Would you pay $92 to see a movie?

Probably not, except when the movie is Amadeus (1984) and the sound track is provided by the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra and the Oahu Choral Society.

https://youtu.be/OpUAUq_LQXQ

It has been 35 years since I saw Milos Foreman’s “sumptuous” movie production, Amadeus, which won eight Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Actor (F. Murray Abraham), Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Art Director, Best Costume Design, Best Sound, and Best Makeup.

Seeing the movie in high-definition on a 40’x17′ ‘screen and hearing the music coming from the Symphony was all a visual and musical treat. The only music that wasn’t live were the soloists. After all, how many communities could have local singers who could sing “The Queen of the Night?”

As an aside, what do you think of the Volvo commercial in which Emily Cheung sings this famous aria? Some people say that it cheapens the music of Mozart to sell cars but I love it!

https://youtu.be/OPN7ljSg9DI

Getting back to last night’s concert, actually my favorite part of the evening was the post-concert, question and answer session with the conductor, Richard Kaufman, and local TV personality, Joe Moore, an admitted Mozart fanatic who saw the movie 15-20 times when it came out in 1984, and as many times since then.

Most of the premise of the movie was fiction—Mozart was not commissioned by Salieri to write the Requiem, they did not have a big rivalry, Salieri did not confess to killing Mozart (who did not laugh ridiculously) and his family was not just one son, but six children. And who’s to know whether his wife, Costanza, called him “Wolfie”? They did have a problem with money, however.

Joe Moore even traveled to Vienna to St. Marx Cemetery to visit Mozart’s grave, and brought with him a recording of the Lacrimosa. Just as he approached the location, the skies got darker and darker, almost as dark as night, and just when he got there, the heavens opened up with thunder and rain, and there he pushed the button and played Mozart’s sweet music from the Requiem. I have no reason to believe this is not true, but it makes a good story anyway!

Richard Kaufman, who has devoted much of musical life to conducting and supervising music for film and television, said that last night’s Amadeus Live was his 103rd performance of this movie with live orchestra and chorus.

As he conducted the score, he also had a small screen of the movie playing on the podium and followed along with a click track to synchronize the movie with the music.

And it was my first time eating popcorn in Blaisdell Concert Hall! Yes, they were selling popcorn outside the lobby, and the woman vendor asked me, “What’s a movie without eating popcorn? Yes, it’s okay to take it and eat it inside!”

So I did, spending $5 for a large bag, which is a bargain compared to when I spent $12 for popcorn at “Allegiance” (see my post “The show must go on.”) I was reminded, though, of when my late husband, Carl, and I used to go to the movies together—he always finished eating the popcorn before the movie even started!

With the cost of my concert ticket, the evening totaled $97 … priceless.