Displaying items by tag: live orchestra

It may be the middle of summer, but for fans of Universal’s “Love Actually,” Christmas comes early this year. GEA Live, RoadCo, Fifth Season, and Broadway In Chicago today announced LOVE ACTUALLY IN CONCERT will bring the heart, humor, and intertwined stories of Richard Curtis' beloved Christmas classic to Chicago this holiday season. A live orchestra performs the film's unforgettable soundtrack including Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You," Craig Armstrong's soaring score, and the timeless "Love Is All Around" while the complete film is projected on a cinema screen.

LOVE ACTUALLY IN CONCERT single ticket prices, ranging from $39 to $99 with a select number of premium seats available, may be purchased at www.BroadwayInChicago.com or in person at any Broadway In Chicago venue box office starting tomorrow, Saturday, July 25. Additional fees apply for online purchases. LOVE ACTUALLY IN CONCERT will play one night only at the Cadillac Palace Theatre (151 W. Randolph St) on Saturday, December 12. Discounted group rates for parties of 10 or more may be purchased by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or calling 312-977-1710. See below for additional ticket information.

Since its release in 2003, “Love Actually” has become a modern holiday tradition, celebrated for its star-studded cast, endlessly quotable moments, and its warm portraits of love in all its forms. Written and directed by Richard Curtis, “Love Actually” follows 10 different, yet interweaving stories of love around the festive period, involving a variety of individuals, many of whom are interlinked as the plot progresses. The film features Liam Neeson, Colin Firth, Laura Linney, Bill Nighy, Martine McCutcheon, Alan Rickman, Emma Thompson, Keira Knightley, Rowan Atkinson, Martin Freeman and many more.

“LOVE ACTUALLY IN CONCERT transforms a modern Christmas classic into a shared, heartwarming, and joy-filled celebration, perfect for fans, families, and anyone who believes love, actually, is all around,” says Floris Douwes, Producer and Managing Director at GEA Live.

Over the past two decades, “Love Actually” has built a global, multi-generational fanbase and become a holiday viewing tradition for millions. Its beloved characters, memorable music, and heartfelt stories have helped cement the film as a modern Christmas classic.   The film's composer, Golden Globe®, BAFTA® and Emmy®-winning Craig Armstrong OBE, is one of the most influential voices in modern film music, known for “Moulin Rouge!,” “Me Before You,” “Elizabeth: The Golden Age,” and more.

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE

WEEK 1

TICKET INFORMATION (as of 7/25/26, based on availability and subject to change)
Individual tickets, priced from $39 to $99 with a select number of premium seats available, go on sale tomorrow. Tickets may be purchased at www.BroadwayInChicago.com or in person at any Broadway In Chicago venue box office. Additional fees apply for online purchases. Discounted group rates for parties of 10 or more may be purchased by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or calling 312-977-1710. For more information, visit www.BroadwayInChicago.com.

ABOUT BROADWAY IN CHICAGO
Broadway In Chicago was created in July 2000 and over the past 26 years has grown to be one of the largest commercial touring homes in the country. A Nederlander Presentation, Broadway In Chicago lights up the Chicago Theater District entertaining up to 1.7 million people annually in five theatres. Broadway In Chicago presents a full range of entertainment, including musicals and plays, on the stages of five of the finest theatres in Chicago’s Loop including the Cadillac Palace Theatre, CIBC Theatre, James M. Nederlander Theatre, and just off the Magnificent Mile, the Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place and presenting Broadway shows at The Auditorium.

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ABOUT GEA LIVE
GEA Live has established itself as the premier partner in location-based entertainment, combining creativity, excellence and credibility to deliver unforgettable events that bring iconic brands to life in all their glory. Working with renowned IPs from TV, film, theatre, music, gaming, and anime, GEA Live design, produces and distributes everything from symphonic and film concerts to immersive exhibitions and stage shows. With a vast portfolio of shows spanning more than 40 countries, GEA Live has collaborated with world-class brands like PlayStation, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Twilight, Dirty Dancing, Our Planet, and Demon Slayer, in addition to exclusively representing the legendary Ennio Morricone. As a trusted pillar of Sony Music’s Masterworks Live division, GEA Live has partnered with entertainment giants like Sony Pictures, Lionsgate, Viacom, and Warner Brothers, among others, delivering unparalleled value for licensors while further elevating the world’s most cherished brands.

ABOUT ROADCO
RoadCo Entertainment, formed in 2020, is a producing and distribution agency specializing in live entertainment experiences. A collaboration between Sony Music Entertainment and independent touring entrepreneurs Stephen Lindsay and Brett Sirota, RoadCo represents a broad roster of live events based on popular brands and intellectual properties, as well as all-new immersive and interactive attractions for audiences of all ages.

Marking Rocky’s 50th anniversary, Rocky in Concert arrived at the Auditorium Theatre in a highly anticipated Auditorium Philms presentation featuring the Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra performing Bill Conti’s score live. The setup is simple but effective: the film plays above the stage while the Philharmonic brings new clarity and presence to a soundtrack audiences know by heart. What emerges is a familiar story given a fresh sense of scale, where the music’s live energy adds texture without overwhelming the film’s grit, humor, and underdog charm.

At its core, Rocky remains one of the most enduring underdog stories in American cinema. The film follows Rocky Balboa, a small-time Philadelphia boxer and part-time debt collector who drifts through life with more heart than opportunity. When heavyweight champion Apollo Creed needs a last-minute opponent for a New Year's Day exhibition bout, he plucks Rocky from obscurity as a publicity stunt, figuring that "the Italian Stallion" makes for a good headline. What begins as a novelty match becomes a personal turning point: Rocky trains with a new sense of purpose, steadied by the quiet support of Adrian, the shy pet-store clerk who becomes the emotional anchor of his climb. The plot is simple, but its sincerity, its belief in small steps, second chances, and self-respect, has kept it resonant for fifty years.

The film's cast is a major reason it works as well as it does. Sylvester Stallone's performance is unvarnished and deeply human, capturing Rocky's mix of awkwardness, humor, vulnerability, and stubborn grit. Talia Shire brings a gentle, lived-in warmth to Adrian, charting her transformation from withdrawn to self-possessed with remarkable subtlety. Burt Young's Paulie is volatile but never one-note, and Burgess Meredith's Mickey, raspy, relentless, and unexpectedly tender, became one of the most iconic mentors in film history. Carl Weathers, as Apollo Creed, delivers a charismatic, razor-sharp performance that elevates the film's stakes; he is not a villain, but a showman whose confidence forces Rocky to rise to the moment.

Behind the scenes, the story of how Rocky came to be is almost as compelling as the film itself. Stallone wrote the screenplay in just a few days after watching the 1975 Muhammad Ali vs. Chuck Wepner fight, where Wepner, a heavy underdog, managed to knock Ali down and go nearly the full fifteen rounds. United Artists loved the script but wanted a bankable star in the lead; they offered Stallone a substantial sum, with reports ranging from $250,000 to $350,000, for the screenplay alone. At the time, Stallone was nearly broke, living in a small apartment with his wife and dog, and had only a handful of minor acting credits. Turning down that kind of money was, by any rational measure, a terrible idea. But he refused to sell unless he could play Rocky himself. Eventually, the studio relented, slashing the budget to under $1 million and agreeing to cast Stallone on the condition that the production stay lean and fast.

The gamble paid off beyond anything anyone expected. Rocky became a critical and commercial phenomenon, winning three Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and launching Stallone's career. But the deeper truth is that the film's authenticity is inseparable from Stallone's insistence on embodying the character he created. Rocky Balboa was not just a role; he was a reflection of Stallone's own belief that the long shot is still worth taking.

When Rocky reached the 1977 Academy Awards, it proved just as formidable as its title character, earning ten nominations and walking away with three major wins. The film claimed Best Picture, Best Director for John G. Avildsen, and Best Film Editing, beating out heavyweight contenders like Network and Taxi Driver. Sylvester Stallone received nominations for both Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay, a rare double honor that underscored how deeply his creative fingerprints shaped the film. Talia Shire, Burgess Meredith, and Burt Young all earned acting nominations, and Bill Conti’s propulsive score was recognized as well. For a low‑budget production made on less than a million dollars, Rocky’s Oscar run remains one of Hollywood’s most remarkable underdog victories.

The Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra, led by conductor James Olmstead, played Bill Conti’s legendary Rocky score with a precision and vitality that made the music feel newly alive. Those familiar fanfares, string surges, and brass punches carried a thrilling immediacy when performed by musicians you could actually watch working – bows flying, percussionists locking in the heartbeat of the training montages, trumpets cutting cleanly through the hall. Part of the fun for the audience was seeing just how much craft goes into a soundtrack they’ve heard for decades; every cue landed with crisp timing, and the orchestra’s energy fed directly into the crowd’s excitement. What emerged was more than accompaniment – a full‑scale performance that underscored just how essential the score is to the film’s spirit.

For all the strengths of the orchestra and the film, the evening wasn’t without a few technical hiccups. The film wasn’t cued up at the start, so the orchestra began playing before the movie rolled, leading to an awkward pause before things fully got underway, and once the screening began, the movie’s volume sat noticeably low for the first five to ten minutes. The fix came in the opposite direction, with the sound pushed so high that the dialogue became distorted, making it difficult to catch some of the film’s key lines or even hear the ringside announcers clearly calling the big fight finale. The imbalance proved distracting, especially in an otherwise strong presentation. Still, having seen other Auditorium Philms productions, I’m comfortable chalking this up as an outlier. Their track record is solid, and one uneven sound mix doesn’t diminish the ambition or appeal of the series.

Outside of the technical issues, one programming choice stood out as particularly curious: the musical director’s decision to feature “Eye of the Tiger” both after intermission and again at the end of the film. It’s an undeniably crowd‑pleasing anthem, but it belongs to Rocky III, not the 1976 original, and for Rocky loyalists it felt like an odd fit within a celebration of the first film’s legacy. With Bill Conti’s score already doing the heavy lifting, the addition of a theme from a later sequel created a momentary disconnect in an otherwise faithful presentation. However, many audience members cheered on the Survivor hit, so even if purists bristled, the moment still connected with a good share of the crowd.

Bottom line: even with a few mishaps and an unexpected music choice along the way, as someone who counts Rocky among my all‑time favorite films - a movie I revisit a couple of times each year - seeing it paired with a live orchestra was an experience that felt both familiar and entirely new. Hearing the Chicago Philharmonic bring Bill Conti’s music to life in real time added a dimension I didn’t know I was missing, and it made this 50th‑anniversary screening feel genuinely special. Auditorium Philms’ “In Concert” productions have already built a strong track record with their film‑in‑concert events, including recent presentations like Raiders of the Lost Ark and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Their upcoming slate is just as appealing, with titles such as Top Gun: Maverick, Edward Scissorhands, and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York on the horizon.

In the end, Rocky in Concert proved that when a timeless film meets a live orchestra, the result is a reminder of why these stories stay with us.

To find out more about upcoming events at The Auditorium Theatre, click here.

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