Ottawa composer scores Marvel superhero extravaganza
Getting to hang out with the X-Men or the Avengers is a dream come true for most comic book fans, but getting to create the music for the Marvel superheroes is something Ottawa composer Michael Picton never imagined.
The former Colonel By Secondary School student is the composer behind Marvel Universe LIVE! at the Canadian Tire Centre this weekend.
It's a live extravaganza featuring stunt actors in costume as the Marvel comic book favourites like Thor, Spider-Man, The Hulk and more soar through the skies and battle villains including Loki, Black Cat and Green Goblin.
And while the superheroes are leaping, flying and fighting, they're doing it to the high-energy music of Picton.
"This is exactly what I wanted to do as a kid in Ottawa," Picton said in an interview on CBC Ottawa's All In A Day. "It took about three decades to get there. The target I'd set as a teenager was to do sci-fi and superhero films, and this gets as close to my original goal as possible."
Creating the perfect musical compositions for the superhero special was almost as difficult as, well, saving the world from the bad guys.
It also required an in-depth knowledge of both the characters and musical history, Picton said.
"Wolverine is known for being a tough guy with a bad attitude, so I'm not going to score him with flutes and glockenspiel," Picton said.
"He gets hard-edge sounds — electric guitar, heavy drums. Whereas someone like Thor has a grander, more noble orchestral score associated with Wagner and Valhalla and gods in general."
One superhero stunt actor from the Marvel Universe LIVE! show agreed that hitting the right notes musically is an integral part of the show's success because it helps the cast get into character instantly.
"Every time I hear the music, it puts me in the mood," Taylor Hemmeter, the stunt actor who portrays the devious villainness Black Cat said of Picton's pop/R&B motifs.
"I'm off-stage when the music starts and I crawl out to where I climb up the Statue of Liberty to do my fight," she said. "It's a very different sound from the other characters, and I love it. When I first heard...the music for Black Cat, I fell in love with it right away."
Picton describes the Black Cat music as "Pink Panther music without the comedy."
The Marvel Universe LIVE! show runs Saturday (3 p.m. and 7 p.m.) and Sunday (11 a.m. and a 3 p.m. French performance) at the Canadian Tire Centre.
Listen to the interviews with composer Michael Picton and two superhero stunt actors below:
