Okay so you know that JustaBXgirl and I are Disney obsessed. Yet somehow I missed the memo on Kingdom Hearts. It might have been because fifteen years ago when the game first came out I was a lot quieter about my obsession. Either way when I was given the opportunity to attend the Kingdom Hearts Orchestra I jumped and did one of my happy dances at my desk.
In case you too aren’t too familiar with Kingdom Hearts let me give you some background. The first game was released in 2002 on PlayStation 2 after being jointly developed by Disney and Square Enix. The main character Sora travels alngside Goofy and Donald meeting over 100 Disney characters and numerous heroes and villains from the Final Fantasy franchise. I know that’s a lot in one game! After attending the orchestra I downloaded the iOS version Kingdom Hearts Union X.
Anyway back to the Kingdom Hearts Orchestra. I had never been to the orchestra before. I’ve done the ballet, opera and numerous Broadway shows but have never gone simply to see the orchestra. I love experiencing firsts with JustaBXgirl. When we got to the show we were both a little shocked at how long the line was to get in. We seriously almost circled two corners of a really long NYC block! Even still the staff at the United Palace Theater did an amazing time of getting everyone inside quickly and for a few minutes we were able to dance in the rain.
JustaBXgirl was happy just seeing the members of the orchestra walking onto the stage and had a million questions about each instrument she saw. Yet, this is far from an ordinary orchestra. As the music begins animated sequences from the game appear on the giant screen above. Without having played the game JustaBXgirl and I were drawn in to the story and were excited to see many of our favorite characters. If you are familiar with the game than it is your dream.
During the short intermission I spoke with some attendees sitting behind us who have been avid Kingdom hearts fans from the beginning. They said that they could not have imagined the show being done any better. Every nuance was perfection. It was good to know that this was designed in a way that welcomed in the newbie and the veteran without letting anyone feel left out.
The music was beautiful and we were treated to a surprise performance by Yoko Shimomura. Yoko is the composer for the series. Her composition is magical. It tells the story wonderfully and takes you on an emotional journey.
To me this was the perfect way to introduce the symphony to JustaBXgirl. It ran a little over two hours and was in the evening so it ran past JustaBXgirl’s bedtime which caused her to be a little cranky and anxious at the end but she did ask to go again. Sadly the next and so far final stop on the world tour is this Saturday. July 8th in Tokyo! Apologies JustBXgirl but we won’t be making that show.
