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Enjoy the Symphonic Sports-tacular

One night only at the Mann

Jim Bunning. (AP file photo)
Jim Bunning. (AP file photo)Read more

WANT TO SEE Jim Bunning throw that last strike past John Stephenson, Father's Day, 1964, Shea Stadium, perfect game, 27 up, 27 down? In black and white, although the joy is Technicolor, Bunning jubilantly pounding his fist into his glove, where the rainbow ends.

Want to watch Doctor J hover like a helicopter against the Lakers, rock the basketball and then soar up, up, up eye-high to the rim, and thunder it home?

Closeups of Chuck Bednarik, Ron Hextall, Jim Konstanty? Norm Van Brocklin throwing a touchdown pass? At Franklin Field?

All those moments and more, scrolling across a 26-foot LED screen, the screen hung above the Philadelphia Orchestra, on stage at the Mann Center.

They are calling it Symphonic Sports-tacular and it happens tomorrow at the Mann. Merrill Reese narrates, Michael Barkann recites Casey at the Bat, Peter Schickele does play-by-play on Beethoven's Fifth. And, oh, did we mention the post-concert fireworks?

What's next? The Pittsburgh Symphony playing Grateful Dead? Oh, that was last month! This is not your grandfather's Mann Center and Sports-tacular is not your classic classical music concert.

"I'm a big believer in this music being for everybody," said Elliott Forrest, the producer. "You'll have one of the great orchestras in the world playing incredible music. Plus, this is such a great sports town. It just seemed like a natural."

This year? This year when the sports landscape is Death Valley? Forrest hosts a classical music radio show on WQXR in New York. Has he checked the standings lately, the parched scenery?

"I've been told," he said wryly. "But through the years, the fans here are loyal to their teams and they've had success. We show the Phillies winning the pennant in 1980, the '64 team that did so well."

Whoops. He has this closeup of manager Gene Mauch looking like he'd swallowed three bad oysters. Maybe six. Maybe 10, which is how many games the Phillies lost in a row down the stretch.

What's the right music to play behind that nightmare collapse? A funeral dirge?

"This is the first time the five major teams [he includes the Union] have ever really worked together," Forrest said, quickly changing the mood. "Our meetings were great. Everyone has been so generous.

"The Eagles said they'd love to be part of it, that they had all the film. And then they said, 'But we don't have the rights . . . NFL Films does.'

"So we e-mailed NFL Films and they sent us a licensing contract. We could never afford it, a nonprofit orchestra, playing in a nonprofit venue.

"We called. Talked for 5 minutes. They said, 'Hmmm, nonprofit, Philadelphia Orchestra, classical music, one-night only, no broadcast, we'll just waive the fee.' We got the same deal with the NBA."

Which is how you'll get to see Doctor J floating to Tschaikovsky's brilliant score for Swan Lake. "Today's athletes have great skills," Forrest explained. "There's ballet in what they do. In another city we'd have called this segment 'Swan Lakers.' "

So you've got this mix of cosmic and comic, of classical and current, why not add one more element, audience participation.

"Last summer," Forrest explained, "we did Symphonic Spectacular and we asked people to submit pictures of men and women in uniform. And we put them up on that 26-foot LED screen.

"This year we're asking for pictures of them and their kids playing sports. They can send them to Sports-tacular at icloud.com or bring them to the concert. At intermission I'll put them together and they'll be shown in the second act with the orchestra playing Aaron Copeland's music from 'Our Town.' "

Reese will say, "It's goooood" at some point in the evening. "I never thought," he confessed, "I'd see my name in the same sentence with the Philadelphia Orchestra. It's completely different from what I usually do, but I'm excited, I'm looking forward to it."

Yo, it beats watching Delmon Young chasing another, elusive fly ball. For the devout sports fan, it's a midsummer night's dream, great music, fond memories, with fireworks to follow.