The Concert Evening

After our fun time last summer going to a concert at Woodland Park Zoo (come back again, Weird Al!), we were hoping there would be another concert that would appeal to us on the list this year.  The zoo released the concert dates slowly, and FINALLY, we saw the concert that Thumper had always dreamed of.

The Seattle Symphony performing an evening of John Williams’ film music.

The weather was perfect for an outdoor concert, and Thumper was genuinely curious about the orchestra up front.  Now, the fact that they started with music that he only had minimal interest in/appreciation for (selections from Hook, Jurassic Park, and Jaws) kind of put him off a little bit.  But the fourth piece was the “Raiders’ March” – otherwise known as the main theme to the Indiana Jones movies.

When that music started, Thumper was sitting on my lap.  His entire body suddenly came up alert.  And then he started jumping and dancing and thoroughly enjoying himself.

We still had to get through music he wasn’t as drawn to (though he did enjoy the piece from E.T.) to get to the music he did recognize.  When the orchestra played the 20th Century Fox fanfare to lead into the main title for Star Wars, it was if all of Thumper’s dreams had come true in one swoop.  “Twenty Fox!  Twenty Fox!  Star Wars!”

The funniest part of the concert (for us) was when the orchestra played “Duel of the Fates” from Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.  The song is more like an opera piece, and usually is performed with a choir.  Well, there was no choir to sing the lyrics (which come from a poem in Sanskrit), but that was okay.  Thumper sang them, loud and happily, for himself and for all to hear.  The Webmaster and I were nearly suffocating from trying to hold our giggles in, and Thumper drew a few smiles from other concert-goers.

The concert ended with “The Imperial March,” complete with cosplayers from the 501st Legion dressed up as stormtroopers and Darth Vader.  Thumper was a happy, bouncing kid.

This was truly the perfect venue to take a kid to a symphony concert, and although I would have tweaked the concert to play pieces more to Thumper’s choosing (how do you have a John Williams concert and NOT play the main title from Superman?), I can safely say that he loved going.  The other kids did reasonably well, other than their pushiness and bickering with each other.  And we stopped off for ice cream/milkshakes at Dick’s Drive-In on the way home, which made everyone happy.

And yes, today is the Webmaster’s birthday!  I can’t beat last year’s birthday, so I won’t even try.  Happy birthday!!!

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 29th, 2017 at 12:02 am and is filed under Children, Life in the Pacific Northwest, Vacation Tales.
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