series’ theme and brought rousing applause and shouts of approval. As the final credits rolled, one patron just shook his head as he stared at the stage, muttering “unreal.”

Without a doubt, the Kansas City Symphony proved that a live score is the ideal way to experience a movie.

This story was originally published November 13, 2015 at 12:04 PM with the headline "Screenland at the Symphony prospers with performance of J.J. Abrams’ ‘Star Trek’."