7:30pm | 527 N. Grand Blvd. | All ages | $49.50–$129.50
When Avatar: The Last Airbender In Concert comes to The Fabulous Fox Theatre on September 12th, it will be the culmination of years of work. While the original show the concert is based on, Avatar: The Last Airbender, first aired on Nickelodeon from 2005–2008, the universe it has created has continued to expand. The cartoon featuring an 11-year-old “Avatar” who can control the four elements has spawned a spin-off series (Legend of Korra, featuring the Avatar’s daughter), graphic novels, video games, a movie (2010’s The Last Airbender), and a live-action remake television show (Netflix, 2024).
Now we have something else to add to that list: a concert experience played live while showing fans’ favorite characters and scenes on a large, movie theater-size screen. The reason this came into existence? The composer behind the original music for Avatar: The Last Airbender, Jeremy Zuckerman, wanted to bring new life to the music and stories of the show. He teamed up with the show co-creators, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, as well as the series’ original editor, Jeff Adams, to expand the show’s original compositions.
The result is a concert over two hours long, consisting of an orchestra and choir that perform expanded versions of the songs from the series. Rather than play the music in chronological order from when it appeared in the show, however, the music is divided by character. I learned this from talking to Emily Marshall, the music director and conductor for the current, four-month US tour of this show. “We do two and a half hours of music. The first act is 85 minutes straight, and there’s no silence,” she says, then clarifying, “There’s a little bit of silence for applause, but then we’re on to the next cue. There’s a title card saying a character, and then the audience will get all excited about that character, and then we play along while you see some of your favorite scenes having to do with that character.”
That sort of excitement is the goal of the show, and fans are encouraged to participate. “There’s a little speech that one of our vocalists gives at the very top of the show that just tells people, ‘Feel free to cheer along with us when you see your favorite character on screen. Feel free to yell and be excited, because we’re all here to celebrate together’.” This will no doubt bring together the show’s fan base, which has grown large but is not homogeneous. The fans of the show come from all over the world and were introduced to the show in different ways and at different times. This show will provide them the opportunity to enjoy something that brings these different groups together.
Just like Avatar: The Last Airbender’s fanbase is built from a diverse group of people, the performers for this show are much the same. “What’s really cool with these shows is that all the cast and the crew and musicians, everybody is coming from all different areas of the world, areas of the country, and different parts of their lives,” she says. “Some people are performing all the time, some people are teaching, some people work on other tours, all different aspects, different ages, different everything.”
Despite those differences, everyone has been getting along, a month into a four-month US tour that wraps up on December 22nd, in Stanford, CT. The people involved aren’t only performing together—they eat, sleep, and essentially live with each other for the length of the tour—but Marshall has nothing but good things to say about the team that is currently out on the road. “The crew is wonderful, the orchestra is wonderful, and it’s just been a joy to see everybody getting along and coming together and really working together to make this show into what it is.”
That said, while the show may have the musicians and crew out on the road for four months, I was surprised to learn that the actual rehearsals took about three days. It makes sense, though, when you think of how much work went into this. Long before anyone was playing the show itself, there was so much to pull together, not even including the music. There were lights to arrange, movie projectors to organize, and decisions to be made about what the musicians would hear in their ears during the actual show.
Still, those three days are busy, bringing together the orchestra and vocalists, which for this show includes instruments that would not be considered traditional in an orchestra. The violins and flutes will share the stage with taiko drums (a Japanese drum with a booming, penetrating sound) and erhus (a Chinese two-stringed, bowed musical instrument). Despite Marshall’s experience with years on Broadway and other major productions, there are things that were new even to her. “We have all these different percussion instruments covered by three percussionists. We have all these different foreign flutes and instruments that I had never seen performed live before this show.”
As interesting and new as this show promises to be I had to ask her—how do they keep it from feeling monotonous for themselves as musicians? The tour is four months long, with shows 6 days a week in 6 different cities. That’s a lot of nights playing the same music—how do they keep it from feeling like just another day at the office?
What helps with this, according to Marshall, is the fans. “The thing I always do is remember, even if it’s mine or the musician’s 50th show, 600th show, whatever, the audience, it’s their first time, mostly. And they’re there to have this experience and they’re so excited and remembering that and just remembering that you’re up there to bring this joy to everyone who is there, I think that’s what keeps it from getting repetitive.” | Teresa Montgomery
Tickets are on sale now via Metrotix. Get more information on the St. Louis show at fabulousfox.com, or the tour in general at avatarinconcert.com. Watch below for a preview of Avatar: The Last Airbender Live In Concert featuring commentary from creator Bryan Konietzko and composer Jeremy Zuckerman.
