New Jersey Symphony returned to the stunning State Theater in New Brunswick on Sunday, February 16 with Bugs Bunny at the Symphony 30th Anniversary edition. Created and conducted by the dazzlingly talented George Daugherty who is also a co-creator of the work with his partner David Ka Lik Wong, there were more adults present than children. This is a tribute to how large Bugs Bunny and friends loom in our collective consciousness. Talk about an all-ages show!
The State Theatre in New Brunswick originally opened in 1921 as a venue both for movies and live performances. Daugherty’s knowledge of his topics is encyclopedic and he is enthusiastic as he clues us in on the history of how the shorts made by Warner Brothers to be shown immediately prior to their films took on a life of their own. Composers Carl Stalling and his successor, Milt Franklyn took their love of classical music using it to score action, humor and wit with their favorites. Intentionally, they introduced youth to greatness and here we all are today.
There are 15 featured shorts – some in their entirety, and some as collections of scenes. The “overture” was the very apt piece from Smetana’s Bartered Bride, “The Dance of the Comedians”. Daugherty shared with us early on that this delightful piece is the “chase” music for every single Road Runner and Coyote cartoon! He also opined that for many in the orchestra as well as most of us in the audience, our first introduction to classical music was via this medium. I can only tell you that from the opening notes, I was as smitten as Pepe Le Pew and grinning from ear to ear for the entire afternoon, especially afterward!
Seeing my favorite orchestra playing to these animations, where my three absolute favorite works are featured, how the animations themselves have changed, the subtle ways that Bugs and Elmer Fudd and Daffy have moved with the times is art reflecting life and cultural taste. Seeing those full sized animations as they were meant to be seen and with a full orchestra is something truly special.
Baton Bunny and Rhapsody Rabbit demonstrated Bugs’ conducting skills demonstrating that all cartoon anthropomorphic characters have mad skills. . That said, music is universal, as is Murphy’s law, ably demonstrated in Zoom and Bored with Wiley Coyote and fast-feathered friend, the Road Runner.
The best part of the afternoon was the penultimate orchestral selection, accompanying my all-time favorite Bugs Bunny cartoon, “What’s Opera, Doc?” where Mr. Daughtery pointed out you can get the entire Ring cycle and more, works that would ordinarily take several evenings to enjoy, in the span of one short film – got 6.5 minutes? New Jersey Symphony does it again! And when this comes around again, I’ll be among the first in queue!
Want more? Yes, me too! See you soon at Brahms and Firebird! Get your tickets today at www.njsymphony.org.
