The Greatest Show...

Well, for kids, it appears (and sounds to be) precisely so. There is enough plot and/or connecting dialogue to motivate the presentation of each new scene. There is enough over-the-top "panto" to draw the audience into booing, cheering, whispering and shouting assistance.

(Note: There are spoilers below!)

Really, it was a fascinating spectacle. There was Nigel Planer as Vorgenson, the ringmaster.

He was the "driver" of the show, strutting to and from the corners of the stage and presenting his whiz-bang, literal or otherwise. (Somehow the FX and body language above seem more representative than a sharp image.) As at the proms but in a more 'characterized' way, he presents the features/scenes, built as thematic video montages (edits) put to music from the show, enhanced with monster action (and here with some significant FX).

Behind him stood Ben Foster, musical director of the 16-piece band (and at least 5 singers).


Despite the calm appearance in these photos, Ben and the band are (metaphorically) the 'engine' of the show. Ben's conducting is/was punctuated by energetic leaps, pogo-like jumping in place, kicks, and spins! The band is quite amazing; there are skilled soloists with a good sense of dramatic performance (as seen in the second image) and some obvious 'doubling' instrumentalists. (Kate Robertson was notably switching between flute, piccolo, sax, and clarinet all in one piece.)

To continue the metaphor, the monsters are the... paint job, chrome trim, tires, and cladding. (I suppose the special effects are the hubcaps, detail, and hood ornaments.) The monsters are absolutely necessary to the spectacle, because they carry much of the other half of the audience engagement equation. They appear on stage,

and (as at the Proms) they also go out in the aisles and interact with the people in their seats.

The interaction was obvious for those at close hand, and some monsters did stride beyond the bottom of the arena (the Smilers and apparently the Ood were also up in the tiered seating). But there are also aspects intended for the rest of the audience--because house video cameras are trained on the monsters' movements down the aisles. As you can hopefully make out from the picture of the nearby Cyberman below: there in the background, on the 50-foot screen, a live encounter happening elsewhere on the floor between Cybermen and a human is being displayed. Similar live house video was shown of the fish/vampire girls, the Silurian warriors, and others. To a far greater extent than was possible at the Proms, care was taken to show what was happening--even if the audience couldn't all be sat near the arena's monster 'highways,' we could at least see the action clearly on the live video put out to the big central screen.
(By the way--like the musicians playing multiple instruments, the monster actors are also changing costumes many times during the show.)

Wait, what about the Doctor? Ah... the leather seats and convertible top, perhaps? The newly created and scripted video clips of the Doctor are handled really well (as at both Proms). The Doctor is of course the nominal focus of the show, so yes, his interaction is crucial. His link to the audience is well played and successful. (Though to cynical adults, maybe just a teensy bit Tinkerbell.) But since there are only a few (4 or 5?) of the new almost-interactive video scenes, a lot is left to the imagination and Vorgenson's narrative. Not a bad thing.

To conclude the automotive metaphors (with some relief!)--the music, Murray Gold's music, is the fuel. There are about 25 different tunes (plus a couple of extra runs through the TV theme and the 11th Doctor's theme, and the curtain-call ending tune). Among the new rock arrangements, some are more thoroughly re-interpretations, more identifiably different from their current TV versions. Bits reminiscent of the old TV movie theme were stirred into an introductory or 'prologue' version of the theme tune. When the theme got going more thoroughly, it was similar to the Proms-style, with a few Howell-era 'spangles' and such, but also perhaps with an extra dash of mid-1980s electronic/synth tone. The Judoon music is laugh-out-loud funny with the repeated vocal phrasing. (The Judoon piece was not their march from 'Smith and Jones'; it seemed to be a distant relative to the Futurekind/"All the Strange Strange Creatures" music.) Other arrangements seem to be more straightforward reductions for an ensemble. The 'Battle in the Sky' and 'Vampires of Venice' works may have been more percussion-heavy and with electric guitar, but their stage incarnations sound much like they do on TV.

The choice of music sometimes allows alert listeners advance hints as to the plot or story recap. In the first image below, the Ood's representative singer is performing the Song of Captivity. We (only) later hear about the Minimizer's entrapping function.
The use of "We Shall Fare Well" (with its vaguely unsettling lyrics) warns of danger, here in protesting the Spaceship UK's governance.

Most of all, Dalek music appears in the show before they themselves do, and a little in advance of Vorgenson's awareness. These are reasonably subtle hints (although most folks can recognize the various cues of Dalek music)--and they are not crucial for the story appreciation. They seem to be there just... to throw little seeds of doubt across Vorgenson's unreliable narrative, and as a bonus for fans.

It is a story--though the package, as others have blogged, is not burdened with a deep and complex plot. But they've built a... high-tech AND high-touch musical to keep children of all ages satisfied and seated for 100 minutes! And they're doing a really good job at it.

Side Shows, Part Two

The Proms news played out between April 22 (announcement) and May 4 (ticketing). With the double gig scheduled in July, no one expected any more...

But there is! A second musical-event-or-something this fall! It is still a bit murky in details, but it's apparent there will be a multi-show 9-city UK Doctor Who concert/tour/show this October and November!

It will have Murray Gold's music in "brand new arrangements for a new band." The music will be for a "stage show" scripted by Steven Moffat. There will be specially shot video segments. There will be Daleks and Cybermen on the floor.

The official source for all this:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment_and_arts/10118464.stm

Plus there is a mysterious (so far dysfunctional!) link of

http://www.doctorwholive.com/

And ticket availability (for the moment Cardiff only!) on LiveNation UK:

http://www.livenation.co.uk/artist/dr-who-live-tickets

Though from the BBC site there will be concerts from October 8-November 7!

I assume from the existing hints that:
- The "new band" or "16-piece orchestra" may be a (largish) rock/pop band with extra soloists/strings/etc.? Maybe like Bear McCreary's BSG orchestra (http://bsgorchestra.com/about-2)? Murray Gold's arrangements for such a different band would be a lovely, unique event to hear.
- Though... unique might be the point. Unlike the Proms, this is a tour. We may not see and hear this again on a radio/TV broadcast, or on a CD. Ya might gotta be there.
- The "scripting" and "specially shot video" of the "Music of the Spheres" scene for the 2008 Prom was quite interactive with the audience, and the format worked really well in person. I can't really think how well the Doctor Who Live show, which "will open in wartime London and end with... an epic on-stage battle" will go for interaction, but I don't think the kids will be falling asleep or fidgeting!

Stay tuned; hopefully we'll hear more soon! And... I hope they get the rest of the ticket links live soon. If the Cardiff links are correct, it's all supposed to happen this Friday morning!

Side Shows, Part One

Well! Excuse the long silence, but there have been Whovian circumstances interrupting my episode blogging.

First--there is the pair of Doctor Who Proms scheduled for late July. (Translation for fellow Americans: it's a British concert series, not about high school dances.)

There was a Doctor Who Prom in 2008. It was fantastic (yes I was there--but the video's on the Specials-year boxset, so you can see for yourself). Despite being part of a 115-year-old classical music series, it was a daytime family-friendly event--including lots of 'monsters' and guest appearances.

This time around, the National Orchestra of Wales gets its proper chance to play the Doctor Who incidental music in concert. It's only fair, since it lovingly records those cues for the show's broadcast series. And there are two shows (planned to have the same content)--Saturday evening July 24, and Sunday morning/noon July 25.

These Doctor Who Proms will have the show's current stars Matt Smith and Karen Gillan as hosts, which never hurts the audience draw. Like the 2008 Prom, there will be a mix of music; about 2/3 Murray Gold's music for the show, and 1/3 works of other composers... deemed compatible with fantastic/intergalactic themes.

The Big Caveat: No, you can't get tickets now. Both shows sold out instantly. (Well, in a tense hour or so of online queueing; same difference.) Sorry. As regular "prommers" know, there are a few standing-room-only tickets on the day. But not a lot.

The Beast Below

Steven Moffat puts a childish take on our fears--so of course his first example of a police state is primary school grading! The immediate followup makes clear the seriousness of this--with children alone. The scene is scored not with just one but two terrifying music cues. Obviously, once a heavy, low 10/8 vamp starts, nothing good is going to come of that elevator trip! And so the result is a trip "below" for Timmy--to a staccato choral section in 3-3-2, followed by high flute/trumpet flourishes.

But the mood spins gently away immediately after the credits--to a return of variations on Amy's theme. The lovely voice of Yamit Mamo provides as much of the 'floating' sensation for Amy's introduction to space as do the special effects crew.

This episode interweaves the solving of the first scene's mystery--and Amy's first journey as a companion. The story and the score reflect the dynamic between these processes. There are tinkly 'magical' cues of wonder, and brooding cues of secrets--like the "impossible truth" of Starship UK (expressed by Liz 10 with a low reed melody).

The new sound library is already getting some mileage. As I said, Amy's theme came in early, but in one of my favorite ever repeat usages, the Doctor's new action theme plays while... well... while the Doctor and Amy are humbled by nature in such a ridiculous way as to remind us Americans why we used to describe Doctor Who to the uninitiated as "Star Trek as done by Monty Python."

There is naturally a surfeit of tense music in this episode. Threats and mysteries. But then... at the climax, there is a ‘bookending’ of string adagio cues. On the first side--there is the denouement of the starship's secret, the society's terrible choices. The music is a set of slow string variations in D minor, with high octave notes of pathos, but no resolution--only regrets and a return to the start of the melody. On the other side--as Amy explains the secret of the star whale--the other string adagio begins. Modulated to (I believe the relative) major, and then rising upwards with the simple epiphany of understanding, it finally resolves into a gentle downwards progression (before the next storyline intrudes)...

Those paired string cues frame the core moment of the story--from what the society's choices and actions did to its victims, to the internal change of heart, and of understanding, needed to escape from reliving that choice over and over again. So... the music cues are doing more than signifying characters, or specific idea lines. Here they're signposting the plot's complexity of ideas and social morality. It's very subtle and well suited to Amy; string lines instead of orchestral flourishes. But it's there as melodic scaffolding for the plot and the scene, in the structure as well as the tunes. And not bad showing what you can do with a couple of quiet string cues.

Eleventh Hour

Some viewers were expecting a completely new tone (literally!) to Steven Moffat's vision of Doctor Who. But the first episode of his "dark fairytale" is not exactly struggling against Russell Davies' legacy. We did not get a 'hint' of stylistic continuity—we got it full, boldly, in our eyes and ears, the very first minute of Series 5. The TARDIS insanely swooping over London to mad orchestration—yes, this is still new Who. It is Saturday night, and somehow this little antique British program dares to be bigger, more exciting, and innovative than any first-run movie, any bleak but trendy adult television serial. It’s Doctor Who. And fortunately Murray Gold is still scoring it.

Below I will focus on the two fundamental musical themes introduced in the first episode of Series 5 (and I will regretfully skip the multitude of other new cues in the episode). Murray Gold continues to use a style of thematic (character) cues as in previous series, but... the comparisons are scant, because his scoring style has again evolved. The themes, at least, are now more complex than ever!

Once upon a time, back before Series 3 was broadcast, the ad-makers on the DW production team grabbed a tune from that series’ episode Gridlock and set it over a pre-series trailer. The result was that "All the Strange Strange Creatures" became an instant anthemic action tune before it ever appeared in the show. The 'equivalent' theme, dare I say, is the new Doctor's action theme (as yet unnamed), again presented in a pre-series trailer.

This tune is enormously complex, even on its first outing. It has a main and secondary vamp (as did "Strange Strange Creatures"). Those are in the tune's core time signature of 7/8. (The musical time is divided into a 2-2-3 rhythm common in the Balkans.) There are of course several melodies played over these vamps, presented in variations of instrumentation. A few bridges between the sections. And just to mix it up, there is a 4/4 beat section in some uses of the cue, featuring its own distinct vamp!

So, rhythmically it is as complex as the full "Cybermen" theme of Series 2 (which was in 10/8 as well as 4/4), and the melodic and supporting lines are as varied as those in "All the Strange Strange Creatures" (possibly including "Futurekind" in that familial definition), and yet... Despite the full orchestra and chorus, fanfares and drum vamps, electric guitars and Hammond organs—this action theme is a bit lighter and nimbler than those just mentioned. It gallops but it does not stomp. It has an amazing deftness. Plus, despite its complexity and fluidity, be warned: this tune is just as much of an incorrigible earworm as "Strange Strange Creatures." As an amateur musician of Balkan folk tunes, I am personally gratified that so many Anglo-culture viewers will now have an easy aural reference to one of my favorite beats, stuck right into their heads along with the episode and this series.

Amy's theme is also complex, but in an entirely different way. There are two scenes in this episode that both in the story and the music evoke the 'left behind' sense of Girl in the Fireplace—but the comparison clearly shows that the scoring has grown by leaps and bounds in those 3 years. The prior work had variations of the lovely theme for Reinette. But Amy has an entire suite of a theme. There is a core cue for Amy; it is almost unmetered at its start, wandering around with a gentle vocal. It seems to feature over scenes of her relationships. But that cue is far from alone. Other cues featuring piano runs mixed in with strings or vocals seem to express Amy’s sense of childhood, its loss, or even a magical escape back to it. Some sections seem to even signpost her relationship to the TARDIS and the Doctor's exits from her life—though we’ll have to see whether that interpretation holds in future episodes. The theme, as a collection of cues, somehow work together to bring an emotive content, though the connections between the different melodies and musical expression are extremely difficult to nail down. It all just somehow... says Amy.

These multi-faceted themes are not just first dabblings into cues; they're fully-grown from the start, as if sprung from Zeus' head... Which is a good thing considering that they've taken a fair bit of time in the episode; the new action theme is heard for 6-1/2 minutes (not including the end trailer), and Amy's theme (in its various sections and forms) plays for about 9-1/2 minutes. Naturally, I'm predicting that there will be more variations and extensions of these themes. And, specifically because it's so poignant, that we won't hear quite as much of Amy's theme except where there's a need to establish new aspects of her character and background.

To roll out the two new character themes in what appears to be fully dressed form is a bold move for the first episode. It roots the characters—but musically, where do you go from here? I'm looking forward to finding that out over the rest of this series.

Series 5 Doctor Who (TV) Theme

The first few measures of the 2010 (Series 5) Doctor Who theme were enough to make my jaw drop. Wait--that's... not the first 8 bars per Ron Grainer and Delia Derbyshire! It's got another minor 3rd and... and...

Pwnage!--as the kids say.

I cannot imagine another television theme tune as passionately discussed as the Who theme. Though I've not entered that discussion before now. And on a certain level, Murray Gold's 2005-2009 arrangements were so incremental and "evolutionary" that internet arguments over his choice of instrumentation and effects were, honestly, inflated.

Not so much this time. Yes, I recall the new ground broken by the Debney theme arrangement for the 1996 movie, when the order of the sections of the tune was reversed. That version had a robust orchestral arrangement, a natural change after years of thin, underpowered electronic scores. (Not criticizing electronic scores, mind--just some of their 1980s expressions.) And finally, about 2/3 of the way in, the Debney theme finally got a good percussion swing beat going...

This new Gold theme (the "full" version at about 1:01) has a new intro. Cranking up with a chopped, rasping intro scream. As noted above, walking up a melodic progression that was never part of the classic intro. Then a second, high electronic scream. As it shifts into the regular, recognizable tune with Murray's more ordinary mix of rock and orchestral instrumentation, we're tempted to relax.

But then--vocals! in the theme!--for the first time ever. A third scream before the middle eight. A frequently rambunctious driving rhythm--along with a low-pitched element (if you've got the speakers to hear it). A cloister bell ding near the middle of the track.

By that point, during my first listen, I was giggling uncontrollably--thinking of the certain havoc resulting within online fan forums. But well, to think about it--some of the more reasoned criticisms of Murray Gold's previous theme arrangements seem to have implied that he either has been too cautious about the theme modifications (beyond setting it in a primarily orchestral arrangement) or that he has tended to simply 'add' elements along the way, making the resulting mix so full as to risk some of its focus.

This is... not just a tweak to the theme. It is bodacious. He has made this mark on this piece. The first bars shake you, make you sit up and notice that it's not 1963 any more. And that it is Doctor Who, so pay attention!

The drums (which were certainly prominent since Voyage of the Damned, but sometimes bordering on unvarying) seem to have become more crisp, especially in the ra-ta-ta-TA-TA-TA preceding the last run-through of the main version (about 00:44-47). The orchestra is still in there, but in more precise blasts and bowings. The first "oo-ee-oo" is... more audible than it's been for a while.

I can understand one criticism--that the driving electric guitar sound of the introduction is partly overwhelmed by a really lusty brass section. (You can hear the guitar a bit better later in the piece, after the vocals.) But on the other hand, I for one am grateful that the full Howell-esque spangles (pretty audible in the 2008 Proms version) are not in there.

The new theme is a refreshing element marking the new production of the show. It's also a lot of fun. Try listening a few times with the speakers pretty loud, or with a pair of decent headphones. Give it some time to grow on you.