Overview
Since 1990, every child has wished for one thing: to get stranded home alone so they could relive the ultimate 90s Christmas movie. No one really wants to spend the festive season without their family — especially when their mum is Schitt's Creek legend Catherine O'Hara — but we've all wanted to follow in Macaulay Culkin's footsteps. Admit it, we've all yelled "keep the change, ya filthy animal!" in hope, too.
Expect that line — and the entire seasonal cinematic treat that is Home Alone — to echo through the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall when 2024's festive season rolls around. Here's one way to relive the movie: watching it play in the hefty venue with a live soundtrack. As part of its just-announced season for next year, Sydney Symphony Orchestra is bringing the film back to the big screen in the best possible way, aka in concert, and welcoming the merriest time of the year in the most appropriate fashion.
Home Alone made a star out of Culkin and, yes, made every 90s kid (and 00s and 10s kid as well) hope their family went on holidays without them. It truly is the best movie there is about an eight-year-old who outsmarts two burglars while living it up without his parents and siblings — and while it charts Kevin McCallister's antics, it also boasts a rousing Oscar-nominated score by iconic composer John Williams.
That's what the SSO will bust out from Friday, December 6–Sunday, December 8, 2024 (and there's your essential end-of-year viewing taken care of next year).
If your response to the above news is to hold your hands to your cheeks and exclaim, then you'll know that Home Alone isn't just any old Christmas flick. It's one of the highest-grossing Christmas films of all time. And, it's spawned sequels great (Home Alone 2: Lost in New York) and forgettable (all the other ones, including 2021's Home Sweet Home Alone).
The adored picture is also one of three that SSO will play through as it graces the silver screen in 2024. The other two: the glorious classic that is Singin' in the Rain, plus the animated delights of How to Train Your Dragon. Gene Kelly and wet weather will get their turn across Friday, April 12–Saturday, April 13, while Hiccup is in the spotlight on Saturday, August 24 — both also at Sydney Opera House.
The three events sit on a growing roster of movie-themed performances for the SSO, including concerts focused on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, 100 years of Disney flicks, Black Panther, The Princess Bride and Hans Zimmer in 2023.
Sydney Symphony Orchestra's Home Alone in Concert will take place from Friday, December 6–Sunday, December 8, 2024 at the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall. For more information about SSO's 2024 season, and tickets, head to the organisation's website.