Fri 11/24 – Sun 12/31
4PM Daily; 4PM & 7PM Fridays
By special arrangement, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History is exhibiting a planetarium show perfectly synched with the album The Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd. CoolCleveland caught the premiere performance on Fri 11/24, and it is everything you might hope it could be. The album that stayed on the Billboard 200 album chart for 736 nonconsecutive weeks from 1973 to 1988 never disappoints, and is often used by audiophiles to measure their sound systems against.
First, the sound. Yes, it surrounds you, bouncing off the domed projection ceiling and rumbling under your fully reclined seat. Your eyes will dart back and forth following David Gilmore’s guitar lines, Dick Parry’s soaring sax solos and Clare Torry’s extraordinary vocal exhortations. Roger Water’s lyrics may take on added resonance while sharing an intimate album listening experience with 86 other lucky souls (and all seats were filled for our show, and are selling briskly).
But your mind will most definitely be distracted and engaged by the quasi-narrative visual program splayed across the dome above your head, stretching North, South East and West beyond your peripheral vision. Beginning with the iconic pyramid image that graces the album cover (designed by Storm Thorgerson of the design firm Hipgnosis, currently the subject of a documentary streaming on Netflix), state-of-the-art computer graphics, photography and video follow a NASA space flight, from lift off to orbit to landing the lunar module on the moon, to it’s safe return to Earth. This narrative thread allows for continuity while creative detours are explored.
Touchstone moments from the album are delivered with exquisite detail and gobsmacking perspective. On The Run finds you flying headfirst at hyperspeed while planets, stars asteroids and disembodied pyramids whiz past your head. The ticking clocks of Time are illustrated with massive, space station-like clock mechanisms and movements. The Great Gig in the Sky, a rumination on death featuring Clare Torry improvising her vocals over a Richard Wright chord progression begins with the actual International Space Station and takes the viewer far beyond our galaxy. The hit song Money begins with a massive display of coinage but evolves through a never-ending zoom through a rocket launch pad tower, eventually articulating the entire trajectory of the NASA rocket from Earth to the Moon and back. The contemplative Us and Them is a PG rated trip around our own solar system, if we actually had moon-sized pyramids floating into view every few seconds. Any Colour You Like shows you what it would look and feel like to do donuts on the Moon’s surface in a Lunar Rover, while Brain Damage subverts the lyric’s message of madness to put the audience as close as they will be to walking on the Moon.
Is it entertaining? Absolutely. Is it educational? Sure. Does it take you places you’ve never been and will almost certainly never go? It sure does. Is it highly recommended? Oh, yes.
But here’s the thing: all of the ticket revenue stays in Cleveland and is for “the intended benefit and use of The Cleveland Museum of Natural History. None of the proceeds generated from the planetarium show are used in any manner to support third party performers, including the Pink Floyd Band and/or any of its members.” This is a key point, especially given Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters, whose work within the band and as a solo artist often criticizes our consumerist society. To enjoy this visual and musical masterwork knowing that your $10 is being contributed solely to the CMNH and their amazing transformation makes it all worthwhile.
Some cautionary notes: As it should, the soundtrack is loud; we measured it near the safe maximum level of 90db. That’s louder than loud traffic or a noisy restaurant and near the volume of a drill, sander or chain saw. The 5.1 surround system is due for an upgrade at the Shafran Planetarium, although the current system excellently delivers the surround mix in a unique room that should not be missed by any fan of astronomy, Pink Floyd or cool visual effects. Young children at our screening charmingly expressed their enthusiasm and (sometimes) questions aloud. Honestly, they were just verbalizing what everyone was thinking. And finally, if you’re not a fan of Pink Floyd or astronomy or cool effects, the intensity of the show may not be for you. The album’s lyrical themes of madness, violence and death can seem beyond mere entertainment, although the visuals are quite engaging and trippy. If that’s an issue, we suggest you stroll the amazing new Visitor Hall for 45 minutes instead while your family enjoys the show.
A general admission ticket to the Museum is not required to attend a showing of The Dark Side of the Moon. Screenings are daily at 4PM; on Fridays an additional 7PM show is added. Guests are welcome to purchase tickets for this special program in addition to general admission or separately. Advance tickets are highly recommended as the 87 comfortable reclining seats for each show are selling out fast.
Now through December 31, 2023. Tickets: https://www.cmnh.org/the-dark-side-of-the-moon
Cleveland, OH 44106