Finally, the age old argument about which holiday is better — Halloween or Christmas — can come to a truce. Why pick only one when both are available? The Houston Symphony will bring spooky thrills and winter chills all at once with Disney’s Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas in Concert, live at Jones Hall on November 16 and 17. Tim Burton’s beloved film takes to the big screen as the orchestra, led by conductor Anthony Parnther, performs Danny Elfman’s darkly enchanting score through every scene.
Even though the film was released more than three decades ago, Parnther says its enduring success from generation to generation stems from the masterful architecture of the songs and the animation technique.
“The songs are exceptionally well written. This is one of those movies that as soon as people hear the songs, they’re already nostalgically singing them back,” Parnther said. “The second thing is that it has such an unusual animation that is really eye catching. I think it’s a combination of a non-formulaic approach to filmmaking where these artists really went for something special and odd and unique as well as the really masterful storytelling and songwriting.”
Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas is based on Burton’s original poem and characters. This stop-motion animated modern musical classic follows Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town. Bored with the same old scare-and-scream routine of Halloween, Jack longs to try something new. Convinced that he can spread the joy of Christmas and against the advice of Sally, a caring and clever ragdoll, Jack enlists three mischievous trick-or-treaters — Lock, Shock and Barrel – to kidnap Santa Claus. But Jack’s merry mission puts Santa in jeopardy and creates a nightmare for good little boys and girls everywhere.
The film’s score ranges between whimsical, eerie and emotional, so it is natural to wonder how Parnther leads the orchestra through the crests and troughs of the compositions, but he says Burton’s original works did most of the heavy lifting.
“The music and the score and the songs are written so well that the orchestra doesn’t need much coaxing for me,” Parnther said. “You get one measure into each of these songs, and it becomes immediately apparent what Danny Elfman was looking for at any given moment. That says a lot about what he created all those years ago and what we continue to be drawn to in his really special score for this film.”
People naturally gravitate toward their favorite songs in the musical film, and Parnther admits that his favorite piece is “Oogie Boogie’s Song.”
“That’s probably my personal favorite part of the entire film. It’s the song that is the least like anything else in the whole book,” he said. “The other thing that’s really special about it is that ‘Oogie Boogie’s Song’ was sung by Ken Page, who I knew and had worked with on a number of occasions. He passed away [recently]. It’s interesting for me coming back to The Nightmare Before Christmas after having gotten to do it with Ken in concert, so I’ll be thinking of him as we perform that portion of the movie this weekend.”
Parnther feels the film-with-orchestra format is one that harkens back to the origins of filmmaking.
“Concerts like this take cinema as close to its earliest roots as as the art form could possibly go. In the beginning of cinema, before there was dialog, before there was sound effects, there was only picture and music, and the music was performed live,” he said. “Doing concerts like this are very special for that reason. It’s a very powerful, visceral experience to hear an 80 piece orchestra making its way through a complex score like this in real life and in real time.”
As a conductor, Parnther splits his time between POPS-type programming like The Nightmare Before Christmas and the more traditional classical styles, and he has found a way to balance between the two genres.
“For me, I have a couple philosophies. The first philosophy is that good and interesting music is good and interesting music regardless of the genre. The second thing is that I’m I am obsessed with what the orchestra can do,” he said. “The orchestra is certainly not limited to just classical music. It has endless possibilities, and I want to explore and, to a degree, exploit all those possibilities. You’ll find me on a rap concert with Kanye West one weekend, and then you’ll find me doing Mozart the next weekend, but I’m having fun either way.”
Houston Symphony presents Disney Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas In Concert at 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday at Jones Hall, 615 Louisiana. For tickets or information, call 713-224-7575 or visit houstonsymphony.org. Tickets range $51.75-$195.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
