A cinematic afternoon featuring a short comedy and a classic silent film accompanied by the Fabulous Hook Organ at Mechanics Hall, Worcester. Showing The Haunted House starring Buster Keaton & The Phantom of the Opera starring Lon Chaney with live, improvised musical accompaniment by principal organist Peter Krasinski.

The Haunted House stars the incomparable Buster Keaton, an incredibly athletic actor known for his “stone face” expression. We learn quickly that the house isn’t really haunted but a "front" for some local criminals. A classic comedy that the whole family with enjoy.
 In The Phantom of the Opera Peter will engage the full musical resources of the organ to help bring the movie to life. This film has complex themes all running at the same time. There are plots, and sub plots, multiple characters that interrelate, stunningly effective locations, and, thanks to camera placement and film editing, multiple perspectives of a single event. The improvised music will highlight dramatic action and the mood in each scene as a full symphony orchestra might. This makes musical accompaniment both challenging and exciting. The main characters in this production are not just simple examples of humanity, but very complicated, real, multi-level, and torn individuals. The young singer, Christine, is discovering the difficulty of balancing a personal relationship and a career. The Phantom has a vast musical talent that he wants to share with the world, and beneath his terrifying exterior, a loving-breaking heart. (The glorious actor Lon Chaney is able to show these complexities beautifully, even through all that make up and after all these years.)  The story of the Phantom, now over one hundred years old, has been told in many ways since the French writer Gaston Leroux had it published in “Le Gaulois” as a serialization in 1909-1910. This evening you will be able to experience the story yet again. The art of silent movie accompaniment on the pipe organ is a rare but much cherished tradition in the United States that Mechanics Hall is proud to offer.