This event by the Illuminated Orchestra company promised great things. Tim Burton is a much loved and respected filmmaker with many wonderful movies with notable soundtracks. To listen to some of these songs performed by a live orchestra by the light of the moon sounds quite wonderful.
Unfortunately it did not live up to expectations. The sound quality, from the back of the balcony at least, was not great; the moon was not very visible past the lighting structures of the Music Hall, and – also disappointing to dedicated Tim Burton fans – was the fact that there were many tunes from the dark fantasy side of the event’s title. These included Stranger Things, Harry Potter, Pans Labyrinth and Labyrinth. The biggest cheer was towards the end when they announced it was time for A Nightmare Before Christmas and played three songs from this fantastic movie.
There were two vocalists who sang some of the songs. It seemed that they had been picked for the Nightmare Before Christmas songs. The gentleman seemed to suit the Oogie Boogie man and the lady suited the lovable Sally. Her vocals had been difficult to make out before the interval, but improved in the second half. He had quite a stage presence including a wonderful wardrobe of very sparkly and swishy cloaks. Audience members in the Stalls near the stage were whooping and cheering, especially for him, and there were several of them on their feet applauding at the end.
The lighting was very effective, with the orchestra being illuminated in different colours and in different ways according to the melodies being played. Another massive cheer happened at the start of the second half when all the string instruments’ bows lit up like lightsabres, although as the theme was dark fantasy rather than sci-fi there was no Star Wars tune to accompany them. For Stranger Things the lights were all red, very in keeping with the television show. The moon varied too, for example turning green for the Oogie Boogie man’s song.
The 18 piece orchestra were obviously talented musicians. The lead lady was conducting, playing violin and providing some narrative between songs, in a spooky voice. At the start of the Coraline piece she and the female singer interacted beautifully.
This production certainly tried hard but perhaps was trying to attract too diverse an audience. An enjoyable evening hearing many well known and much loved songs. The evening ended on the Addams Family classic that had the audience clicking along merrily.
Reviewed on 15th September 2026 | Image: Maria Robertson
