Both the late actor Leonard Nimoy and his most famous character Mr. Spock will be remembered at the film screening of Star Trek (2009) With Live Orchestra taking place March 21 at the Sony Centre For The Performing Arts.
The film will be presented on a large screen with composer Michael Giacchino’s score performed live by the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, conducted by Erik Oschner.
On stage, a tribute to Nimoy and his impact on Star Trek will be given by Giacchino and others to the audience in introducing the film.
“I am particularly touched to have this concert honour the memory of Leonard Nimoy. He was a prolific artist and a generous human being who will continue to inspire us though his iconic portrayal of the ever fascinating Mr. Spock,” said Giacchino.
“To Leonard Nimoy,who is the heart and soul and inspiration of Star Trek, I say this: even a man as insightful and brilliant as you could never know how much we miss you,” said J.J. Abrams, director of the 2009 Star Trek reboot in which Nimoy had a cameo role .
Although Nimoy acted in other roles in film, stage and television, Mr. Spock is perhaps the most beloved character of the original Star Trek films and television series.
Born in 1931 to Jewish immigrants in Boston, what is less widely known about Nimoy is the influence Judaism and Jewish culture played in his life and that he played many overtly Jewish characters over his career.
Some of Spock’s most famous lines, such as “live long and prosper” and “the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few”and the Vulcan salute, stem from Nimoy’s Jewish faith and upbringing.
Nimoy created the salute himself, based on childhood memories of the way the kohanim hold their hand while giving the blessing from Numbers 6:24-26 that is heard weekly at synagogues and temples.
After beginning his stage career as a teen with minor roles in Yiddish theatre in New York, Nimoy’s first major role on stage at age 17 was playing a Jewish child in Awake And Sing about the story of a Jewish mother and her children struggling to survive in the Great Depression. In 1971 he played Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof on an eight-week theatrical tour.
Nimoy was nominated for an Emmy Award in 1982 for his portrayal of Golda Meir’s husband in the made for television film A Woman Named Golda.
Nimoy also produced a 1991 film in which he played a Holocaust survivor in Never Forget. The story pitted Nimoy’s character in a lawsuit against a group of organizations engaged in Holocaust denial.
His most controversial work in the Jewish community came when Nimoy published a photography book The Shekhina Project in 2002. The work examined the feminine aspects of God’s presence, inspired by Kabbalah.
Star Trek (2009) With Live Orchestra, featuring a tribute to Leonard Nimoy, is on March 21, 7:30 p.m. at the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts, 1 Front St. E., Toronto. For tickets and further information, call 1-855-872-7669 or go to www.sonycentre.ca
