A Screen Composer Plays His Own Scores Live

Bear McCreary writes for screen and for games, and this night takes that work off the soundtrack and onto a stage. Morgan Sorne joins as guest artist. The Belasco is a 1926 theatre in downtown Los Angeles with a balcony, a proscenium and a good deal of original plaster still in place. Seating is reserved rather than general admission, which is unusual for this room and shapes the whole evening.

You come in off South Hill Street into a lobby that has kept its 1920s detailing, then find your assigned seat on the floor or in the balcony. The room was built for theatre rather than amplified rock, and the proportions show it. People stay seated through the set, which is rare in this building. Reserved seating turns the night into a concert rather than a show you stand through, and the crowd settles in accordingly.

The performance runs on the evening of Thursday, September 17 at 1050 South Hill Street in downtown Los Angeles. Book ahead and pick your seat carefully. The balcony sits closer to the proscenium than the rear floor does. Downtown parking thins out on a weeknight, and the venue has no lot of its own. It fits people who want screen music performed as a concert, rather than a standing gig or a film screening with live accompaniment.