Frankenstein: The Movie with Live Orchestra at Chappaqua Performing Arts Center

Composer Michael Shapiro conducts a 15-piece orchestra, playing his 2002 score to the 1931 film Frankenstein, LIVE! Shapiro’s score for the classic film Frankenstein, starring Boris Karloff in his breakout role, premiered in Westchester County, New York. It has since been performed worldwide over 65 times. The March 22 performance is the first time the score has been played in Westchester in over 10 years.

Frankenstein (1931), directed by James Whale and starring Colin Clive and Boris Karloff, was produced without a film score. Many critics, including Leonard Maltin, remarked that the film was in need of music. In 2001, Michael Shapiro was commissioned by the Chappaqua Orchestra’s Boris Koutsen Memorial Fund to write the score. The world premiere of the work, with live music and film, occurred in October 2002 at the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville, New York. It has since been performed over 65 times in places such as St. Petersburg, Russia; Milan, Italy; Bergen, Norway; Trier, Germany; Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester, UK; and performances around the U.S. and Canada.

“The audience was riveted to their seats. The power of the live music with the classic film was hypnotic.” ~ Rob Tomaro, Cashbox Canada Magazine

“It’s a classical movie but a contemporary composition, which gives it a completely different kind of emotional underpinning.” ~ Marta Hepler Drahos, Traverse City, Michigan Record-Eagle

Frankenstein: The Movie with Live Orchestra, featuring a film score by Grammy-nominated composer and Chappaqua resident Michael Shapiro, plays at ChappPAC on the first of two weekends featuring shows by Chappaqua composers! The second weekend features Just Desserts… A Musical Bake-Off, a Broadway style musical about five strangers competing for the crown in a bake-off at the county fair, with music by Brad Ross, who grew up in Chappaqua, and book and lyrics by Barbara Campbell. The show, A Frank Shiner Music Production directed by Tom Wallace, has peformances on Friday, March 28, 7:30 pm, Saturday, March 29, 7:30 pm, and Sunday, March 30, 3:00 pm. Just Desserts...A Musical Bake-Off premiered in 2021 at The Legacy Theatre in Branford, CT, followed by an 8-week run at Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse in Rock Island, IL, in 2022, and productions at Off Broadway Palm Theatre in Fort Myers, FL, Chappaqua Performing Arts Center in Chappaqua, NY, La Comedia Dinner Theatre in Springboro, OH, and Theatre Jacksonville in Jacksonville, FL, in 2023. 100% of ticket purchases for Just Desserts… A Musical Bake-Off will benefit Friends of Chappaqua Performing Arts Center, a non-profit organization established to provide financial support and programming to Chappaqua Performing Arts Center. Tickets can be purchased at chappaquapac.org.