The 1951 film 'Scrooge' is screened with its Richard Addinsell score performed live for the first time by the FB Pocket Orchestra.
The FB Pocket Orchestra are at Derby Theatre on Sunday 6 December, performing live to the 1951 film Scrooge. It's the Alastair Sim version, widely seen as the definitive cinematic retelling of Dickens' story, and it's being screened in the Main House with the orchestra playing the score in the room.
That score was written by Richard Addinsell, and it holds a proper place in mid-twentieth-century British composition, providing the whole thing with its structural and emotional framework. There's a bit of a story behind how it's getting to the stage this time: notated scores were often discarded in the early days of sound film, so the original sheet music for Scrooge didn't survive. Paul Stevenson reconstructed it by transcribing the soundtrack by ear, and this is the first time the ensemble is performing it in its entirety.
The FB Pocket Orchestra specialises in reimagining symphonic, orchestral, folk and early twentieth-century repertoire for an intimate format, and this is their first live-to-film project. The line-up is a trio: Paul Stevenson on musical direction, arranging and guitar; Jenny Russell on woodwind and keyboards; and Ollie Corbin on percussion and synthesizers. Between them they're covering the full orchestral score, so you'll hear the woodwind, the keys, the percussion and the guitar all working together to fill out the sound.
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It's a Sunday afternoon showing, so it's an easy one to fit in. The screening starts at 3:00pm at Derby Theatre, Main House, 15 Theatre Walk, St Peter's Quarter, Derby DE1 2NF, and tickets are £18.00 standard.
