Toronto – It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of both classical music and cartoons. So when I learned about Bugs Bunny at the Symphony, I was sold. For close friends, my whole “Bugs Bunny is the reason I love classical music” spiel grew tiresome years ago. Thankfully, I had the opportunity to chat with someone who’s even more passionate about the topic: George Daugherty, the conductor of Bugs Bunny at the Symphony.
Mark J: In 1990, you conducted Bugs Bunny On Broadway at the Gershwin Theatre in New York. Now, after a twenty year hiatus from the Bugs, you’ve decided …
George D: No wait, you’ve got it wrong. You’re way off already. There was no twenty year hiatus! We’ve been doing it steadily for the last twenty years. It’s played in every country of the world with hundreds of symphony orchestras to almost two and a half million people in the last twenty years.
MJ: Oh, sorry…so Bugs on Broadway has been continuing?
GD: Right, and this year is our 20th anniversary, so we did a whole new concert.
“The cartoon is a parody, but the music isn’t a parody, which I think is a really important distinction” – George Daugherty
MJ: The world of Bugs Bunny and friends is such a fertile one for classical music. Can you comment a bit on the role of classical music as the soundtrack to this cartoon?
GD: What’s Opera, Doc?, along with The Rabbit Seville are both remarkable examples of how [composers Carl Stalling and Milt Franklyn reinvented the whole idea of classical music in cartoons.] What’s Opera, Doc is an especially amazing score because they were able to take all of the major themes from Wagner’s Ring Cycle [over 4 operas, 27 hours of music] and condensed it all into 7 minutes. Considering all of that, the music still has all of the grandeur, the largesse, and the hugeness of Wagner.
[Stalling and Franklyn respected the original works so much] … the cartoon is a parody, but the music isn’t a parody, which I think is a really important distinction.
They haven’t dumbed down the music. The Rabbit of Seville is totally done with a Rossini-sized orchestra and is totally done in a Rossini style. It’s very true to the original, but it’s not the original.
I always warn orchestras, “this is not the Barber of Seville Overture, even though it seems like it may be; and never forget that, or you’ll find yourself playing all by yourself in a big, open, measure of rest!”
MJ: [laugh] Right. Right.
GD: The thing that’s so distinctive about these compared to a lot of other cartoons is the incredible integrity of the music, and how much Stalling and Franklyn really respected the original composition [while putting their own mark on it].
MJ: MMM hmmm…
GD: And that’s why musicians love it. Musicians love to play this concert. It’s a big pain because they are more nights in this concert than five normal orchestral concerts put together. There’s the whole added craziness of keeping up with the cartoons and keeping everything exactly in synch, and having jackhammer sound effects playing along with the orchestra. Musicians love to play this concert because it is so rewarding from a musical point of view.
“Regarding Bugs’ conducting style, Bugs is a really good conductor” – George Daugherty
MJ: You’re playing with a rotating cast of musicians, including the Rochester Symphony, the Malaysian Philharmonic, the Houston Symphony, and that’s just to name a few. There are so many symphonies! Can you comment on the challenges of working with so many musicians and orchestras? How does that process work?
GD: Every orchestra we’re performing with [except two], have done Bugs Bunny on Broadway several times. For an orchestra that’s never done it before, it is a bit of an adjustment. With a normal symphonic concert, you can be more spontaneous. If the oboist has an especially lyrical solo one night and it’s coming out beautifully, you can take more time and really let it grow and expand. With these scores, you have to keep up with the cartoons. There’s no forgiveness in terms of getting behind or getting ahead.
MJ: I’d like to talk about the classic comic “Long-Haired Hare”. In it, Bugs does a superb job conducting the opera singer Giovanni Jones. He pushes him to sing a note so high that it causes the auditorium’s roof to crash down on him. How would you contrast Bugs’ conducting style with your own?
GD: Hahaha! I’ll say one little anecdote about that moment. A few years ago [the Hollywood Bowl shell was replaced]. We were the final concert in the original Hollywood Bowl shell, and we did that cartoon at the end. So when the Hollywood Bowl came crashing down around Bugs, it literally happened the next day. The wrecking balls were already out behind the shell. It was really a life imitates art kind of thing.
Regarding Bugs’ conducting style, Bugs is a really good conductor. I can actually watch Bugs conduct and kind of follow it. Chuck Jones (director) and the other animators were really fantastically accurate about things they did in these cartoons. The conducting is real conducting patterns and it’s right on the music.
By contrast, we now do a cartoon called Tom & Jerry at the Hollywood Bowl. Tom, that cat, Tom, is a horrible conductor. I literary cannot watch when Tom conducts while I’m conducting. It’s like chewing gum and walking badly at the same time. It totally screws me up.
MJ: Hahaha, that’s very interesting.
GD: It’s still a brilliant cartoon though, but the conducting [wasn’t so accurate].
“Tom, that cat, Tom, is a horrible conductor.” – George Daugherty
MJ: If you had to choose a Looney Tunes character that best describes you, Bugs included of course, which Looney Tunes character would you be?
GD: I will give you the quote that Chuck Jones once told me, “We all go to bed at night aspiring to be Bugs Bunny. We all wake up the next morning, and look in the mirror and discover that we’re actually Daffy Duck.” I think that’s kind of true for everybody. Bugs Bunny is kind of the ultimate in cool. He doesn’t mess with you unless you mess with him. He rises above it all, but I think many of us are actually Daffy in real life.
One thing I learned twenty years ago when I started with this concert is that I remain the conductor, that I remain human. Trying to compete with these animated characters is a losing battle, because they are great stars that have endured for decades. I let them be the setting, and I do the music.
MJ: Well, thanks a lot for your time!
GD: My pleasure!
Bugs Bunny at the Symphony plays in the Centre In The Square in the Kitchener-Waterloo area on April 7th and 8th, and at the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto on Saturday, April 9th (two performances).
