See and hear sounds of ‘Star Trek’ again
Oh, the soundtrack to which the Starship Enterprise shuttled about the galaxy: The otherworldly trilling in what then was known simply as “Star Trek”; the majestic overture that became most familiar to fans via “Star Trek: The Next Generation”; the groundbreaking vocal opening from “Enterprise,” the “Star Trek” prequel series that, come to think of it, lots of fans pretty much hated.
OK, forget that last one, if you’d like, and celebrate the music of “Star Trek” via “Star Trek: The Ultimate Voyage,” a live music-and-video concert scheduled for Monday at the Orleans Arena, 4500 W. Tropicana Ave.
During the show, a symphony orchestra will perform popular musical selections from “Star Trek” in all of its iterations while accompanying footage from the series and movies plays on a high-definition 40-foot-wide screen.
The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $50 and are available by calling the Orleans Arena box office (702-284-7777) or ordering online (www.orlenasarena.com).
The concert is part of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of “Star Trek.” What fans now refer to as “Star Trek: The Original Series” premiered Sept. 8, 1966 on the NBC television network. Since then, the franchise has multiplied like Tribbles (ask a fan) to include five live-action TV series, an animated TV series, 12 feature films and a bounty of novels, comic books, games, memorabilia and other items.
Conducting the orchestra will be Justin Freer, who has been involved in several such music-and-film presentations, including ones devoted to “The Lord of the Rings,” “The Godfather” and “Gladiator,” and has appeared with a roster of orchestras that includes the Chicago Symphony, the San Francisco Symphony and the Sydney Symphony.
But Freer is a “Star Trek” fan, too, and also helped to produce “Star Trek: The Ultimate Voyage,” which he said is in the middle of a four-month North American tour.
“I grew up with ‘The Next Generation.’ I was born in 1980, so that was my series introduction,” he says.
“I didn’t grow up with the original series, but, of course, through producing this show and conducting the music and archiving all of the things and living inside the ‘Star Trek’ universe for so many months, I’ve come to an appreciation of the original in a new way.”
Freer says he has met many fans who, because of their love of “Star Trek,” have pursued careers in engineering, avionics and other such fields.
“And we’ve met NASA officials, of course, and (‘Star Trek’ has) inspired young children who choose those careers or get energized for that career.”
Whoa. Isn’t “energize” Trek-speak for firing up the Enterprise’s transporter?
Freer laughs. “No pun intended,” he says.
While fans certainly will recognize the film footage and music that will be played during the concert, they almost certainly haven’t experienced the music played live against the backdrop of a 40-foot high-def screen.
“That’s the whole idea, to try and give audience members and patrons and fans a really immersive experience,” he says. “All of this amazing music has been written over the last 50 years and so much of it is incredibly iconic, not just to ‘Star Trek’ but to our catalog of film and TV.”
Rather than presenting a simple overview of “Star Trek” music and film, the concert will offer audience members montages centered around various “Star Trek” themes, Freer says — for example, “Trek” captains, the Enterprise, exploration, alien life forms and humorous moments.
“There are so many things we can trace over 50 years,” Freer notes.
The concert also offers audience members “an opportunity to hear great music that’s never been heard live before,” Freer says. “And some of those (pieces) that we’ve actually performed never made it to soundtracks. Some were only in the TV series and never made it to (an) album, and here we are, decades later, finally playing it.”
The music of “Star Trek” sometimes is so powerfully subtle that the viewer may not fully appreciate how effectively it sets up, or underscores the action in, a scene.
“As much as I adore the art form, I think it’s safe to say that the effect of film music often goes unnoticed,” Freer says. “It often, of course, does go noticed. We walk out of the movie theater singing a tune because of the composer’s genius.
“But I think this provides an opportunity for people to experience the power of music as it relates to its marriage to visual media, (be it) film or TV. And when it works together, it’s truly a magical experience that you can’t put into words and describe in any kind of real way.”
Hearing the music performed live in a large venue also provides “an additional shared experience, which is also unique to these types of events,” Freer says. “Now, all of a sudden, you’re hearing it with 2,000 or 3,000 other people and feel and hear the music in a way you’ve never heard before.
“It’s something you can’t find in a home theater, you can’t find in a movie theater, you can’t find in a living room.”
Audiences so far have represented “a very wide range of demographic,” Freer says, from young fans — and here’s that Trekkian slip again — “energized in some way due to J.J. Abrams and the wonderful movies he’s been making the last several years” to “people 65-plus in age who have been around since the original series and still follow it to this day.”
The length and breadth of the franchise did make it “challenging to sift through this vast amount of material” in creating a single concert event, Freer says.
“We (feature) a lot of iconic music,” he says, as well as “music that’s not necessarily iconic, but scenes that are iconic. At the end of the day, what ended up driving our decision is, how do we tell a unique, emotional story through music and footage?”
A consistent fan favorite so far has been composer Gerald Fried’s music from the original series episode “Amok Time,” which features, Freer says, “that great fight scene between Kirk and Spock on Vulcan.”
The scene underscores the power of music in drama, Freer says, “because when you take the music out of that scene and just let it play, it’s almost like (the characters are) fighting with rubber chickens. It’s not realistic. All of a sudden, you add the music, then it becomes death-defying and harrowing and all of these tense moments become real because of the music.”
One of Freer’s own favorite pieces is from the “Star Trek: The Next Generation” episode, “The Inner Light” in which “Capt. Picard experiences a lifetime in one episode, in one day. Jay Chattaway’s music is so gorgeous. It’s this kind of Irish hymn on the tin whistle.”
The episode has “a lot of great, really impactful moments people connected to,” says Freer, who also has studied under Chattaway.
And how about that vocal piece used as the opening theme of “Enterprise”?
“I don’t know. I know a lot of people loved ‘Enterprise’ ” Freer says. “But I think ‘Enterprise’ had a different musical approach. The main title (theme) was certainly a new, unique opportunity that they saw and jumped on it.
“Whether or not it worked, I think there is certainly a lot of varying opinion out there. But there’s some really wonderful music from (that) show.”
Read more from John Przybys at reviewjournal.com. Contact him at jprzybys@reviewjournal.com and follow @JJPrzybys on Twitter.