Star Woes in a Symphony Pops Concert

Mark MacNamara on August 8, 2013
Green Music Center

Last Sunday a friend of ours went to Santa Rosa to the Green Music Center to hear the San Francisco Symphony play a program of Hollywood film music. The setting is beautiful by any measure, and this particular late afternoon was gorgeous, yet our friend came away dismayed.

“I’m a big fan of the Hollywood Bowl,” she explained referring to the venue in L.A. “It’s easy to get there, they have busses that drop you off. And you can bring in whatever you want, including alcohol in glass bottles. But more important, it’s relaxed, everybody takes their kids, you don’t have to dress up. Plus, they have huge screens on either side so you can see what’s going on. And … you can talk during the concert; that’s not frowned upon. I went to see Yo-Yo Ma once and it was no different than any other concert. The music is important but less important than the whole experience. People get up and dance; it’s that kind of thing.”

On Sunday, she took her boyfriend to Weill Hall on a “date,” but from the beginning the experience was offputting.

“I was very excited to go; I’d heard so much about the Green Music Center. I’ve never been to Tanglewood, but I was told this was a very similar experience. And, as I say, this was a date, a big date. But we get there, there’s a long line, and the first thing they do is search your bags. If you have bottled water you have to throw it out, so there’s this long line of people emptying their water bottles. Then you get inside and it’s like you’ve come to a cricket match. White women in white dresses, floppy hats, and sunglasses. White tents. I was in jeans.

“It was not very crowded. People on the lawn were in their 40s and 50s; people closer to the stage in their 60s and beyond. The whole atmosphere was subdued. Very few children. Altogether more of a wine crowd than a family crowd. No chips and hummus, I can tell you: It all looked like upscale Napa cuisine.”

“Actually,” she went on, “ the hope seemed to be that you’d finished your picnic by the time the concert started. Which is why they open at two, so you’ll be finished by four. We got there just as the music was starting and found a place. But it was difficult to see the stage because you’re looking down into this box and it was all dark. And clearly it’s considered disruptive to move around, much less talk, so we didn’t dare try to get a glass of wine.”

“You realize this was not a gala, this was music from Batman and Star Wars. Which is another difference. When this kind of concert plays at the Hollywood Bowl, people bring their light sabres and flash them during performance. It’s all about having fun!”

“That’s what was missing here. That’s why it was disappointing. There was a failure to make the whole experience fun, to spread the love of classical music through both programming and a feeling of being with other people in these gorgeous surroundings. They need to figure out the target audience, make the whole thing more relaxing, less stuffy.”

The experience was not all negative. “Mark Hamill (who played Luke Skywalker in the original Star Wars series) was a great host. He was witty and did a great job of relaxing the crowd. And Sara Hicks did a wonderful job conducting. She also has a great way with the audience.”