The Circus: Silent Film Featuring Live Organ

Aaron David Miller is back at Northrop on Sunday, Feb. 7, 2027, for a performance that brings back a nearly dead tradition: a silent film accompanied by a live organ. The film is Charlie Chaplin's The Circus (1928), and Miller will be improvising the score on the Northrop pipe organ in the spirit of early 20th-century cinemas, when a theater organist would watch the screen and play along in real time. In The Circus, Chaplin's Tramp accidentally finds circus stardom and falls for the proprietor's daughter. It's a romantic comedy that landed well with critics—the Los Angeles Times praised Miller's "swirling virtuosity" in a previous run, and a 1928 review said the film "would make every boneless wonder crack his ribs with laughter."

Behind the scenes, though, the production was a disaster. A storm tore down the set, scenes were marred, Chaplin's wife divorced him, and the IRS suspended the studio's operations. Chaplin shelved the film after its 1928 release and didn't screen it again until 1970. It's one of those movies that almost didn't make it, which makes seeing it now feel like a bit of a rescue.

Miller is no stranger to this kind of work. He's previously accompanied Chaplin's The Cameraman and Manual Cinema's Ada/Ava at Northrop, and he's known as both an organist and an improviser. The screening is part of the auditorium's 2026-27 season, "A Season of Radical Joy," and a Q&A with Miller follows the performance. The show starts at 3 PM on the Carlson Family Stage at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, and it'll be available on demand through Feb. 14.