'Amadeus Live' And What It's Like To Watch A Movie With Live Music

It always seemed like a bad idea to me. Live music with a movie? Wouldn't that be distracting? As screenings with live music became more and more popular, I continually avoided them out of a stubborn belief that they would just be a terrible idea. There was no real logic in this line of thought; it merely existed somewhere in the mess that is my mind.And then I saw an advertisement for Amadeus Live with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Here was a chance to see one of my all-time favorite films, one of the best films ever made, Miloš Forman's Amadeus, a film that's filled with wall-to-wall music, with a live orchestra. It was finally time to give the movies with live music trend a try.

It was the task of the Philadelphia Orchestra, under conductor Richard Kaufman, to bring that godly music out of the screen and into the real world. Within the lofty heights of Verizon Hall within the Kimmel Center, the orchestra gathered on a stage beneath a screen and for the next three plus hours, presented Forman's film in a way I had never experienced. From the opening overture onward, the score was brought to wondrous life, not just via the orchestra but also a choir that sang the choruses of the various Mozart operas on display in the film.One negative worth noting: those looking for the best quality film projection are unlikely to find at it one of these screenings. Light used by the orchestra to see what they're doing inadvertently floods upwards and has a tendency to wash-out the lower part of the screen. It can be distracting at first, but I eventually grew used to it. Subtitles are helpfully provided in case you miss any dialogue drowned-out by the score, but these too can occasionally be distracting, and on several occasions, they spoiled punchlines to some genuinely funny bits of dialogue.Forman's film is remarkable for its ability to not just marry Mozart's music to unforgettable imagery, but also in how it makes us hear the music through Salieri's envious ears. By isolating certain instruments at certain moments, we are able to hear the brilliance that Salieri hears, and also grow contemptuous of the fact that we ourselves could never create such beauty."On the page it looked nothing," Salieri says at one point while reading Mozart's sheet music. "The beginning simple, almost comic. Just a pulse. Bassoons and basset horns, like a rusty squeezebox..." At this point in the film, we begin to hear the music Salieri is hearing in his head. It's a scene that takes on startling new lie when presented with a live orchestra. Because now we're not just hearing it, we're seeing it. We're seeing the musicians on stage take up their instruments and breath life into them. ""And then suddenly, high above it, an oboe," Salieri says, and on cue, on stage, the oboist begins to play. It's a transcendent moment, one of unimaginable power, underscored by Salieri's next line: "A single note, hanging there, unwavering. Until a clarinet took over and sweetened it into a phrase of such delight!"The audience drank all of this up as if consuming the finest, rarest of wines. I go to a lot of movie screenings, and more often than not, they are filled with the rudest, most inconsiderate audience members you can imagine, completely oblivious to anyone around them. Here, however, in this classic music setting, things were different. The audience sat rapt, as if hypnotized by the combination of music and imagery. They guffawed at the amusing moments – and there are many; Amadeus is a funny film – and were shocked by the startling scenes. At one point, disgusted with his inability to compare to Mozart, Salieri tosses his crucifix into his roaring fireplace. The audience collectively gasped at this, as if this rather tame moment were the most shocking thing they had ever seen. It was an absolutely delight, to sit back and witness not just the film and the orchestra but also the audience's spellbound reaction to it all.Would this method of delivering film and score work universally? I still have my doubts. The prime recipient of this presentation seems to be John Williams, with frequent live concerts of E.T. and Indiana Jones films making use of his iconic film scores. As wondrous and memorable as Williams' soundtracks may be, the music itself isn't so intertwined with the stories. Yes, Jaws wouldn't be nearly as effective without Williams' simple yet powerful theme, yet I continue to have my doubts that watching a presentation using that score live would be anything but distracting.Yet with Amadeus, it works, and it works beautifully. To see a group of talented musicians on stage, beneath the rolling film, bringing forth that heavenly music creates a more immersive experience than any headache-inducing 3D can accomplish. The film's lengthy runtime, complete with intermission, breezed by, to the point that as it came to a close I was truly saddened it had to end. Soon, when the credits had stopped rolling, I'd be dumped back out into the cold, unmusical world waiting beyond the lobby doors.For those few hours, though, I was transported and transfixed. I remain uncertain if any other film and orchestra accompaniment could replicate this experience in all its remarkable and engrossing glory. When asked at one point if he thinks Mozart's music is good, Salieri replies, "It is miraculous." Miraculous is as good a word as any to sum up such an filmgoing experience as this.