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The Yale Alumni Magazine is owned and operated by Yale Alumni Publications, Inc., a nonprofit corporation independent of Yale University.

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Screen classics
May/June 2007
photograph ©Joshi Radin

Woolsey Hall found its space invaded March 31 by Video Games Live, a touring multi-media production featuring orchestral versions of theme music from the standard home and arcade games. While the light show flashed and the electronic percussion blasted, the undergraduate Yale Symphony Orchestra performed music from such epic games as Mario, Final Fantasy, Warcraft, and Myst—as well as the genre’s equivalent of Victorian classics: Tetris, Pong, and Space Invaders (shown here).

The brainchild of Tommy Tallarico (composer of "Earthworm Jim" and more than 100 other game themes) and Jack Wall (composer of "Extremely Goofy Skateboarding," among others), the event lured hundreds of glassy-eyed fans away from their screens and controls and into Woolsey. Some sat politely, while others, dressed for the occasion like Super Mario Brothers, strutted jerkily around the hall, Mario-style. Still others had their cell phones on. Were they taking pictures? Or were they … playing video games?

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