Stirring Soundtrack for New Planetarium's Debut Sky Show
Susan Shwartz | Forest Hills, NY United States | 05/24/2000
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Stephen Endelman's "Passport" ably backs the American Museum of Natural History's new planetarium's first sky show, in which, it is explained, we are all starstuff and citizens of the universe.I'm unable to separate music from message or from the truly and literally stellar visuals. From the stirring opening, as we wait to enter the new Rose sphere and see pictures of Mars ("oh, that's MARS," a bunch of us said as if we were homesick), to the excitement as the new projector rises in fumes that look like dry ice, to the wonder and mystery as we expand past the boundaries of the galaxy, of the local group of galaxies, and out to the frontiers of the observable universe, and then to plunge into a wormhole and return home, Endelman's muted trumpets, syncopated soft tones, with a rushing undercurrent of music that makes one wonder if micrometeorites and stellar currents are impacting on the hull of one's starship, don't miss a beat, figuratively or literally.I don't think I blinked through the entire presentation and, on leaving, marched down to the Planetarium's giftshop because I HAD to have the CD. No, I don't work for the AMNH, but I'd be less than a good citizen of the galaxy (Heinlein pun is deliberate) if I didn't tell you that a portion of the proceeds from this CD go to support the research and educational proceeds of an extraordinary institution.Do yourself and your culture a favor: see the show. Listen to the music. It makes you want to go out...thataway."