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Doctor Who Prom
I only just realized that it's less than a week before Christmas, and that means it's less than a week before the BBC broadcasts the Doctor Who Prom from back in August. So, I figured I should write up my visit to the Proms before that happens. I've been meaning to write up my Europe trip but just haven't got around to it.
Of course, if you're going to actually watch the broadcast, don't read this. :)
You might remember that I failed to get tickets to the Prom on release night due to my own stupidity, but then my sister paid a hell of a lot of money (about 5x) to get a pair from a third-party site. The seats were phenomenal - front row of the first tier of balconies on the left side as you're facing the stage. The Royal Albert Hall was gorgeous. I'd attended a previous prom a couple of nights earlier, so I got to see how different it was set up for DW. Well, yes, there's a TARDIS, duh, but also the big screen above the orchestra. In front of the orchestra is the day prommers' pit, where, if you don't care to purchase seats, you can show up to the concert on the day of and hope to buy a day prommer ticket and stand in the pit for the entire show. I'd definitely love to do that someday.
Catherine Tate was the host, but the Vlinx did the "turn off your phones and no photography allowed" spiel, so obviously Nick Briggs was there somewhere, and also Murray Gold, Segin Akinola, and RTD were in the audience.
The concert opened with "Fifteen", which is the Fifteenth Doctor's theme, and this was especially exciting for nerd reasons. You see, "Fifteen" is driven by a heavy beat from the bass clarinet and bari sax, so the musicians were featured up front. "So?" you say. Bass clarinets and bari saxes are bass instruments that rarely appear in orchestral music, and if they do appear, they're never featured, so having them up front and appreciated was amazing! My sister, who had to ask me, "What are those things?" had no idea why I was so excited. Like I said, nerd stuff.
(So much for the "no photograph allowed" rule, sorry, the Vlinx! You can't possibly expect that we won't take pictures. But out of respect, I'm not posting really copyrightable stuff.)
Each piece played was accompanied with video from the episodes in question. The next two pieces were "The Doctor, Donna, and the Toymaker" (the 60th, obviously) and "Into the Vortex" (don't remember exactly what this one was). Then the next was "I Am the Doctor", with video from the Eleventh Doctor's run, but this was also accompanied by monsters invading the audience - Whispermen, Peg Dolls, the Silence, Cybermen, and Judoon - which, I suppose, is one reason why you'd want to day prom, because that's where most of the monsters were. Then the video played the Pandorica speech and the monsters ran away. There were other pieces that monsters appeared during, but I don't remember which.
The next two pieces were "The Life of Sunday" and "Vale Decem", the latter of which, I found, still brings tears to my eyes. You'd think I'd've outgrown that by now, but nooooo. The video for "Vale Decem" was a compilation of Doctor farewells and regenerations across the entire show.
Then, a Dalek rolled on stage and instructed the orchestra to leave, "OR YOU WILL BE EX-TER-MINATED."
At some point during the first half, the Fifteenth Doctor came on the vidscreen to say hi to everyone, but then his transmission was cut off and Maestro took over, sneering at the audience and stealing the music, forcing the orchestra to play "I've Got a Dog". The Vlinx cut over them and told the audience to applaud, because applause signals the end of the music, cutting it off and robbing Maestro of their power. Victory!
After intermission, we had Twelve's tribute "A Good Man?", "73 Yards to Finetime", "The Companions Suite" (a medley of companion themes from Rose through Bill, slightly disappointing because Donna's song, "A Noble Girl Around Town" had the saxophonist playing his tenor sax instead of the bari sax that's featured in the original recording - sorry, nerd stuff again), "The Thirteenth Doctor" (Segin Akinola's work), and "Abigail's Song".
At some point during the second half, while CT was announcing the next bit, a figure in white entered the stage and took over - Mrs Flood! They really know how to play to the audience, don't they? I actually don't remember a whit of what she said because I was too excited by the whole concept.
The concert closed with the new arrangement of the main theme, then after the final ovation, CT wondered if there might be more... and the video screen lit up with Fifteen saying, "There's always a twist at the end." On came the go-go dancers and the orchestra played "There's Always a Twist" along with the video from the end of "The Devil's Chord."
The best thing, though, was that my sister loved it. She had thought it was just going to be a concert of music from a TV show she'd never seen, but the concert was a show in itself, and even though she had no knowledge of the show, she enjoyed it. She felt that though the price she'd bought the tickets at rivaled what you'd pay for tickets to "Hamilton", the entertainment that was delivered was on that level and so it was totally worth it. She was intrigued enough by the concert to ask me about the show, and we talked about it for hours (though there's no way she's going to ever watch it; she is soooo not into sci-fi/fantasy).
So yes, the Doctor Who Prom was everything I've ever dreamed of, ever since I found out about them in 2014, and it was totally worth scheduling my trip around it. And now I have the official program, which sits on my music stand so that I see it every day and think about it.
Of course, if you're going to actually watch the broadcast, don't read this. :)
You might remember that I failed to get tickets to the Prom on release night due to my own stupidity, but then my sister paid a hell of a lot of money (about 5x) to get a pair from a third-party site. The seats were phenomenal - front row of the first tier of balconies on the left side as you're facing the stage. The Royal Albert Hall was gorgeous. I'd attended a previous prom a couple of nights earlier, so I got to see how different it was set up for DW. Well, yes, there's a TARDIS, duh, but also the big screen above the orchestra. In front of the orchestra is the day prommers' pit, where, if you don't care to purchase seats, you can show up to the concert on the day of and hope to buy a day prommer ticket and stand in the pit for the entire show. I'd definitely love to do that someday.
Catherine Tate was the host, but the Vlinx did the "turn off your phones and no photography allowed" spiel, so obviously Nick Briggs was there somewhere, and also Murray Gold, Segin Akinola, and RTD were in the audience.
The concert opened with "Fifteen", which is the Fifteenth Doctor's theme, and this was especially exciting for nerd reasons. You see, "Fifteen" is driven by a heavy beat from the bass clarinet and bari sax, so the musicians were featured up front. "So?" you say. Bass clarinets and bari saxes are bass instruments that rarely appear in orchestral music, and if they do appear, they're never featured, so having them up front and appreciated was amazing! My sister, who had to ask me, "What are those things?" had no idea why I was so excited. Like I said, nerd stuff.
(So much for the "no photograph allowed" rule, sorry, the Vlinx! You can't possibly expect that we won't take pictures. But out of respect, I'm not posting really copyrightable stuff.)
Each piece played was accompanied with video from the episodes in question. The next two pieces were "The Doctor, Donna, and the Toymaker" (the 60th, obviously) and "Into the Vortex" (don't remember exactly what this one was). Then the next was "I Am the Doctor", with video from the Eleventh Doctor's run, but this was also accompanied by monsters invading the audience - Whispermen, Peg Dolls, the Silence, Cybermen, and Judoon - which, I suppose, is one reason why you'd want to day prom, because that's where most of the monsters were. Then the video played the Pandorica speech and the monsters ran away. There were other pieces that monsters appeared during, but I don't remember which.
The next two pieces were "The Life of Sunday" and "Vale Decem", the latter of which, I found, still brings tears to my eyes. You'd think I'd've outgrown that by now, but nooooo. The video for "Vale Decem" was a compilation of Doctor farewells and regenerations across the entire show.
Then, a Dalek rolled on stage and instructed the orchestra to leave, "OR YOU WILL BE EX-TER-MINATED."
At some point during the first half, the Fifteenth Doctor came on the vidscreen to say hi to everyone, but then his transmission was cut off and Maestro took over, sneering at the audience and stealing the music, forcing the orchestra to play "I've Got a Dog". The Vlinx cut over them and told the audience to applaud, because applause signals the end of the music, cutting it off and robbing Maestro of their power. Victory!
After intermission, we had Twelve's tribute "A Good Man?", "73 Yards to Finetime", "The Companions Suite" (a medley of companion themes from Rose through Bill, slightly disappointing because Donna's song, "A Noble Girl Around Town" had the saxophonist playing his tenor sax instead of the bari sax that's featured in the original recording - sorry, nerd stuff again), "The Thirteenth Doctor" (Segin Akinola's work), and "Abigail's Song".
At some point during the second half, while CT was announcing the next bit, a figure in white entered the stage and took over - Mrs Flood! They really know how to play to the audience, don't they? I actually don't remember a whit of what she said because I was too excited by the whole concept.
The concert closed with the new arrangement of the main theme, then after the final ovation, CT wondered if there might be more... and the video screen lit up with Fifteen saying, "There's always a twist at the end." On came the go-go dancers and the orchestra played "There's Always a Twist" along with the video from the end of "The Devil's Chord."
The best thing, though, was that my sister loved it. She had thought it was just going to be a concert of music from a TV show she'd never seen, but the concert was a show in itself, and even though she had no knowledge of the show, she enjoyed it. She felt that though the price she'd bought the tickets at rivaled what you'd pay for tickets to "Hamilton", the entertainment that was delivered was on that level and so it was totally worth it. She was intrigued enough by the concert to ask me about the show, and we talked about it for hours (though there's no way she's going to ever watch it; she is soooo not into sci-fi/fantasy).
So yes, the Doctor Who Prom was everything I've ever dreamed of, ever since I found out about them in 2014, and it was totally worth scheduling my trip around it. And now I have the official program, which sits on my music stand so that I see it every day and think about it.
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I remember the day of, listening to part of it on BBC Sounds.
I just looked up Vale Decem . I’ve only seen EoT once. But this is epic and lovely music.
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