JOKER - Live in Concert for 2021 UK and Ireland tour

22 April 2021, 13:04 | Updated: 22 April 2021, 13:07

JOKER - Live in Concert announced — JOKER - Live in Concert is coming to the UK. Picture: Press

By Jenny Mensah

The award-winning Todd Phillips film, starring Joaquin Phoenix, will be accompanied by a live orchestra with a tour which premieres at London Eventim Apollo.

JOKER - Live In Concert is set for a 2021 UK and Ireland tour.

The critically acclaimed and award-winning 2019 film, directed by Todd Phillip and starring Joaquin Phoenix, will be played in venues while its GRAMMY-winning score is brought to life by a live orchestra.

The world premiere will take place at the London Eventim Apollo on 26 September 2021 and will visit the likes of Glasgow's Royal Concert Hall, Liverpool Philharmonic and Brighton Dome.

The London opening of JOKER - Live In Concert will be conducted by Jeff Atmajian - the conductor and orchestrator of the original soundtrack - with SENBLA’s Dave Mahoney conducting the rest of the UK Tour dates.

Tickets are on sale via Ticketmaster now.

JOKER - Live In Concert will premiere in London on 26 September 2021. Picture: Press

Hildur Guðnadóttir, who became the first solo female winner of a BAFTA and Golden Globe award for Best Original Score for JOKER, said: "I'm thrilled to get to see and hear Joker in the cinema with a live orchestra. When we recorded the music, the orchestra brought such depth and detailed attention to the performances that we were all literally holding our breaths during most of the recording sessions. It was a beautiful trip. I’m so happy to get to go there again and for an audience to experience that too."

Director Todd Phillips said: "I speak for the entire JOKER team when I say how thrilled we are to be working with SENBLA and Ollie Rosenblatt on JOKER - Live In Concert. I think it's a wonderful way for audiences to experience Hildur Guðnadóttir‘s haunting and immersive score while bearing witness to Joaquin Phoenix’s descent into madness as Arthur."

Phoenix portrays a man struggling to find his way in Gotham City’s fractured society. Longing for any light to shine on him, he tries his hand as a stand-up comic, but finds the joke always seems to be on him. Caught in a cyclical existence between apathy and cruelty and, ultimately, betrayal, Arthur makes one bad decision after another that brings about a chain reaction of escalating events.

The film also stars the likes of Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, Frances Conroy, Brett Cullen, Glenn Fleshler, Bill Camp, Shea Whigham, Marc Maron, Douglas Hodge, Josh Pais and Leigh Gill. Phillips directed from a screenplay he co-wrote with Scott Silver, based on characters from DC. The film was produced by Phillips and Bradley Cooper under their Joint Effort banner, and Emma Tillinger Koskoff. It was executive produced by Michael E. Uslan, Walter Hamada, Aaron L. Gilbert, Joseph Garner, Richard Baratta, and Bruce Berman.