PREVIEW: ‘SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE LIVE IN CONCERT’

Buckle up, Cleveland! Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Live In Concert,’ a show like very few others that combines a blockbuster feature film on an enormous screen accompanied by musical performers is hitting the road for a 70-date US tour that will include a stop in Cleveland, OH on Saturday, October 21!

The Academy Award-winning film from Sony Pictures Animation will be accompanied by a live orchestra, band, and turntables with a scratch DJ playing music from the score and soundtrack. Joining the tour is The Broadway Sinfonietta, an all-women and majority women of color orchestra.

The film’s music score was composed by Academy Award nominee, multiple Golden Globe® nominee, and Emmy-winning composer Daniel Pemberton.

The hip-hop-infused film score contains original music showcasing elements of heroism, and resilience and is complemented by song contributions from industry greats Post Malone, Lil Wayne, Jaden Smith, and Nicki Minaj.

Tour producer Ollie Rosenblatt phoned CleveRock’s hotline in advance of the show at Playhouse Square on October 21! Rosenblatt, an industry veteran who started making waves in the industry immediately out of his university studies, operates London-based production company, Senbla.

CleveRock: How was the idea for ‘SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE LIVE IN CONCERT’ conceived and describe the event for someone who might not be familiar with it?

Rosenblatt: “We’ve been doing many of these styles of shows for a while. Every year we actually do a lot of work with Disney. We’ve been doing it for many, many years. We did a Harry Potter series and Star Wars as well, and we own certain rights with global rights for inversions like ‘The Joker’ as well. And when me and Sophie were talking so many pictures and picture Elevation were talking about doing something with Spider Verse. It was an interesting, obvious choice in some ways because it’s such an incredible film, but not an obvious choice in other ways because it’s complicated. It’s not a normal-style film with a live orchestra. It’s not just an orchestra stage playing very orchestral symphonic music. This is a mix of an incredible mix of orchestral music, beautiful melodic, symphonic music mixed with electronics, hip hop, lots of percussion, rhythmical drumming, and also scratch DJing, hip hop style on stage with live vinyl scratch DJing.

It’s an incredible mix of music that Daniel Pemberton just created, which has never been done live in this setting; never had a scratch DJ live on stage in any event with an orchestra, with a film, and a live orchestra. Blending that it is the first and incredibly exciting and all the faces of the music. The rhythmical drive of the music through the percussion and the drumming is something unique as well. The electronic nature of the music is mixed with this symphonic score as well. It’s an amazing mix, which when we’re talking about it, just thought we could pull this off. This is going to be a hugely exciting performance and experience for people to watch; to witness really visually with the orchestra doing their thing and with the scrap dig and things, but also listening wise, such a mix of sounds and music in one evening and obviously the accompanying film. What you get is to experience the film in a totally different way. It amplifies the film in a way that you didn’t realize it could be. You are engaging in scenes in the film in a totally different way because the music is adding so much emotional charge and energy to certain scenes.”

CleveRock: I read that the orchestra is made up of all women; primarily women of color. How important is that for you to be opening doors in what is still, to this day, a male-dominated industry?

Rosenblatt: “It’s hugely important! The music is an all-women and majority women of color orchestra. It’s really important for me, and I think the film itself is culturally hugely important. It breaks down barriers. It’s forward-thinking. We wanted to try and mirror that on stage of what we’re presenting. I think this is enormously important, having this orchestra on the tour, an amazing set of players they are, we’re hugely proud to be able to have them on the road with us and represent them in this way. We’re very proud of it and I think it’s hugely important for the industry and I think it’s hugely important for aspiring musicians. It’s important for people to witness this as well.

We are here to try and push the boundaries in a positive way and break down any stereotypes and any issues that people have faced and really try and trailblaze this new approach and give people this opportunity. This is 70+ shows in the US First time this has ever been done. In fact, I think it’s the biggest US tour of any film with a live orchestra, ever. It’s a global hundred-day worldwide tour. To have the backbone of that as the all-women, majority women of color orchestra, I think is something exceptional and something we are like I said, we are greatly and hugely proud of to be able to say that, to produce that. The people on the stage of this orchestra stage to be able to do all these shows and this tour. They are the most amazing group of players and they are bringing this film and this music to life in a most spectacular fashion!”

CleveRock: What were the biggest challenges in making this show come together?

Rosenblatt: “The biggest challenge is that it’s a complicated show to put together from a production point of view. There’s a lot of intricacies and detail; there’s a lot of what needs to be done behind the scenes. It’s not straightforward, but that challenge is also great because you learn so much about the product and what you need to achieve. You think more about what you want to achieve on stage when you want to show the audience what you want to bring across. These are challenges that only create positivity as well in the production.

It’s a very high-profile film, so there’s a lot of people. It’s an exciting journey to be on, frankly, a hugely supportive studio with so many pictures and so many pictures of animation. We’ve got an amazing composer and it’s a privilege to be working with someone like that. And he’s so involved and he is also so engaged in making it successful and wanting it to be successful, which is fantastic. It’s been a great experience. Everyone’s brought so much positivity and great energy to it to bring it to this point and to make it a success so far. It’s hard to say that happens in every project. There are always challenges to create great things, frankly, but that’s to be expected because people want things to be as best as they can, myself included in that. The challenges, I think, are only things that create positivity if you approach ’em in the right way.”

CleveRock: Is this production something that even non-Marvel enthusiasts can enjoy?

Rosenblatt: “Oh yeah, big time! The thing is that the music never gets in the way, and that’s the key to these things. It is perfectly and carefully balanced from the front-of-sound point of view. And, like I said, it only adds to the film to what you’re seeing. You’re still watching the film on a huge HD screen. You’re seeing the film like you’ve never seen it, unless you saw it in cinemas years ago. What all this is doing is amplifying the best bits of the film and music and bringing it to life even more. So if anything, your experience is totally enhanced, not diminished.”