The film-and-orchestra concert Bugs Bunny at the Symphony is returning to Los Angeles for the first time in eight years. The gala return performance will take place on Sunday, 30 July 2023 at 6 pm at Microsoft Theater.
This concert pairs 16 iconic Looney Tunes projected on the big screen, including What’s Opera, Doc?, The Rabbit of Seville, Baton Bunny, Long-Haired Hare and Corny Concerto, plus five new animated shorts – Rabid Rider, Coyote Falls, Fur of Flying, Dynamite Dance and Wet Cement. All this while, a live symphony orchestra conducted by Emmy Award-winner George Daugherty will play the original music by Carl Stalling and Mily Franklyn.
The performance will feature animation-friendly activities in the theater’s foyer prior to showtime, including animation stations provided by the Chuck Jones Center for Creativitiy, and numerous photo ops for audience members of all ages.
In 1990, Daugherty and Emmy Award-winner David Ka Lik Wong created Bugs Bunny On Broadway, which made its debut at Broadway’s Gershwin Theatre, New York with a sold-out extended run. Its sequel Bugs Bunny at the Symphony premiered in Los Angeles in 1991. Since then, both the concerts have played to critical acclaim and sold-out houses to audiences of over two million people.
About a recent performance, New York Broadway World critic Jade Kops wrote that the orchestra “is a crowd pleasing collection of iconic Looney Tunes and live performance of the original classically-infused musical scores that lifts them to be so much more than children’s entertainment. …the Looney Tunes gang entertain, delight, and enlighten audiences from all walks of life that classical music is not reserved for the wealthy, educated, and elite but has been accessible, and part of our lives, ever since the Saturday mornings sitting in front of the television watching Bugs Bunny in our footy pajamas eating cereal.” Regardless of whether people are seasoned concert goers or have never dreamed that classical music would be their ‘thing’, this concert allows people to connect to music and animation in an accessible way, also hopefully opening people to the possibility of seeing other classical music or opera performances.”
The concert is in high demand with upcoming international performances in Australia, Mexico, Switzerland, Italy, Montreal, Toronto, Vanouver and Edmonton, as well as U.S. performances across the country in San Francisco Symphony, Spokane Symphony and more.
“When we were all growing up and watching Looney Tunes on Saturday morning, we didn’t realize we also getting a massive lesson in classical music,” said Daugherty. “Bugs Bunny at the Symphony is the perfect opportunity to bring today’s kids to the symphony orchestra and appreciate the beauty of classical music. More importantly, it’s a chance for adults of all ages to rekindle their affection for these brilliant animated shorts, and relive a truly nostalgic and magical part of their childhoods.”
Daugherty has conducted more than 250 American and international orchestras, and has earned numerous awards for his work in television and film. Wong has created programming and concerts on Broadway and for the greatest symphony orchestras and concert halls in the world.
Warner Bros. Discovery Presents Bugs Bunny at the Symphony is a 130-minute concert, with one 20-minute intermission. The tickets have gone on sale to the general public on 17 March and range from $49.50 to $195.50. 2023 is also the 100th Anniversary of Warner Bros., so fans have a lot to look forward to as the iconic studio is celebrated globally.
