Wallace & Gromit's Musical Marvels (also known as Wallace and Gromit at the Proms) is the name of Prom 20 of the 2012 season of The BBC Proms, which features orchestral renditions of Julian Nott's "Wallace & Gromit Theme" and classical music set to scenes from the films.
Cast[]
- Nicholas Collon as himself
- Tasmin Little as herself
- Thomas Gould as himself
Animated segments[]
Synopsis[]
Musical Marvels features new animated footage of Wallace and Gromit that are shown between the orchestral pieces. The animated scenes are made to interact with the conductor on stage through an invention called a Maestro-Matic. This is a conductor's stand with a telephone and a chute which receives letters and compositions from Wallace, who is said to be below the concert hall; the stand also features a level crossing barrier, due to Wallace misinterpreting "conductor" with it's rail-based meaning. A new musical composition by Wallace is slated to be played by the end of the night, called "My Concerto in Ee, Lad".
Plot[]
In the Royal Albert Hall, the Prom begins with a brief performance of the "Wallace & Gromit Theme". Afterwards, conductor Nicholas Collon introduces the Prom and explains what the audience were about to witness - a journey through classical music performed by the Aurora Orchestra, along with a special premiere performance of a new piece for piano and orchestra, "My Concerto in Ee, Lad". As Collon explains to the audience about Wallace and Gromit themselves, Wallace phones him up via a telephone on the stand and explains to the audience that while he can't be present on stage, he was personally overseeing the final preparations for his performance, as well as making some improvements to ensure the show runs smoother. Wallace ends the call handing things over back to Collon. Collon proceeds to introduce the next piece, Monti's "Csárdás", but finds he doesn't have the music sheets for it, so he phones up Wallace again to inform him of this. Wallace promptly delivers a spare copy of the sheet music, via a tea flask, by sending it up a chute leading to the conductor's stand. Afterwards, the performance of "Csárdás" proceeds, with English classical violinist Tasmin Little also performing.
Following this performance, we see Gromit bringing in a grand piano from the store room for Wallace to perform his concerto on, but ends up getting it stuck in the floor due to bringing it in rear first. Wallace tries to jemmy it out with a priceless Stradivarius violin, but Gromit stops him and hands him a crowbar. Wallace's attempt to free the piano only causes it to become further stuck. He suddenly gets an idea of what to do with it. Following this, Collon introduces the next piece, "The Infernal Dance of King Katschei" from Stravinsky's "Firebird Suite", which is performed to a montage of the various villains Wallace and Gromit had faced up to this point in the franchise. Afterwards, Collon then introduces the subsequent piece, "Debussy's "Clair de Lune", fittingly set to a montage of Wallace's prior love interests. Before this Gromit discovers that Wallace has converted the piano into a new invention called the Pianomatic, which he refers to as his "petrol-powered piano", who also demonstrates its remote control.
Following the performance of "Clair de Lune", Wallace sighs to himself over his "loved-and-lost" past, but accidentally spills tea onto a control panel, causing the lights in the concert hall to blackout. He tells Gromit that he'd better get it fixed. As the next piece, the Overture to Mozart's "The Magic Flute", begins, Wallace asks Gromit to hand him a spare fuse, but finds he left it in a toolbox somewhere in the Hall. The dialogue of Wallace at this point (and the camera work in the televised broadcast version) suggests that he is blundering around in the darkness of the concert hall to find the toolbox. After the piece concludes, Collon introduces the next piece, the "Fugue" from the 1st Movement of Shostakovich's "Symphony No. 4". As Collon notes that a fugue is like a musical version of a chase, the piece is performed to a montage of the various chases Wallace and Gromit had been involved in up to this point.
Following this, Wallace and Gromit proceed to raise the Pianomatic up to the stage for Wallace's performance. Wallace tries to demonstrate that he programmed the piano to play itself, but this causes the piano to fall. Gromit shoves Wallace out of the way as the piano falls on top of him (though he survives), which subsequently catches fire. Wallace puts out the fire and discovers that the music sheets for his concerto have been partially destroyed. Gromit, looking at the violin, gets an idea and promptly sets to work on drumming up a replacement piece. Meanwhile, Wallace sends a telegram to Collon informing him that due to this "technical hitch" he can't perform the concerto, and that Collon will have to fill. After asking the orchestra, per Wallace asking Collon if he "knows any good tunes", if they knew any, Collon immediately improvises a piece that eventually incorporates a jazzy swing version of the "Wallace & Gromit Theme" before segueing into a punchy rendition of Gershwin's "I Got Rhythm".
By this point, Gromit had just finished composing his replacement piece, which Wallace sends up to Collon while Gromit prepares for the performance. Upon learning that he has been handed music for a "Double Concerto for Violin and Dog", Collon uses the telephone to phone up Tasmin Little to ask her to perform as the "violin". Upon her arrival, she performs the double concerto alongside Gromit, who performs over the monitor, with Wallace relegated to a small role of a single cymbal crash late on. The performance ends to rapturous applause and both he and Wallace take a bow.
In the end, Wallace congratulates Gromit for a job well done and gives him a bouquet of flowers from a mechanized flower dispenser. Wallace then tells the audience that he and Gromit are thanking them for making the Prom "such a craking concert", but he then accidentally sits down on Gromit's violin, which he had forgetfully put on a chair prior, to Gromit's dismay. The Prom ends with Wallace asking Gromit if he ever thought about trying the bassoon, which leads into a reprisal of the "Wallace & Gromit Theme".
Program[]
- Csárdás by Vittorio Monti - with Tasmin Little
- The Infernal Dance of King Katschei from the Firebird Suite by Igor Stravinsky - set to a montage featuring Feathers McGraw, Preston, Victor Quartermaine and Piella Bakewell
- Clair de Lune by Claude Debussy - set to a montage featuring Wendolene, Lady Tottington and Piella
- Overture of The Magic Flute by Amadeus Wolfgang Mozart
- Fugue from 1st Movement of Symphony No. 4 by Dmitri Shostakovich - set to a variety of chase scenes from across the Wallace & Gromit films and television series
- Wing It by Iain Farrington (features samples of the "Wallace & Gromit Theme" as well as I Got Rhythm by George Gershwin)[1]
- Romance by Iain Farrington (identified in-story as "Gromit's Double Concerto for Violin and Dog")[2]
Production and release[]
Wallace & Gromit's Musical Marvels was performed at the Royal Albert Hall on the 29th of July, 2012. It was broadcast live on BBC Radio, and later a video broadcast was made that aired on BBC One on the 27th of August.
After falling into relative obscurity, the television version was rebroadcast on BBC Four on 22 December 2024, days before Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl premiered on BBC One.[3]
Credits[]
NOTE: Credits come from the television broadcast version.
- Aurora Orchestra
- Leader: Thomas Gould
- Conductor: Nicholas Collon
- Soloist: Tasmin Little
- With thanks to Aardman Animations
- The voice of Ben Whitehead
- Writers: Nick Park, Merlin Crossingham, Richard Hansom
- Composers: Iain Farrington, Julian Nott
- Show Producer: Jane Carter
- Make Up Artist: Christine Vidler
- Designer: Chris Webster
- OB Facilities: SiS Live
- VT Editor: David Packham
- Vision Supervisor: Graeme Carter
- Camera Supervisor: Dan Scala
- Sound Supervisors: Julian Gough, Paul Waton
- Lighting Director: Bernie Davis
- Engineering Manager: Jeremy Turner
- Production Team: Harriet Nielsen-Earle, Rachael Hewer
- Script Supervisor: Pat Smylie
- Vision Mixer: Julie Mann
- Production Coordinator: Faith Harris
- Production Manager: Michael Ledger
- Series Production Manager: Allison Brodie
- Series Editor: Oliver Macfarlane
- Produced and directed by Helen Mansfield
Trivia[]
- In Gromit's violin case, he has three photographs. One photo depicts his first birthday, another his graduation from Dogwarts University (both of which were previously seen in the opening title sequence of Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit), and, finally, a picture of Fluffles (who debuted in A Matter of Loaf and Death).
- Gromit uses written communication to inform the composer, a method usually avoided in the main films but also featured in Wallace & Gromit: Cheese Lover's Yearbook.
- Only one clip is used from A Grand Day Out of the Moon Rocket escaping the Earth's atmosphere during the ending of the action montage score. This is also alongside sole clips of Cracking Contraptions "The Autochef" and Wallace & Gromit's World of Invention "Nature Knows Best", both involving their respective explosion moments.