Our thoughts on Star Wars – In Concert , the Stage Show coming soon!!
Okay, so word coming down from Hollywood today has made mention of plans for a production of a musical and video extravaganza stage show based on Star Wars, featuring the John Williams music and a lavish (apparently) video compilation of footage and a bunch of other stuff.
Okay, so word coming down from Hollywood today has made mention of plans for a production of a musical and video extravaganza stage show based on Star Wars, featuring the John Williams music and a lavish (apparently) video compilation of footage and a bunch of other stuff.
Truly, what an age we live in.
As if the Prequel trilogy wasn’t an indication that George Lucas was prepared to whore out his successful franchise and milk it for everything it’s worth (from you and I, dear moviegoer), this one just about takes the cake. No doubt based loosely on the similarly done Lord Of The Rings Music concerts (conducted by composer Howard Shore) in the wake of that film series success, Lucas has given his blessing to a multimedia extravaganza to once again show us just how shallow and mediocre his once mighty opus has become. Details appear to have C3PO himself, Anthony Daniels, narrating the show which will feature Williams’ mighty scores and a light and sound show that will “dazzle audiences”.
Why? For no other reason, I’d imagine, than to simply squeeze even more Star Wars fans money out of their already empty wallets. For decades, Lucas’ desire to pimp his brand, shining it up every few years with double-dip VHS and DVD releases of the classic films, plus an endless parade of computer games and ancillary paraphernalia, have managed to dilute the brand to the point of being a commercial yawn. The debacle of some of the stupidest cinematic trash in the form of the Prequel Trilogy, as well as the aforementioned merchandising derived from it all, has made the Star Wars brand less of a premium one, and more of a commercial slough similar to Wal-Mart and K-Mart. Generic, no-name branded rubbish which fills the streets purporting to be a premium brand but really aren’t.
That’s what Star Wars has become. Corporate greed distilled into a barely cognisant franchise now overblown and coasting on success long since depleted. And the idea that a stage show featuring Williams’ music and a bunch of slides from the archives would justify what would no doubt be a blue-ribbon ticket price is utterly contemptible. History tells us that the legion of SW fans will prop this up, of course, but the bad-blood running since the prequels were released has put a lot of fans offside with Lucas’ grand vision. It’s going to be a hard sell on this one, I think. It begs the question as to where creative ability and commercial profitability collide in an ugly, crass, money-making exercise which does nothing to further the Star Wars story but further mire it in mediocrity.
Perhaps they should get Jar Jar Binks to narrate it instead. It couldn’t possibly get any worse.
Who wrote this?
