SLSO Roared Along With The Lion King

–by Tom Schmidt

 

I begin my review of Saturday night’s Saint Louis Symphony orchestra performing the score of “The Lion King” with enthusiasm and wonder in Powell Hall at the Jack C. Taylor Music Center.  I wasn’t sure which movie they would be showing on the screen.  Would it be the animated 1994 version, or would it be the more recent live-action iteration?

I was delighted to find out it was the original animated one.  I was also wondering if the songs would be sung live, as the orchestral score, or would that be part of the original soundtrack?  It was the original songs with the original cast of singers providing the recorded vocals.  It was great to once again enjoy the voices of James Earl Jones, Matthew Broderick, Nathan Lane, Whoopi Goldberg, Jeremy Irons, to name a few.

The score was written by Hans Zimmer.  The songs, however, were written by Tim Rice and Elton John.  Most people are very familiar with the songs in this movie.  Samuel Hollister was the conductor tasked with keeping the large orchestra together with the movie.  Even with watching the screen in front of him, just the slightest delay will not synch up with the action of the movie and will result in the action not being as dramatic.

The cues and timing by the orchestra were, of course, perfect.  I would not expect anything less from the symphony.  The balance between the different sections of the orchestra was great.  They followed the lead with ease from Samuel Hollister.  The problem came with balancing the orchestra with the singing.  There were parts of the songs where either the singing wasn’t loud enough on the soundtrack, or the orchestra was too loud.  Even though I knew the songs ahead of time, it was difficult to pick out the lyrics.  Only with the guidance of the subtitles was I able to follow where they were in the song.  This was most evident when the action in the movie was getting intense and the volume of the music was increasing.  When the action subsided and the volume decreased the lyrics could be heard better.  I’m not sure what would have been the solution.

I didn’t mind the volume of the orchestra.  I never at any time thought it was too loud.  However, I’m not sure what could have been done about the soundtrack, since I’m assuming it was kept at a static level.  Whether this was a problem in all areas of Powell Hall I am not sure.  I was sitting in the lower balcony, so maybe the positioning of the speakers for the soundtrack affected this.

It was nice having an Entr’acte after the intermission.  I’m not sure if this was pulled out of the end credits.  Speaking of which, the orchestra did not play the music for the end credits.  I had thought they would have done this.  I’m not sure if this was not in the score that was sent or not.  I would have enjoyed hearing the end credits being played live.

While this was an enjoyable evening (even the conductor encouraged everyone to cheer for their favorite character or song), I hope that future movies that have songs in the soundtrack can be taken into consideration about balance with the wonderful orchestra.  We, the audience want to hear both great aspects of the movie.