john williams for president
Last night I saw the world premiere of Jaws In Concert at Boston's Symphony Hall. (Sorry, that sentence is a bit much, but how can one not drop the phrase "world premiere" into conversation/blog posts when it's at their disposal?! #worldpremiere #disposal)
But, yeah, let me tell you, it was pretty mother f%#king incredible. Total movie magic porn! I kind of feel like I only want to watch movies from now on if they are being performed live by the Boston Pops, conducted by Keith Lockhart in a shark costume. Seems reasonable.
I definitely wasn't the only one with a silly grin on my face all night. The audience was super jacked up and kept bursting into spontaneous applause throughout the night. As a writer, hearing a raucous cheer erupt at "you're gonna need a bigger boat" was pretty cool. Not that writing something as iconic as that line is in the cards for moi per se, but it's not everyday that thousands of people are whooping it up together at a line of movie dialogue. (And, yes, I know Roy Scheider supposedly ad-libbed that line on set and it had nothing to do with the screenwriter...but, whatever, screenwriting is cool!)
My main take-away from watching JAWS on a gigantic screen in the company of world class musicians (as opposed to viewing it it my friend Lauren's living room on Martha's Vineyard, where I tend to fall asleep about halfway through the movie because we always put it on when it's raining out and I've had a few-to-four mudslides) is that it's really good! I think that Spielberg guy was maybe onto something when he decided to make movies. Also, weirdly, JAWS is actually an extremely funny movie, which kind of shocked me to remember. No one would ever call it a comedy, and yet the dialogue is so witty and the character interactions are so perfect and entertaining and just-the-right-shade-above-real in how all their personalities play out. The film is so above the gross-out crap that passes as comedy these days, and it's not even a comedy! SMH #smh. Also is Robert Shaw the most charismatic man to ever walk the earth? Sorry Obama, I think he may be.
Oh, and also, it's scary AF! Hearing everyone shriek whenever that wily shark reared its head was amaze-there definitely must have been kids there that had never seen it. Fine, I was also on edge of my seat despite knowing what happens because I haven't watched the whole film through to the end in decades because of mudslides. Also the mom, who is a cool mom FER SURE, kind of looks like Lady Gaga.
In conclusion, John Williams is a prince. If you ever have a chance to see any of his scores performed live in concert, get thee to the nearest world-class symphony! Best $46 plus processing fees I've ever spent. Yay for summer and summer movies and iconic scores performed by baller orchestras!
xo
drunkinrowboat