The Boy Who Could Fly

Dragon’s Domain Records presents THE BOY WHO COULD FLY , featuring music composed by Bruce Broughton for the 1986 family film written and directed by Nick Castle (THE LAST STARFIGHTER) and starring Lucy Deakings, Jay Underwood, Bonnie Bedelia and Fred Savage. This presentation of THE BOY WHO COULD FLY also includes orchestral performances of film music by the composer of some of his other best-known film music. Broughton has composed film scores in almost every medium, from theatrical motion pictures and television to computer games, in styles ranging from large symphonic settings to contemporary electronic scores.

THE BOY WHO COULD FLY is a sentimental story about an autistic boy named Eric who, after losing both of his parents to a plane crash, befriends a young girl named Milly, who lost her terminally ill father to suicide. Together they find in friendship a way to cope with their pain, while Eric’s dreams of flying soon become more than just a wish. Broughton scored the film using a single theme, adapted in numerous ways from the gentle cadence of their young romance through to the soaring treatment as Eric fulfills his desire in the air. Unable to produce an original soundtrack album at the time, Broughton rerecorded his score in England, conducting the Sinfonia of London. Released in 1986 as a 10-track LP and CD, this is the performance of the score presented here.

Broughton, who has won ten Emmy Awards and been nominated for an Oscar, began his journey into film music in 1973, scoring episodes of television shows from GUNSMOKE, HAWAII FIVE-0, and DALLAS to JAG and THE ORVILLE, miniseries like THE BLUE AND THE GREY and THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA, and feature films such as SILVERADO, YOUNG SHERLOCK HOLMES, HARRY AND THE HENDERSONS, TOMBSTONE, and HONEY, I BLEW UP THE KID. Broughton has more than 130 scores to his credit.

The remainder of the album includes a variety of performances of eight cues from feature films (and one TV mini-series), providing a kind of retrospective of Broughton’s cinematic career while engaging in some unique arrangements of his music from the ‘80s and early ‘90s.

Dragon’s Domain Records presents THE BOY WHO COULD FLY, featuring music composed and conducted by Bruce Broughton. The music has been mastered by James Nelson at Digital Outland and the liner notes have been written by author Randall Larson, with the participation of the composer.