January 5, 2015

  • Elfman's First Circus

    Paul Reuben’s man-boy, Pee Wee Herman, burst onto the big screen in 1985 with Pee Wee’s Big Adventure.  The success of that film would launch the successful “children’s” Pee Wee’s Playhouse which garnered a multitude of Emmy nominations and awards over its 5 seasons.  Big Top Pee Wee appeared in 1988 and was an attempt at a big hearted romp paying homage to a host of classic Hollywood styles and ideals, but which at the time confused the many fans who saw Pee Wee as a kid-like character.  The story has Pee Wee on a farm until a storm blows in a circus and he meets his “ideal” woman, but also becomes the star of the circus.  The film also boasts a rather fascinating score by Danny Elfman.  At the time, he had five film scores under his belt, but 1988 would be a banner year of transitions from Beetlejuice to Scrooged with pop-like forays in Midnight Run and Hot To Trot showing off another side from the quirky styles of his first scores for Forbidden Zone and Pee Wee’s Big Adventure.  Of course, things were about to change further as his collaborations with Tim Burton would lead to Batman and more firmly establish him as a unique new film music voice.

    After a brief “Paramount” fanfare, we get one of the big main themes of the score for the “Main Title”—an exciting circus atmosphere.  “Happy House” returns us to some of the quirkier scoring Elfman used in the previous film, a somewhat light-hearted bouncy style.  “Rise ‘n Shine” is the first track that early on best exhibits some of the Rota-esque flair intentionally added to the score.  The delightful orchestral touches provide a large gamut of instrumentation and unusual sounds that all make for fun backdrops to Pee Wee’s antics.  Elfman’s score just bubbles along with its mix of humorous underscoring, but not without some early signs of bigger action moments like “The Big Storm” which begin to show some of the transition to use of the full traditional symphonic sound—though filtered through Elfman’s unique developing style.  Most interesting is seeing how Elfman is capable of quickly setting mood in some of the briefer score snippets.  Amarcord seems to hover at the edges of the lighter moments.  With hints of Batman in sequences like “Pee Wee’s Inspiration”, and maybe Mars Attacks! in “Elephant Ride”.  Besides the circus atmosphere, there is a simply gorgeous love theme that gets a fuller flowering in “The Big Kiss” after some hints earlier and a longer luxurious moment for “Pee Wee’s Love Theme” that moves from simpler to lush scoring.

    There are some great little surprises.  Of course, most of the score is appearing here for the first time over its original Aristta album release.  Paul Reubens croons away in a big-band version of “The Girl on the Flying Trapeze”, also presented as a bonus instrumental.  There are three alternate tracks and purely instrumental version of the finale.  All in all, this is a must have for Elfman fans and a delightfully fun score with a big heart.  Here are stylistic aspects that would become more fully integrated into the composer’s later style.  Comedy scores can often be acquired tastes, but this is really a significant contribution within Elfman’s career worth revisiting for those who appreciate his music.  The interesting blend of Rota-esque style is clearly delineated here in ways that will soon be folded into the more Russian and Hermann influences to come.

    The limited edition release is available from La-La Land Records.