07:17 AM CST on Wednesday, February 8, 2006

By MATT WEITZ / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News

You had to admire the Lone Ranger's pluck when he stole William Tell's title song and made it utterly his own. That's the sort of gumption that earns you a hundred-year chit at the pop-culture poker table.

JASON JANIK/Special Contributor

Griffith Samore, 6, greets R2-D2 before the Dallas Symphony Orchestra's Star Wars program at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center.

How much more favored, then, is Star Wars protagonist Luke Skywalker, who not only had his theme music written specifically for him but was able to evade the humorous but legend-harshing specter of a surly sidekick grumbling, "What you mean we, white man?"

As was clear Tuesday night at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, Luke's amanuensis was not Jay Silverheels but rather Anthony Daniels, the British actor who played the films' arch protocol droid C-3PO.

JASON JANIK/Special Contributor

Anthony Daniels, who played C-3PO, introduces the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.

Mr. Daniels was narrating the musical story, as written by Hollywood uber-composer John Williams, behind the most momentous sea changes in the six-episode George Lucas sci-fi saga. Sonic illumination was provided by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Erich Kunzel.

Like his gold-plated character, Mr. Daniels was elegant, stilted and a tad vain. Mr. Kunzel often had to rein him in with a stern look when he rhapsodized on C-3PO's vital role in the proceedings.

The event was proof positive of the series' enduring appeal. Besides the full house, there were many other stirring evocations of movie moments – be they the uplifting strains of "The Main Theme" or the fascist grandeur of "The Imperial March."

It's a resonance that doesn't really require much amplification, although there were white-clad Imperial stormtroopers on hand before the performance and then marching up and down the aisles, blasters at the ready. Purists may have bemoaned that less-recognizable moments like "The Adventures of Jar Jar" weren't blessed by the presence of their subject matter, spouting patois and covered with flaming gasoline. "Meeso burny!!" One may, after all, always dream.

And dreams were the order of the evening, presented with a force (no pun intended) that went beyond the reach of even movie-theater sound. To see the noise made in front of you has always been one of the singular treats of live music, and it was uniquely available to fans Tuesday night at the Meyerson.

E-mail mweitz@dallasnews.com

At 7 p.m. through Thursday at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, 2301 Flora. There may still be some tickets available. 214-692-0203, www.dallassymphony.com.