Speaker 1:
0:00
Welcome to your go-to source for entertainment. Wait for it.
Speaker 2:
0:05
Gaming. Wait for it Anime PLUS ULTRA.
Speaker 1:
0:11
Mr Eric Almighty and Phil the Filipino. Yeah, they've got you covered and all you gotta do is wait for it. This is the Wait For it Podcast. Welcome back to the Wait For it Podcast. I'm one of your co-hosts today, mr Eric Almighty, to bring you a special bonus episode to the show for a conversation with Heidi Josten. Our guest today is a Jeff Award winning music director, composer, orchestrator, multi-instrumentalist vocalist and teacher. Since 2014, she's collaborated on over 125 new theatrical, comedic and concert productions across the nation and beyond, and we're here today to talk about naruto, the symphonic experience which launched a north american tour in february that is stopping by here in jacksonville, florida, on may 4th. Heidi, thank you so much for joining me on this episode and I'm excited to have this conversation today thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1:
1:22
I'm so excited to be talking with you about it absolutely, and if you're a fan of the podcast, you may already know this if you're listening. But for those that don't, naruto is a shonen manga that started in Weekly Shonen Jump back in 1999 and concluded in 2014 after 700 chapters. Many of you know the anime that began airing in 2002 and is one of the biggest influences on pop culture to this day. So, heidi, I'd like to start off by asking what exactly is the Naruto Symphonic Experience?
Speaker 2:
1:55
So, like you had said, we're celebrating years of this being out and really bringing an experience to our audiences that is summarizing the first 220 episodes of Naruto. There are over 700 episodes of the animated series that we are summarizing the first 220 episodes, providing some of your favorite fight scenes, with an orchestra that is playing some of your favorite music from this exact same time frame from Naruto, and we are just having a blast getting to see people coming to the concert in cosplay, coming to have a truly great time to celebrate hearing this music live for the first time.
Speaker 1:
2:39
I love to hear that. And that's exactly what you can expect out of such a big event like that, which is exciting, and why it's so exciting to have you on to tell people about it. Because, for the first time ever and that's exactly what you can expect out of such a big event like that, which is exciting, and why it's so exciting to have you on to tell people about it Because, for the first time ever, this is an opportunity for audiences in more than 60 cities to see a live orchestra perform the most iconic songs and themes from the Naruto animated series live to picture, as scenes play out on a full size cinema screen. So I would like to ask Heidi, what is that live to picture experience? What exactly makes that unique?
Speaker 2:
3:12
So I love working in live to picture, primarily for the reason that, like I, we, as musicians on stage, we are, you know, living, breathing human beings who, all you know, have the same cell phone bills to pay as our audience, this type of music. Like I had said and like we're talking about, it's the first time that we're able to hear this music performed live. We want you to come to have a good time like it's a concert. The word symphonic is in the title, but that is more reflective of the instruments that are on stage and not the way that we expect our audiences to behave. You're coming to this concert, we've got a rock band on stage with horns, with reeds, with strings, and we are there to have a rock and roll good time. So when you come and you're seeing the fight scenes play out, when you're seeing the moments that make you sad, when you're seeing the things that get you excited, if we do something on stage that you know gets you going, we want you to react, we want you to cheer, we want you to, you know, cry with us, laugh with us. We are here to create a great time.
Speaker 2:
4:13
And because this happens to be, you know, a super cut of the of scenes from the first 220 episodes. It's not like we're pressing play on watching Star Wars. You know where you see the title credits and you go all the way through the end credits and it's a comprehensive experience. This is really a cut of a comprehensive cut to make sure that we're getting as many beats as we can without, you know, playing music for three days straight over a weekend, like if we were to be playing all of our, all of our episodes. We are just here to celebrate, celebrate this series, celebrate Toshio Masuda's music and really feature some of the best touring musicians right now, on a content that's never been heard before.
Speaker 1:
4:58
That's great, heidi, and I'm going to kind of throw in a bonus thing here before our final question, just to kind of ask you, because I really do find it really interesting, that this is enhancing the experience of that music. When it comes to anime, a lot of times characters are highlighted, the animation is highlighted and praised, but really getting to give this music the love and attention that it deserves, do you feel that that's something that this show gives a little bit more appreciation to, for something that's maybe underrepresented?
Speaker 2:
5:32
I would definitely agree with that statement. A lot of times when you're seeing music that's been designed to accompany some sort of a visual aspect you know, whether it's television or film or ballet, etc. Anything of that nature we tend to like, really I don't want to use the word mute but, like you know, downplay the music, because it's just there to enhance. It's there as an accompanying feature to control how your emotions are feeling. But when you're actually seeing a guitarist shred a solo in front of you, it automatically heightens and puts a highlight on the music in ways that we haven't seen before and gives you the opportunity to react differently than you probably did in your living room the very first time you saw this on your television screen. So we are truly having a blast being able to shine a spotlight on this music that we've heard before, that we've maybe pulled up on Spotify, but now we're getting to perform it live.
Speaker 1:
6:28
Yeah, I love that answer and it's definitely something that I think really lends itself to Naruto and anime in general. So, heidi, for my final question, if you could only point to one thing that you love about this show that you haven't shared already, what is it that audiences can expect when they purchase their ticket to see this particular experience?
Speaker 2:
6:51
Oh my gosh, the music that's underneath the fight sequences is genuinely so fun. I'm up there, so fun, I'm up there. I have the best seat in the house being able to be on the podium watching my friends get to just shred every single night on this music, from this really really high energy baller music underneath these fight sequences. There's certain spots in every single act, every single moment, that I really look forward to. I turn the page, I see it in front of me and I'm like let's go and our audiences really feel the same way, which is, you know, so such a great like closing of the feedback loop, like we're having a great time. They're having a great time and we're excited to bring the good time to Jacksonville.
Speaker 1:
7:31
Absolutely, heidi, and I truly appreciate you jumping on for this episode. I know you're getting on this press tour to really get the word out there, and if you are interested in listening to this episode, you want more information about Naruto, the symphonic experience, any tour dates and tickets. Be sure to check out the links in the show notes of this episode. If you are in the Jacksonville area, tickets are still available at the time of this recording and you'll be able to also find that information through the FSCJ Artist Series website as well. I really want to thank each and every one of you for showing interest in this particular content and, with what we're doing here on the podcast, you can expect us to be at the show on May 4th, so we hope to see you there. I'm Eric signing off for this one and we'll see you next time. All you have to do is wait for it. So I heard you're looking for a go-to source for entertainment.
Speaker 2:
8:25
Wait for it. Gaming, wait for it. Anime PLUS ULTRA. Mr.
Speaker 1:
8:33
Eric Almighty and Phil the Filipino yeah, they've got you covered, and all you gotta do is wait for it. This is the Wait For it Podcast.
