There are movie screenings, there are orchestral concerts, and then there is the particular kind of spectacle that happens when both occupy the same stage at once.
State Theatre New Jersey will host two major entries in the New Jersey Symphony at the Movies series in 2027, pairing full-scale Hollywood adventure with a live orchestra performing the music in real time. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl in Concert arrives Sunday, February 28, followed by Star Wars: A New Hope in Concert, 50th Anniversary Celebration on Sunday, May 23.
Both performances begin at 2 p.m. at the historic New Brunswick theater, with tickets currently starting at $41 including fees. For audiences who know these movies by heart, the attraction is not simply seeing them again. It is hearing music that has spent years living through television speakers, home theaters and headphones suddenly expand to the size it was always capable of becoming.
Pirates Brings the Black Pearl to New Brunswick
The first of the two events arrives in February with Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, the 2003 swashbuckling adventure that launched the film franchise and introduced movie audiences to the chaotic partnership of pirate Jack Sparrow and blacksmith Will Turner.
At State Theatre New Jersey, the film will be accompanied live by the New Jersey Symphony under conductor Lawrence Loh. Klaus Badelt's score is an especially natural fit for the concert format: muscular brass, racing strings and broad adventure themes that help give the movie its constant sense of motion.
The story follows Sparrow and Turner as they pursue the Black Pearl and its cursed crew after Elizabeth Swann is kidnapped by Captain Barbossa. The supernatural plot gives the orchestra plenty to work with, moving between swaggering action, ominous atmosphere and the kind of large-scale musical statements that helped define the early Pirates films.
A live-to-picture performance also changes where an audience's attention goes. Familiar dialogue and action remain on screen, but the musicians are physically present beneath it, making the construction of the movie's momentum far more visible. Moments that can feel effortless on film suddenly reveal just how much orchestral precision is helping drive them forward.
The February 28 performance is presented in collaboration with the New Jersey Symphony and is recommended for ages 13 and older. The film is rated PG-13.
A New Hope Marks 50 Years With John Williams Live
The May program carries an additional layer of history. Star Wars: A New Hope turns 50 in 2027, and State Theatre New Jersey will celebrate the anniversary with the New Jersey Symphony performing John Williams' Academy Award-winning score live as the complete film plays on screen.
Nicholas Hersh will conduct the New Jersey Symphony for the May 23 performance. The movie follows Luke Skywalker from Tatooine into the Rebel Alliance's fight against the Empire, bringing together Obi-Wan Kenobi, Princess Leia, Han Solo, Darth Vader and the characters that transformed a 1977 space adventure into one of popular culture's defining franchises.
Few film scores are better suited to demonstrate what a live orchestra contributes to a movie. The opening fanfare alone has become cultural shorthand, but A New Hope is filled with music that does much more than announce heroes and villains. Williams gives the film scale, romance, tension and emotional continuity, allowing the orchestra to carry audiences from the desert of Tatooine to the Death Star and into the final assault without ever feeling like an accessory to the action.
Hearing that score performed in a concert hall makes the familiar strange again in the best way. The movie remains the movie, but the sound is no longer fixed. Every entrance, swell and rhythmic turn is being created in the room by musicians following the film second by second.
For the 50th anniversary, that combination makes the State Theatre presentation more than a nostalgia screening. It is a chance to revisit the film in a format that puts one of its most enduring creative elements, Williams' score, directly in front of the audience.
Two Different Adventures, One Big-Screen Idea
The two selections make an effective pair for State Theatre's 2027 calendar. Pirates of the Caribbean is a modern blockbuster built around speed, humor and supernatural adventure. A New Hope is a half-century-old landmark whose characters, imagery and music have become embedded in generations of moviegoing.
What connects them is the orchestra. In both cases, the New Jersey Symphony gives audiences a way to experience familiar cinema as a live performance rather than a passive screening. The screen supplies the movie; the musicians supply an element of risk and immediacy that cannot be duplicated by pressing play at home.
That is the appeal of the at-the-movies format at its best: audiences do not have to choose between a film night and a symphony concert. They get both, with the scale of State Theatre New Jersey providing an appropriately grand setting for two scores designed to fill a room.
Event Details
| Event | Details |
|---|---|
| Pirates of the Caribbean | Sunday, February 28, 2027 | 2:00 PM | Lawrence Loh, conductor |
| Star Wars: A New Hope | Sunday, May 23, 2027 | 2:00 PM | Nicholas Hersh, conductor | 50th Anniversary Celebration |
| Venue | State Theatre New Jersey, 15 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ 08901 |
| Tickets | Starting at $41 including fees; on sale now |
| Age guidance | Both events are recommended for ages 13+; anyone under 18 must be seated directly adjacent to a parent or guardian. |
Official event information: Pirates of the Caribbean at State Theatre New Jersey | Star Wars: A New Hope at State Theatre New Jersey
Additional program information: New Jersey Symphony
Event details attributed to the State Theatre New Jersey and New Jersey Symphony pages linked in the article. Event details are subject to change; check organizers before travel.