I just got back from the LOST Live: The Final Celebration event.  It took place at UCLA’s Royce Hall and featured live performances by composer Michael Guichinno, surprise guest appearances, and a private screening of the penultimate episode,”What They Died For.”  Note that cell phones and cameras were not allowed inside the Hall, so letters and words are all I got to offer.  So let’s dive right into the details, shall we?

Introductions: Things started off with an ABC executive reading a letter to a packed audience.  The letter was addressed to Lostexecutive producers Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof (together known as “Darlton”) and spoke very highly of the groundbreaking series and how it related to the Star Wars franchise and how the creatives behind those films also did not know exactly where they were going during the making of the first film (big laughs!).  The letter was penned by George Lucas.  Then Darlton came out to share kind words about thankful they are for the rabid fanbase, for without them Lost simply wouldn’t be, well, Lost.  They described all those in attendance at Royce Hall special members of the Lostfamily.  They were excited to have the opportunity to end the series by sharing an event with the show’s most loyal fans.

The cast: Next, Darlton announced, one by one, many cast members to join them on stage.  According to the press statement, we knew Lost characters Richard, Ben, and Hurley would make an appearance, but everyone was surprised to see a ton more jump on stage.  Darlton welcome the following Lostcast members on stage: Young Ben (Sterling Beaumon), Cassidy (Kim Dickens), Arzt (Daniel Roebuck), Ethan (William Mapother), Abaddon (Lance Reddick), Boone (Ian Somerhalder), Rose (L. Scott Caldwell), Dr. Pierre Chang (François Chau), Walt (Malcom David Kelley), Michael (Harold Perrineau), Charlotte (Rebecca Mader), Faraday (Jeremy Davies), The Man in Black (Titus Welliver), Penny (Sonya Walger), Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick), Richard (Nestor Carbonell), Ben (Michael Emerson), Hurley (Jorge Garcia), and Sawyer (Josh Holloway).  The takeaways?  Abaddon, Chang, Faraday, Desmond, Richard, Hurley, and Ben got the loudest applause, no surprise there.  And Walt got taller.  Seeing all these amazing actors standing together on stage (with Darlton nearby) was quite a sight.  A whole lot of talent was right there in front of all of us, and you couldn’t help but smile and cheer for your favorite characters you’ve come to know and love over the past six years.  (I gave a loud shout-out to Faraday, which I’m sure he heard.)  Yeah, it was a bummer main cast members Jack, Kate, Sayid, Locke, Claire, and Charlie were no-shows, but it was still a great moment to see all of these guys come together in one space for the final hurrah.  Before each cast member walked onto the stage, Darlton would describe key attributes of their characters so as to keep the audience guessing who’ll come out next.  Lotta cheering and name calling resulted.  And after the cast took a long bow, they left the stage to take seats in the crowd.  (In fact, a bunch of Lostpeople were in attendence, including producers and writers, but I’ll get to that later.)

The orchestral performance: After the cast members left the stage and found their seats, Darlton gave more thank you’s, shared some final thoughts, and then introduced Lost composer Michael Giacchino.  Darlton praised Giacchino’s “Giacchin-ous” (a term coined by Lindelof) with these words: “Michael has written every note of score for Lost.  It is no overstatement to say the show would be incomplete without his amazing work.  Michael’s collection of vivid themes and his ability to find the pitch perfect emotion for every scene has shaped the show indelibly.  How many television shows can you identify just by hearing the music?”  My answer–none.  Enter The Giacchino and a 47-member orchestra, some musicians from the show, others from the Colburn Conservatory.  (All proceeds from the night’s event went to the Colburn School of Performing Arts.)  Giacchino conducted seven iconic scores from the show: “Lost Main Theme”, “Hollywood and Vines”, “Oceanic 6”, “The Temple of Boom”, “Life and Death”, “The Tangled Web”, and “Parting Words”.  During each performance, a collection of Lostphotographs from multiple episodes appeared above the orchestra on a small projection screen.  It was during the last score when actual video played.  A number of significant scenes were played including the deaths of many characters (Charlie, Jin & Sun, etc.); the score closed on a longer scene, the one where Michael, Sawyer, Jin, and Walt set off on the raft.  It’s funny, and quite telling, that although these scenes were stripped of audio, I could instantly connect the music being played to each and every scene, still and moving.  I could also hear Walt screaming to his dog Vincent to stay back as the raft left shore.  Awesome effects, indeed.  In-between each performance, cast members (Richard, Ben, Penny, Hurely) briefly came on stage to read letters from a bottle.  Darlton reminded us about the season one finale episode (“Exodus, Part 1”) where Charlie goes around the beach asking people to write short letters to loved ones; the messages are placed inside a bottle given and give to Sawyer to take the raft, but they end up back in the hands of Sun in the season two episode “…And Found”.  Though all of the letters read came from unknown castaways, there was one in particular that drew some laughs.  Ben read aloud letter with some emotion signed by Neil, who we all assumed was the stubborn Neil Frogurt.  All in all, Giacchino’s score was brilliant.  I recognized every track played, and each of them reminded me of specific moments and characters throughout the series.  You think you know the Lostscore, but there’s truly nothing like hearing it played live.  After leaving the stage for a minute, Giacchino came back dressed in a Dharma jumpsuit and hat.  (I believe the jumpsuit said “Correction” on the back of it.  Whatever it said, it got some laughs.)  Anyway, he promised one more song, turned to the orchestra, and immediately I concluded this wasn’t Lost-related.  They were playing the main score from Pixar’s Up which won Giacchino an Oscar for Best Score.  Again, it was so great to hear it live.

The penultimate episode: Giacchino left the stage, the curtains fell on the orchestra, and Darlton was back.  Before the screening of the penultimate episode, Darlton wanted to thank the producers, writers, and directors who work behind the scenes at Lost.  After thanking co-creator J.J. Abrams (who couldn’t make it to the event), they brought on stage the following creatives behind the show: producers Bryan Burk and Jean Higgins, writers Elizabeth Sarnoff, Edward Kitsis, and Adam Horowitz, and director Jack Bender.  Sitting in the crowd was Paul Edwards, the director of the penultimate episode.  The mic was handed over to Bender who shared some words on behalf of the crew.  He said it was “impossible to say goodbye to the show” so he was forced to quote The Beatles when he concluded “hello, goodbye.”  Darlton went on to credit the next episode’s humor to the writers and producers of it; little did we all know he wasn’t joking about this.  And with that, the stage was cleared, the lights went dim, a HUGE high-def projection screen fell, and next week’s episode of Lostbegan.  Do not expect me to divulge specifics from the “What They Died For.”  Darlton kindly asked us not to Tweet and share plot information, and so I will graciously follow their instruction.  However, I will tell you this: The episode is fantastic and a more-than-satisfying setup for the series finale on May 23.  If you felt letdown by this week’s Jacob/MiB backstory, this one should bring you back to Team Faith (as in, you still have faith the show will conclude satisfactorily).  Revenge, death, rebirth, and humor are tightly wrapped together in the episode.  That last description seems a bit, well, out of the norm, doesn’t it?  I don’t know if it was because I was sitting with a great number of Lost fans or not, but this episode was HILARIOUS and filled with never-ending witty lines and scenes.  Along with the crowd in attendance, I found myself laughing hysterically to many of the lines and character’s actions.  There’s nothing like a shared experience with a rabid fanbase for a show like Lost, there really isn’t.  During each “commercial break” and when certain characters entered the scene, performed some action, or said a line, the audience would clap and cheer loudly–so much fun.  Oh, alright.  I’ll give you this: The flash-sideways world starts to pave its way towards a conclusion as many of the characters are brought together by a special someone…Characters we haven’t seen in quite some time show up…Jacob does some explaining.  OK, that’s it!  You’ll have to wait a full five days to see what goes down in this revealing and witty penultimate episode.

Wrap up: After the screening of the episode, loud applause ensued and that was it, really.  Royce Hall quickly cleared out and you could overhear attendees whisper theories about how it’s all going to end.  From the choice words from Darlton, to seeing a bulk of the cast in person, to the amazing performance by Giacchino and the orchestra, to the screening of the penultimate episode, this “final celebration” was extremely memorable and bittersweet.  It’s so tough to say goodbye to the show (as Jack Bender made public), but it’s Lostis a story and every good story has an ending, right?  Darlton reiterated how thankful they are to ABC head Steve McPherson for allowing them to end the show even though it’s doing well in the ratings and there’s still a large following behind it.  Now is the appropriate time to end the show, said Darlton, and I have no doubt (well, fingers crossed) it will get appropriately wrapped up in the two-and-a-half hour series finale, “The End.”