The Cleveland Orchestra summer concert series at Blossom
Music Center is something of a tradition in northeast Ohio. Therefore, when the orchestra invites
Great Lakes Base, Ohio Garrison and Rancor Clan to be part of its “Sci-Fi
Spectacular” concert – it is an opportunity NOT to be missed!
The giant amphitheater is settled right in the middle of the
800 acres of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park; which giving the entire venue a
very “Endor” vibe. Which means a
few early morning rainstorms passing over the area made for a beautiful (if not
humid) afternoon. This was my
fourth tour of trooping for a concert at Blossom and still one of my favorite
local venues.
Keeping with the “Endor” theme, would you believe the
entrance to our dressing room is via a small “bunker” elevator, on the far side
of the amphitheater? Once our “small
Rebel force,” as well as a few troopers and lone Mando Merc had a chance to
suit up and make our way back up the hill towards the main entrance --
affectionately referred to as “the hill of death” – we spread out along the
path, as guests began to camp out the best spot on the lawn for the
concert. As you can imagine,
people would drop their folding chairs, coolers and blankets at the sight of us
– wanting to get a picture with us; EXCEPT the guy who came with a fresh box of
pizza… even a “jedi mind trick” wasn’t enough to get that guy to share. When it came time for the concert to
begin, some of us changed back to street clothes and other stayed in costume as
our contact lead us to a section of open seats for us to enjoy the concert.
The Cleveland Orchestra kicked off the performance with
(what else) the main theme from “Star Wars.” After a medley of songs from popular sci-fi TV shows over
the years, and the main theme from “Superman: the movie” (one of my personal
favorites), it was time for the “Star Trek” portion of the evening; and to
welcome the evening’s special guest.
George Takei was the guest narrator for the evening. Mr. Takei told the story of how the
original crew of the USS Enterprise was purposefully designed as a metaphor for
the various cultures of Earth – coming together to create a better future.
During intermission, you could see kids playing on the amphitheater lawn with
toy lightsabers – which as a Star Wars fan, always brings a smile. Since Fuzzball was our resident Jedi
Knight for the evening, I challenged him (there MAY have been some “chicken
clucking” involved on my part) to go over there and play along with any kid
looking to test their skill against an fully trained Jedi – the same way I did, many years ago.
I’ll give my former “padawan” credit, he stood his ground expertly
against a pair of rambunctious “younglings” – one wielding a double-bladed
lightsaber – as well as simply interacted with a group of kids barely old
enough to lift the lightsabers they were carrying. As Fuzzball’s former Star Wars costuming mentor, watching
this made me very proud!
Overall, it was another great concert at Blossom Music
Center as our crew packed up to head for home from the “forest moon” of
Cuyahoga Falls.
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