Recently I spoke with Julien Mombert, Wild Faery Company about the CRYSTALLINE RESONANCE: FINAL FANTASY Piano Concert
How did the idea for the show come about?
We were eager to renew the success of the Piano Opera tour in 2016, and extend it to more cities. This is the result of this reflection.
What are some of the previous productions you have worked on and how does this show compare in terms of scale and complexity?
We have worked on shows like “ONE PIECE Music Symphony”, “KINGDOM HEARTS Orchestra”, “Eorzean Symphony: FINAL FANTASY XIV Orchestra Concert”, and all of them has different challenges and specificities.
The scale is different mostly in the fact that the venues are way smaller, ranging in most cases from 300-500 seats. This means that the experience is more intimate, and each guest is very close to the brilliant performer on stage.
The quantity and number of dates (48 in the span of 4 months) is quite challenging though, but we are thrilled to be able to bring FINAL FANTASY music to so many cities and as close as possible to the fans!
What were some of the biggest challenges you had to contend with?
For this show, the most difficult part is having just a pianist on stage. We needed to make sure the musical arrangements were both attractive and engaging, and thanks to the Square Enix teams and their composers and arrangers, all was done brilliantly! Concert goers will experience something new yet familiar when each song is revisited during the show.
How did you decide which scenes to show and which music to use?
This was overseen by Square Enix teams in charge of each game.
How was the decision to go piano vs an orchestra decided upon?
We wanted to give fans a completely different experience enjoying FINAL FANTASY music.
How was working with Square Enix and what was the creation process like as did you have to pitch the full show ahead of time in detail or was it more of a collaboration over time?
It was a two-way fruitful collaboration over time, with the aim of delivering a really enjoyable experience to the fans.
Were there things you wanted to include but were not able to do so?
We were able to include everything we had hoped for! The concert is quite long, with 22 full songs!
To what do you attribute the continued appeal of the franchise?
So much care and attention to details. Just the music itself is always treated with high respect and a lot of investment from each respective composer and all the development team.
Do you have plans to expand the tour beyond the current dates?
Yes, we hope so, but we will work on it once the current dates are over.
What else do you have upcoming?
We want to expand the ONE PIECE Piano Symphony and ONE PIECE Music Symphony shows in the US, and more! It seems that the US is catching up with ONE PIECE, and this is a show we really want to premiere there.
And we will continue our existing shows, but cannot say more at this stage…
