Fri. Nov. 21

It’s called "Video Games Live" and, though it plays to what looks like a rock crowd, it is not rock ‘n’ roll. It is, mostly, a symphonic slam, a big rush of major-chord drama and pomp played by a full orchestra. Musically, think John Williams at his most “Star Wars”-y. "Absolutely," says Tommy Tallerico, the shows's host, executive producer and creator. "The difference, for the most part, is film and tv music is background music; the medium is storytelling. As a composer, you may get one or two scenes. These guys wish they had our jobs. Video games are about action and interactivity. We get the fight scene and chase scene every time. So many of those composers are doing game scores, now. Bill Conti, Howard Shore. It's foreground music. If Beethoven were alive today, he'd be a videogame composer. He wouldn't want people talking over his music. He'd want the most people to hear his music."

The multi-media package that is "Video Games Live" comes to Citi Performing Arts Center's Wang Theatre Friday Nov. 21 at 8. "When you think of a symphony orchestra and young people in general," Tallarico says, "you don't think they connect. You think "a buncha old people on stage and everyone's gotta be quiet.'" Not so, here.

The tour's name is mysterious enough, Tallarico admits, making some people go, "Huh? Wha?" Turns out, Tallarico, cousin of Aerosmith's Steven Tyler, is pretty good at explaining what he and his partner Jack Wall started to build in 2002. "Everyone thought we were crazy," Tallarico recalls. "'What video game music? What're you thinking?' Even the video game companies were thinking this. We were trying to convince people, the game developers and publishers. I'd say 'I'd like the rights to 'Elevator Action' because we're gonnna  play at the Hollywood Bowl.'"  

Tallarico, 40, says he's been in the industry 18 years and they wanted to do something "the way we wanted to do it. What we were doing is something no one had done. Our goal was to prove to the world how culturally significant and artistic video games had become. We didn't wnat to create a show just for hardcore gamers. We wanted to create a show for everyone. I like to explain it as having all the power and emotion of a symphony orchestra combined with the energy of a rock concert - combined with interactivity."

Although their two-and-a-half-hour show does start with bleeps and bloops - as they take you back to 1972 and "Pong" - it quickly turns into something bigger, grander. A 60-piece orchestra, drawn from a well-known but un-named (because of contracts) organization will supply the sound. Then there's the lighting, the video games, the images, and the interactivity. There are 20 pieces played during the night; five are truly interactive with chosen people coming up on stage to play."

As far as Tallarico is concerned, he's doing what comes naturally. "I grew up on video games, MTV, 'Star Wars,' 'Rocky,'  rock 'n' roll, and using computers in daily life. Just because I turned 40 I didn't stop playing video games. And now my generation is having children who play video games. What we're doing is taking what we grew up on. A video game is made up of three things: the music, the visuals and the design. We take those three things - the interactivity, visuals and audio - and marry them together in a live setting with synchronized lighting."

"Video Games Live" has grown exponentially since it first hit the road three years ago. There are 50 shows this year; 75 is next year's goal. Tallarico likens the experience to Cirque du Soleil - people don't initially know what they'll get, but they go and they get something magical and keep coming back. He also notes, "30% of our audience has never even played a video game or hasn't since Pac-Man. ... The average gamer is 33-years- old ... half the people playing games on-line are women ... our audience is 50/50."

There is some rock 'n' roll. Tallarico says at the end of the show, "I'll come out with a guitar and rock out with the symphony." (There's a bassist and drummer, too.) A lot more stuff, too. A pre-show "Space Invaders" competition, where the winner gets to play on stage and a similar deal with Guitar Hero and Aerosmith's "Sweet Emotion." (Yes, there's a possibility Tallarico's more famous cousin will show up.) You'll hear from (and meet after the show if you like) Ralph Baer, creator of Pong and Brownbox, the first-ever videogame, albeit one never put into production. (One's in the Smithsonian; Baer owns the other, which he'll bring.) You'll hear a "Myst" segment, a "Tron" medley, animated video culled from hundreds of games. Music from the '70s, yes, but 80% of the music, Tallarico says, coming from the last 10-15 years. Tickets for the Wang show are $75-$35. Also: There's at 25% discount if you go  to www.broadwayoffers.com/broadwayOffers.aspx and type in the code "VGLAAXIS".

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