In a city of millions, holiday traditions can come in lots of flavors and formats. And for the past quarter century, the story of how Halloween Town’s Pumpkin King tried to steal Christmas from Santa has become a cherished staple all over the world, including our dense and complex city of wonder here in Chicago.
Marking the 25th Anniversary since its initial release in October of 1993, Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, with its beautifully rendered vision of the whimsically macabre, is once again traveling the globe wedding the morbid thrills of Halloween to the hopes and joys of Christmas.
Last month in sunny California the commemoration of the film’s silver anniversary included a star-studded celebration at the Hollywood Bowl with Danny Elfman, the movie’s creator, playing Jack. And on the most auspicious of all nights, Halloween, the cinematic classic landed at the resplendent Auditorium Theater for a two night run.
Organizers added a dash of sizzle by asking Nightmare enthusiasts, along with their friends and family, to take full advantage of the convergence of Halloween and Christmas by attending in costume. Hordes complied.
More than just a screening of a remarkably successful film, the celebration was complemented with the Chicago Philharmonic, recognized as “one of the country’s finest symphonic orchestras”, providing live musical accompaniment. Channeling the evening’s vitality, many orchestra members rolled with the flow by dressing in costume as well. There were violin playing bananas and swans. Santas with cellos and Little Bo Peep working percussion. Under the able direction of a keenly focused maestro, the orchestra was plush and impeccable as it followed and provided the musical underscore to Jack Skellington’s sadly misguided adventures that all but upended Christmas.
Halloween night, a modern holiday classic, the imposing ornate beauty of the Auditorium Theatre and a performance hall packed with eerily attired devotees made for an evening charged with enough jubilant energy to light a towering Yuletide tree.
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Oct. 31 – Nov 1, 2018
The Auditorium Theater
50 E. Ida B. Wells Dr.
Chicago, IL 60605
