Bowl’s Past Takes Spotlight in Summer Opener

The summer season at the Hollywood Bowl kicked off in spectacular fashion Friday with the annual opening night gala, a program celebrating the past and presaging the future of the fabled venue. And although the concert wasn’t scheduled to begin until 8:30 p.m, by 7 p.m. a full-house crowd had already started the festivities with catered dinners in the box area and free-floating picnicking in the upper tiers.

The onstage festivities opened with an enormous video screen over the stage offering historical perspective via photographic views of the Bowl’s numerous stages of development. Actor Jeff Goldblum provided narration, and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra under John Mauceri performed music from “Carmen” that was part of the Bowl’s first-ever program.

The most heavily promoted aspect of the program was the introduction of the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame and the induction of its first two honorees. The first was film composer and conductor John Williams, whose celebratory installation was the highlight of the opening half of the season-opening event.

It’s hard to argue with the choice of Williams as the first inductee. His debut at the Bowl, he noted, took place in the late ‘50s, when he was a second pianist with the Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra. Since then, of course, he has become the best-known of all Los Angeles composers via his scores for “E.T.,” “Superman” “Jaws” “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and “Star Wars.” He has, in fact, received more Oscar nominations--38--than anyone in history.

Williams’ rich catalog of film music was displayed by the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, which played the underscores to film projections of scenes from some of the films. And his great strengths--specifically identified by Steven Spielberg in his introduction to Williams’ induction--were apparent in nearly every scene: instantly memorable melodies (think of Princess Leia’s song from “Star Wars” and the soaring love melody from “Superman”), the brilliant use of orchestral textures to support the dramatic action without intruding on its flow, and the workmanlike way in which he integrates music into the overall movement of the story. Nothing illustrates those skills better than his “Star Wars” score, and it was appropriate that his Hall of Fame installation climaxed with Williams himself conducting the now classic music.

The second honoree was a somewhat more unusual choice: country star Garth Brooks. On the basis of popularity, he’s an understandable pick; as one of the most successful artists in pop music history, regardless of genre, his presence provides a strong pop cachet for the awards. But he has performed infrequently at the venue, so his inclusion is arguable. Still, there was no denying the warmth, vulnerability and sheer effectiveness of the few, brief numbers he offered.

Other artists participating in the long program included jazz vocalist Nancy Wilson, young pop star Christina Aguilera, comedians/magicians Penn & Teller, Whoopi Goldberg, tenor Rodney Gilfry, the USC Trojan Marching Band and violinist Gil Shaham. But it was probably appropriate that the scene-stealer was the sweetly innocent playing of the young violinists in the inner-city ensemble Sweet Strings.