Colorado Springs Philharmonic plays along to beloved ‘Princess Bride’ film
Over the years, since its 1987 release, “The Princess Bride” might be one of the more quoted movies. How many times have you heard these lines: “Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”
The Rob Reiner-directed romantic comedy, starring Robin Wright, Cary Elwes and Mandy Patinkin, is a sentimental favorite, beloved by many for its simple tale of a handsome farmhand who sets out to rescue the beautiful Princess Buttercup from the nefarious Prince Humperdinck. Along the way, he acquires quirky companions who help and hinder his journey.
Colorado Springs Philharmonic will offer a live cinema event of the film, where the orchestra performs the soundtrack as the movie plays on a giant screen above and behind the musicians. Performances are Friday and Saturday at Pikes Peak Center.
”It hearkens back to the time of silent movies, where live music was all the accompaniment,” said guitarist Colin McAllister, who’ll perform as a special guest with the symphony this weekend.
McAllister performs two or three times a year with the symphony, whenever they need a guitar, banjo or mandolin player. He recently joined them on stage for “She’s Got Soul” with Capathia Jenkins in November and again for the New Year’s Eve concert.
”I consider it a rare treat,” said McAllister, a music professor at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. “
As guitarists, we didn’t grow up playing in the school band or orchestra, where you’re following a conductor. A lot of us don’t get to play with that many musicians in any other setting. I do mostly solos, duets, quartets. It’s fun to be in the midst of an orchestra and listen to what it feels like to be part of that.”
As the fairy tale unfolds on-screen, the orchestra will play the soundtrack by British singer-songwriter and guitarist Mark Knopfler, who was also a member of the rock band Dire Straits. Among songs “The Cliffs of Insanity,” “Guide My Sword” and “The Fireswamp and the Rodents of Unusual Size” is the Academy Award-nominated composition “Storybook Love,” co-written with Willy DeVille.
”In movie soundtracks, the music has to match the movie,”’ McAllister said. “The tempo sometimes changes rapidly; it speeds up and slows down. It’s a little different from playing anything else because the tempos have to match exactly what’s happening in the movie.”
To capture those tempos, the conductor — and sometimes the musicians — will have a click track in their ear that keeps the beat. When McAllister performed during the symphony’s live cinema event of the 2017 animated film “Coco,” about a young boy guitarist who wants to be a musician, he wore a click track and also watched a version of the movie that included a click track in a monitor near his feet.
”There was a bunch of movement where the kid is playing guitar and I had to match exactly what the character was doing on screen,” he said. “This one isn’t quite as crucial that the guitar playing lines up exactly with the action on screen.”
Contact the writer: 636-0270
What: “The Princess Bride,” live cinema event by Colorado Springs Philharmonic, with conductor Thomas Wilson
When: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday
Where: Pikes Peak Center, 190 S. Cascade Ave.
Price: $31-$91; axs.com, csphilharmonic.org
Colorado Springs Philharmonic will offer a live cinema event of the 1987 film, “The Princess Bride,” where the orchestra performs the soundtrack as the movie plays on a giant screen above and behind the musicians. Performances are Friday and Saturday at Pikes Peak Center. Courtesy
Guitarist Colin McAllister will be a guest performer during Colorado Springs Philharmonic’s live cinema performances of the 1987 film “The Princess Bride.”