{"id":85856,"date":"2025-12-31T19:57:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T19:57:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/85856\/"},"modified":"2025-12-31T19:57:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T19:57:11","slug":"home-alone-in-concert-breathes-new-life-into-holiday-favorite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/85856\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Home Alone\u2019 in concert breathes new life into holiday favorite"},"content":{"rendered":"

BYC founder and artistic director: \u2018I believe these kinds of concerts really elevate the medium of the film score itself, and get people to listen and appreciate the music in a different way\u2019<\/p>\n

The New York Philharmonic Orchestra and members of Brooklyn Youth Chorus.
\nPhoto by Chris Lee\n<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>MANHATTAN \u2014 \u201cHome Alone\u201d (1990), John Hughes\u2019 classic Christmas comedy, was uniquely resurrected for the holiday season at the Wu Tsai Theater in Lincoln Center\u2019s David Geffen Hall.<\/p>\n

\u201cHome Alone\u201d in concert ran from Dec. 17 through Dec. 20. The film was projected onto a cinema-sized screen with a twist: John Williams\u2019 iconic score was performed live by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra accompanied by Brooklyn Youth Chorus (BYC), in sync with the original film.<\/p>\n

Conducted by Constantine Kitsopoulos, it was evident that this sensory experience would be a special one. The orchestra began with the classic 20th Century Fox opening fanfare. Throughout the show, the live music accompanied the visual story.<\/p>\n

\"Members<\/a>Members of Brooklyn Youth Chorus.
Photo by Chris Lee<\/p>\n

In the movie, Macaulay Culkin stars as Kevin McCallister, an 8-year-old boy who is accidentally left behind when his family leaves for Christmas vacation. He\u00a0 must defend his home against two bungling thieves.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dianne Berkun Menaker, founder and artistic director of BYC, told the Brooklyn Eagle that while her organization has been performing with the New York Philharmonic since 2002, \u201cthis show is particularly fun because everybody loves the movie so much.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of a classic and very family friendly,\u201d Berkun Menaker said, adding that 60 BYC members performed each night, and with cast rotation, there were more than 70 involved in the production overall.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really nice to bring the score to people\u2019s attention,\u201d Berkun Menaker said. \u201cSo often with film music, you\u2019re not conscious of it because you\u2019re watching a movie and you\u2019re following dialogue. I believe these kinds of concerts really elevate the medium of the film score and get people to listen and appreciate the music in a different way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Dianne<\/a>Dianne Berkun Menaker, founder and artistic director of Brooklyn Youth Chorus.
Photo courtesy of Dianne Berkun Menaker
\nA highly regarded youth choral organization<\/p>\n

BYC sang the choral parts of Williams\u2019 score, most notably the vocal section of \u201cSomewhere in My Memory.\u201d In addition, after the closing credits, BYC and orchestra performed \u201cMerry Christmas, Merry Christmas,\u201d from \u201cHome Alone 2: Lost in New York.\u201d<\/p>\n

Founded in 1992, BYC is a highly regarded youth choral organization, famous for performing at major venues such as Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in addition to collaborating with renowned orchestras, composers and artists such as David Byrne, Sir Elton John, Beyonc\u00e9 and Jay-Z.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>The view from stage left.
Photo by Chris Lee<\/p>\n

\n<\/a><\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Dismantling
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCartoon Sketchbook: December 31<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDecember 31 |
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCurated by Brooklyn Eagle Staff\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Marco
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCartoon Sketchbook: December 30<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDecember 30 |
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCurated by Brooklyn Eagle Staff\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThey\u2019re holding on to their MetroCards as OMNY ends an era<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDecember 29 |
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJose Martinez, THE CITY\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBrooklyn Public Library announces top 10 moments of 2025<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDecember 29 |
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSpecial from BPL\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BYC founder and artistic director: \u2018I believe these kinds of concerts really elevate the medium of the film…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":85857,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[2571,2572,98,100,99,41723,41724,27934,26222,9,24,63,2578,2579,4116],"class_list":{"0":"post-85856","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brooklyn","8":"tag-arts-and-entertainment","9":"tag-bklyn-live","10":"tag-brooklyn","11":"tag-brooklyn-headlines","12":"tag-brooklyn-news","13":"tag-brooklyn-youth-chorus","14":"tag-dianne-berkun","15":"tag-holiday-events","16":"tag-lincoln-center","17":"tag-new-york","18":"tag-new-york-city","19":"tag-nyc","20":"tag-premium","21":"tag-premium-content","22":"tag-wayne-daren-schneiderman"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85856\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}