The Paragon Ragtime Orchestra, coming to Waynesboro on Sunday, Jan. 22, at 3 p.m., will take the Wayne Theatre back to its roots in silent film.
“This unique program will feature classic silent films with the orchestra playing the originals 1910s and 1920s film scores. With the Wayne having opened in 1926 at the tail end of the silent film era, this will be a sort of step back in time for us,” said Tracy Straight, the executive director of the Wayne Theatre.
What were initially known as “talkies,” movies with their own sound, weren’t introduced until 1927. Early film was silent and accompanied in theaters by live music performed by bands and orchestras.
The Paragon Ragtime Orchestra, celebrating its 30th anniversary season, brings the silent film era back to life.
The Jan. 22 show will feature musical selections to accompany Buster Keaton’s “The Playhouse,” Harold Lloyd’s “Get Out and Get Under” and Charlie Chaplin’s “Easy Street,” along with orchestral selections used as reel change music including “Delicioso: Tango Aristocratico” by Will Dixon, “After You’ve Gone” by J. Turner Layton and “Pork and Beans Rag” by Luckey Davis.
The Paragon Ragtime Orchestra’s widely praised discography includes 17 albums and two DVD sets of historic Hollywood films with authentic scores. The recordings have made the Billboard Charts (“Top Classical Albums”) and have won three major critic’s awards: Gramophone’s “Editor’s Choice,” BBC Music’s “Opera of the Month,” and Sterophile’s “Record of the Month.”
The Paragon Ragtime Orchestra has a worldwide following through its appearances on National Public Radio, New York Times’ WQXR, the BBC, the WWFM Classical and the Voice of America networks.
The performance at the Wayne Theatre is co-sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Tickets and more information on the show is online at WayneTheatre.org. The Wayne Theatre ticket office is open Tuesday-Friday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Tickets can also be ordered by phone at (540) 943-9999.
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Chris Graham
