Bugs Bunny and his Looney Tunes pals took over the Hollywood Bowl last Friday and Saturday nights for special productions of Warner Bros. presents Bugs Bunny at the Symphony – 25th Anniversary at the Hollywood Bowl.
Fans got to see and hear Warner Bros.’ greatest animated shorts, including What’s Opera, Doc?, The Rabbit of Seville and Zoom and Bored, as well as such surprises as the “live orchestra” premieres of Long-Haired Hare (set in the Hollywood Bowl itself) and the new 3D short “Rabid Rider.”
Emmy Award-winning creator and conductor George Daugherty led the Los Angeles Philharmonic on both nights last weekend. He led the orchestra to play composer Carl Stalling’s astonishing, mercurial scores in synchronization to the iconic cartoons projected on the big screens.
The evening also featured a special appearance by present day Looney Tunes voiceover actor Bob Bergen in a tribute to Mel Blanc’s genius, and an onstage salute to Bugs Bunny’s balletic exploits by Ida Nevasayneva, prima ballerina of Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo.
Bugs Bunny at The Symphony and its predecessor Bugs Bunny On Broadway were pioneers in the development of the “film and orchestra concert” that is so popular today, and was the first touring concert of its kind.
The fact that this is still touring the world 25 years after its premiere, and has played to millions of audience members, is a huge testament to the fact that these cartoons and characters are beloved the world over, and have an indelible place in the hearts and lives of everybody who ever saw them and experienced them.
“It all of course started 25 years ago when we did this concert for the very first time,” Daugherty said. “It was my great desire as a conductor back at that point to devise new orchestra concerts that would bring people into concert venues and concert halls that don’t normally come to. Right now, there are so many film and architecture concerts out there, but we really were the very first one, so we were pioneering with all of this. In looking at doing all that, I was reacquainted with the incredible cartoon and the wonderful music from Looney Tunes in the late 1980s.”
In 1990, Warner Bros. signed off on what was supposed to be a one-year production at The Gershwin Theatre on Broadway, originally called Bugs Bunny On Broadway.
“It was such a tremendous success and it was immediately sold out in its very first performances,” Daugherty said. “We realized that everybody in America and pretty much in the English speaking world as children came to classical musical thanks to Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd.”
Twenty-five years later Daugherty has been touring with the production all over the world.
“We’ve played with practically every major Orchestra in the world, certainly every major Orchestra in America, and at some unbelievable iconic venues like the Sydney Opera House.”
Daugherty noted the Stalling’s works were unique in that, although he wrote music for cartoons, he did not compose “cartoony music.” His music was on such a high level, plus the incredible performances of the Warner Bros. Studio Orchestra, that they achieved the perfect balance of not only be irresistible to general audiences, but to music connoisseurs as well.
“This is one of the reasons that audiences not only love the concert, but the greatest symphony orchestras in the world love playing it,” Daugherty said. “And more people got their first exposure to classical music, thanks to Looney Tunes, Stalling, and Franklyn, than any other source in the world.”
For more on Bugs Bunny at the Symphony, visit www.bugsbunnyatthesymphony.net.
