If P.T. Barnum hooked up with the Pinball Wizard, Guitar Hero and one of the world’s greatest orchestras to produce a show using three massive video screens and state-of-the-art special effects, the result of that collaboration might come close to the multimedia extravaganza brewing inside the halls of Strathmore. This Saturday, the Music Center at Strathmore presents “Video Games Live” featuring the National Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorale.
| ONSTAGE |
| ‘Video Games Live’ |
| » Where: The Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda |
| » When: 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday |
| » Info: $31.50 to $69.00; 301-581-5100 or strathmore.org |
“I describe ‘Video Games Live’ as having all the power and emotion of a symphony orchestra, combined with the energy and excitement of a rock concert mixed together with all the cutting-edge visuals, interactivity, technology and fun that video games provide,” said the show’s creator and executive producer, Tommy Tallarico.
Tallarico is personally involved in every show as host, emcee and guitar player. As a composer of video games music, he still marvels at the evolution of this art form from the days of “bleeps and bloops.”
“As a kid, I was obsessed with two things — video games and music. But I never thought I’d put the two together. In the ’70’s there was no such thing as a video game composer,” he recalled.
“When I was 10 years old, I used to take my dad’s big cassette recorder down to the local arcade [where] I would record all my favorite video game music,” he remembered. “I’d take it home, record all my game systems and then I would splice the tapes together. I would invite the neighborhood kids over … play the tape back and with my guitar and favorite video games behind me, I would pretend to put on a concert.”
Tallarico supposes those were his first “concerts,” but never imagined that 30 years later he would be putting on shows in places like the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in front of a 100,000 people.
Now he takes his show on the road created, not only as entertainment for hard-core gamers, but also to show the world how culturally significant and artistic games have become since he first began composing.
A variety of surprises awaits cheering audiences. Parents see how exciting gaming is for their children, and this show will expose a generation of technologically savvy kids to symphonic music.
“Don’t tell me Beethoven and Mozart wouldn’t have used videos if they were [around] at the time,” Tallarico concluded. “This is opera of the 21st century.”
