BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD Screening with Wordless Music Orch and Lost Bayou Ramblers Set for Next Month at Symphony Space

On Friday, January 23 and Saturday, January 24 (8 pm) in the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre at Symphony Space, director Benh Zeitlin's acclaimed film Beasts of the Southern Wild will be screened with live accompaniment by the Wordless Music Orchestra and the Lost Bayou Ramblers under Ryan McAdams. The soundtrack was composed by Zeitlin with Dan Romer; it will be performed to a music-less print of the film created especially for this project. Tickets are priced depending on location in the house: $65 ($55 for members), $47 ($40 members), $35 ($30 members), and $25 for those under 30, available at www.symphonyspace.org.

This rare event has happened only once before in New York, but the score has taken on a life of its own: in July, excerpts were performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel at the Hollywood Bowl, and the live score was performed to the complete film at the Barbican Arts Center in London. The Symphony Space performances will be the first live showings with the Grammy-nominated Lost Bayou Ramblers, who appear onscreen in the film.

Beasts of the Southern Wild is one of the most celebrated indie films of the decade, winning numerous awards and four Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. The soundtrack was cited by Kyle Buchanan of New York magazine as "the year's best score...What Zeitlin and Romer have produced is a marvel: a swirling, magical score that channels the spirit of protagonist Hushpuppy, an indomitable 6-year-old girl (played by Quvenzhané Wallis) who lives in a semi-mythical, mostly flooded New Orleans town called the Bathtub.

"Romer used a strong string section, a trumpet, and a temperamental, briefly rented celesta to put forth that point of view. 'When we made the score, we just thought, What is Hushpuppy thinking about this situation? Let's make music that would reflect what she thinks about what's happening,' he said. 'If we tried to score it from anybody else's point of view other than Hushpuppy's, it fell flat.'" The results have a contemporary yet timeless quality, with Michael Nyman, Danny Elfman, and Kate Bush as reference points.

Cajun music, as played by the Lost Bayou Ramblers, is a vital part of the mix of course. "Benh wrote me that there would be a Cajun band early on," recalled Romer in an interview for Deadline.com. "He asked what musicians should be there at the shoot. We talked about two violins and a guitar. We wanted a Cajun band playing in the scene, but then something else is playing in Hushpuppy's head. We wanted Hushpuppy to augment the live music in her brain. To the rest of the world, it's just a Cajun band, but in her head it's reharmonized and orchestrated."

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