The Philadelphia Orchestra’s newest talent? Making Saquon Barkley look like a movie star
At the Mann's “A Championship Season,” the orchestra set a dramatic, rousing mood to an Eagles celebration just as the team heads to training camp. Jordan Davis made an appearance too.
If you’ve wanted to rob an Eagles fan’s house, Thursday would have been a good night for it.
The Bird Gang was out in full force, in various shades of green, at the Mann Center for the Performing Arts for “A Championship Season,” a “concert event” combining highlights of the Philadelphia Eagles 2025 Super Bowl run with a live score provided by the Philadelphia Orchestra.
“Tonight we bring together two iconic Philadelphia treasures,” said a beaming Catherine Cahill, the Mann’s president and CEO, as she introduced the evening’s program. Indeed, outside of a joke setup from the sitcom Frasier, you’d be hard-pressed to find such an unlikely combination of impassioned sports fandom and symphonic music appreciation.
“It’s the best of both worlds,” said Christine, a fan who sat in the lawns in a Saquon Barkley jersey and Eagles-branded golf visor. “I like the symphony. I’ve seen the symphonies before. What better way to do it?”
The dog days of summer are winding down, the Eagles are returning to training camp, and the 2025 NFL season is just a few short weeks away.
And while the team seems hyper-focused on their future (see: Jalen Hurts’ “the past is behind us” quip), fans seemed content to relive the glory days of the 2024 season.
The evening was hosted by the venerable “Voice of the Eagles” Merrill Reese, who promised a showcase of the “sights and sounds of a season that couldn’t be scripted better in Hollywood.”
The orchestra was conducted by Anthony Parnther (wearing a midnight green “MAESTRO 1” Eagles jersey) who has led symphonies scoring dozens of Hollywood films including Oppenheimer and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
The original score was attributed to NFL Films, the league’s in-house production company that also provided the archival footage projected on cinema-sized screens around the venue. The music set a dramatic, rousing mood consistent with the in-house style of NFL broadcasts and documentaries.
There is something a little funny about a production like this. Imagine devoting years of your life to mastering the cello, oboe, or bassoon, only to wind up playing to a montage of crunching pro football sacks, or a videotaped package of various tush pushes. You’d be forgiven for thinking it’s vaguely disreputable, or even a little embarrassing.
Is this the fate of the august Philadelphia Orchestra, who once had an audience in the Teddy Roosevelt White House, and were the first Western orchestra to tour the People’s Republic of China, under the superintendency of longtime conductor Eugene Ormandy?
Such snooty misgivings were surely short-lived.
The mix of music and highlights made the Eagles’ 2024 championship season seem like a movie — still engrossing even though everyone knew how it ended.
Watching Barkley break multiple consecutive tackles, in slow-motion, and run in a 60-yard touchdown with an orchestra swelling behind him, he looked bigger, better, and more than merely the best player in the NFL.
He looked like a movie star. Or some sort of hero from ancient myth.
The show lagged when it became more of an ad for NFL Films, but the pleasure of seeing old clips of men tripping and falling over is entertainment enough. And taken together, it roused local fans (not that they needed more rousing) in advance of the 2025 season, which sees the Birds as defending champs.
“We face the adversity of being a winner,” said Luke, a fan tailgating on the grass about an hour before the Mann’s gates opened to fans. “We have to keep it going!”
It’s a very Philly idea. Even at a celebration of their team’s greatness, fans must find some kernel of hardship, a reason to be underestimated.
But even that mindset seemed to be in short supply, as the green-bleeding diehards at the Mann cheered highlights they’ve probably seen a thousands times by now: Cooper DeJean’s Super Bowl pick-six, Barkley’s heart-stopping reverse hurdle, and sack after sack after sack of Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes.
The evening ended with Eagles defensive tackle Jordan Davis coming on stage, Lombardi trophy in hand, to lead the audience in the Eagles fight song, and what must have been the hundredth E-A-G-L-E-S chant of the night.
The feeling of anticipation was palpable, as fans await the 92nd Philadelphia Eagles season, kicking off Sept. 4.
The Philadelphia Orchestra, meanwhile, kicks off its 125th season on Sept. 25, with a performance of the impressionist Frenchman Maurice Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G Major. It’s a surefire hit for any newfound fans of the symphony.
You may even hear a R-A-V-E-L … RAVEL! chant … in the parking lot beforehand.