Lalaland in Brussels: a live-to-film celebration
It has delighted cinema-goers all over the world, and now people in Belgium can get the chance to enjoy La La Land as never before. The cinema blockbuster scooped six Oscars and the film’s contagious, gentle humour won over global audiences with its original music and playful songs. The soundtrack went on to be a best-seller.
The Oscar-winning movie will again be screened in Brussels this week but this performance comes with a big difference – it is accompanied by a live orchestra. Audiences will be able to experience the full feature film projected on the big screen, while a full size symphony orchestra performs Justin Hurwitz’s Oscar-winning score of La La Land.
It offers a chance to indulge your love for the world of jazz music set in modern day Los Angeles while also re-living a film which enchanted millions around the world when it was first released last year.
La La Land starred Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling and explores the joy and pain of pursuing your dreams. This version is very skilfully arranged, with the film on a giant screen along with the original vocal recordings, and all synchronised by a symphonic orchestra.
The first performance of “La La Land In Concert: A Live-To-Film Celebration” took place in the actual La La Land in Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles in May before embarking on a world tour. This includes upcoming concerts in Stadsschouwburg Antwerp on 18 October and Forest National Brussels the day after (19 October).
The director of La La Land Damien Chazelle said: “For me, one of the most thrilling and fulfilling parts of making La La Land was scoring the film to a live orchestra: a hundred phenomenal musicians playing real-time to the technicolor images, bringing Justin’s compositions to vivid life. I couldn’t be more excited to share that experience with audiences around the globe.”
Hurwitz agrees, saying, “Damien made a beautiful tribute to Los Angeles with La La Land and I couldn’t be more excited to celebrate the film’s music in venues around the world.”
Further comment comes from the concert’s director, Richard Kraft, who said, “By preserving the film’s unique recorded vocal performances of Emma Stone, Ryan Gosling and John Legend from the film’s soundtrack, and blending them with live musicians, we are able to build a one-of-kind concert experience, which becomes a hybrid of film, pre-recordings, and incredible live musicianship.”
Chazelle won the Oscar for Best Director for the film and Hurwitz won awards for the catchy score and the song ‘City of Stars’. Lyrics to that tune were written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.
In the film, which was released in 2016, Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) and Mia (Emma Stone) are drawn together by their common desire to do what they love. But as success mounts they are faced with decisions that begin to fray the fragile fabric of their love affair, and the dreams they worked so hard to maintain in each other threaten to rip them apart.
Empire Magazine hailed it as “audacious, retro, funny and heartfelt. La La Land is the latest great musical and will slap a mile-wide smile across the most miserable of faces.”
La La Land In Concert: A Live-To-Film Celebration aims to do the same and has been described as an “absolutely unique concert experience”. If you too delight in the golden age of the Hollywood musical, you’re sure to also enjoy this new and unusual version. This is a rare chance to catch a viewing during its short stop in Belgium as part of a sell out world tour.
Good to Know:
Tickets for the cine concert are selling fast but a few are still available. They are priced €48, €58 and €68.
