PUTNEY, VT — Next Stage Arts presents a special screening of Harold Lloyd’s classic 1923 silent comedy Safety Last! on Friday, July 17 at 7:00 p.m., featuring a live improvised musical score by acclaimed pianist and composer Peter Tavalin. Doors open at 6:15 p.m. at Next Stage Arts, 15 Kimball Hill in Putney. Tickets are $10 and available at nextstagearts.org.
Silent films were never truly silent. During the early days of cinema, live musicians accompanied screenings, enhancing the action, emotion, and humor unfolding on screen. Tavalin continues that tradition with a spontaneous score created in real time, making each performance a unique artistic experience.
A graduate of Berklee College of Music and a lifelong jazz improviser, Tavalin has been accompanying silent films since 1980. Drawing on decades of experience as both composer and performer, he responds moment by moment to the film, crafting music that deepens the audience’s connection to the story while preserving the excitement of improvisation.
For this event, Tavalin selected Safety Last!, one of the most beloved comedies of the silent era. Released in 1923, the film stars Harold Lloyd as an ambitious young man whose efforts to succeed in the big city lead to a series of increasingly hilarious and precarious situations. The film remains famous for its iconic image of Lloyd dangling from the hands of a clock high above a city street.
“These days we can all use a good laugh,” says Tavalin. “And Harold Lloyd shows us that he definitely rates as one of the great silent film comics in the same class as Charley Chaplin and Buster Keaton.”
Combining physical comedy, inventive storytelling, and one of cinema’s most memorable climactic sequences, Safety Last! remains a landmark of film history more than a century after its release. Tavalin’s live accompaniment brings fresh energy to the experience, allowing contemporary audiences to enjoy the film much as viewers did when it first appeared in theaters.
The evening offers a rare opportunity to experience a silent film as it was intended to be seen: on the big screen with live music performed in the moment. Audiences can expect an engaging blend of cinematic history, virtuosic improvisation, and timeless comedy.
For more information and tickets, visit nextstagearts.org.
