ASO Pops conductor Stuart Chafetz will lead the orchestra on the AJFF twenty fifth Gala Live performance.(Picture by Pat Johnson)
Though the 25th annual Atlanta Jewish Movie Pageant (AJFF) passed off method again in February, Govt and Inventive Director Kenny Clean knew he wished to do one thing further later within the 12 months to cap such a major season. Again in 2010, the Pageant collaborated with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (ASO) on a live performance with scores from basic Hollywood movies, paying tribute to the legacy of Jewish music in films similar to Yentl, Exodus, Life is Stunning and Driving Miss Daisy. The occasion was so profitable that Clean determined to carry it again for one thing of a 2025 encore. Teaming once more with Turner Basic Motion pictures (TCM), the AJFF 25th Gala Live performance takes place on October 20 on the ASO, with largely an all-new array of music.
A few of the songs and scores that will likely be carried out are Jerry Brock’s “Custom” from Fiddler on the Roof, Jule Styne’s “Don’t Rain on My Parade” from Humorous Lady, Vangelis’ Chariots of Hearth title monitor and John Williams’ Oscar-winning music from Schindler’s Checklist.
Each musically and cinematically, Clean feels the lineup is numerous. His foremost goal in working with ASO Pops Conductor Stuart Chafetz was that the choices be accessible. “I feel lots of people take into consideration movie scores or orchestral music, and so they assume that’s one thing that’s rarified and never for (them). That is one thing for all audiences — anybody who loves these iconic Hollywood movies. That is music everyone knows and love.”
Getting into, nevertheless, Clean knew he didn’t need this to be all Holocaust movies or one particular style. As such, different choices embody the jazz-infused title monitor from John Kander and Fred Ebb’s Cabaret, the James Horner ballad “Someplace Out There” from the animated movie An American Tail and a tribute to Mel Brooks and his longtime music collaborator and composer John Morris.
“Whenever you consider the style of nice Jewish films, comedy is such a cornerstone of that, and there’s no larger artist in that style than Mel Brooks,” says Clean. “As Spaceballs 2 goes into manufacturing, he’s 99 and continues an unimaginable legacy. We wished to rejoice that.”
But it was arduous selecting probably the most consultant rating from Brooks’ physique of labor. Doing music from The Producers was a given, however the live performance additionally options the primary title monitor from Blazing Saddles, which Clean calls a “splendidly politically appropriate movie that might in all probability by no means get made right now.”
As a curator, he additionally wished to select one thing outdoors of the mainstream, so he opted for Brooks’ Excessive Anxiousness. For Clean, that is among the director’s underrated classics, with unforgettable scenes and features and music which might be a send-up of Alfred Hitchcock. “I like having this tribute, and having some comedy combined in with the heavier themes is essential.”
The historical past of Hollywood is full of iconic Jewish filmmakers and composers, similar to Elmer Bernstein, whose Suite from The Ten Commandments is a part of the lineup. But some non-Jewish composers, similar to Williams, have made impressions, in line with Clean, and are acknowledged right here. Williams’ theme from Schindler’s Checklist is among the most requested items of live performance music/movie scores round, and the ASO has carried out it earlier than.
Whereas the AJFF is generally a celebration of worldwide unbiased movie, Clean and his workforce strive to usher in a basic Hollywood movie every year that celebrates an anniversary. He feels the live performance is a chance to lean into the group’s love of Hollywood movie classics and rejoice a few of people who they don’t get to display as a part of the annual Pageant.
As he did in 2010, TCM’s Ben Mankiewicz will host the occasion. “He elevates this system,” says Clean. “He has that signature Hollywood perspective and data of movie historical past. His introductions will add some wealthy context to the importance of the scores. He additionally brings his humorousness.”
Vocal performances by Brad Raymond, Deb Bowman and Leigh Ellen Jones will complement the orchestral work. Clean has additionally introduced within the Temple Choir, beneath the path of Cantor Tracey Scher, and the Ebenezer Baptist Church Choir, led by Minister of Worship and the Arts Patrice E. Turner, to assist carry to life a few of these greater numbers.
Along with the onstage expertise, many artists have taped introductions to movies, together with an iconic singer/actress whose video is more likely to shock attendees.
The collaboration with the Woodruff Arts Middle, ASO and TCM is a recognition that AJFF has achieved its place in Atlanta’s bigger cultural panorama, in line with Clean, and is providing a novel type of occasion. “We’re becoming a member of forces with two different iconic establishments to create one thing actually memorable,” he says. “What’s particular about that is that I don’t know of any live performance like this produced anyplace on this planet. We’re the one ones I do know of that did it earlier than.”
The place & when
AJFF 25th Gala Live performance takes place at 8 p.m. October 20 at Atlanta Symphony Corridor.
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Jim Farmer is the recipient of the 2022 Nationwide Arts and Leisure Journalism Award for Finest Theatre Function and a nominee for On-line Journalist of the 12 months. A member of 5 nationwide critics’ organizations, he covers theater and movie for ArtsATL. A graduate of the College of Georgia, he has written concerning the arts for 30-plus years. Jim is the competition director of Out on Movie, Atlanta’s LGBTQ movie competition, and lives in Avondale Estates along with his husband, Craig.