The Only Girl In The Orchestra Movie Review (2023)

A lovely short documentary about Orin O’Brien, The Only Girl In The Orchestra talks about her unlikely rise in the orchestral world and her continued skirting of her notoriety in the industry.

While I am a huge fan of theatre, music, and film, my family can tell you that orchestra and classical music have never been my thing. I can appreciate it from afar, but an instrument or a concerto has never touched me in the way that I know they reach others. That said, there are some excellent films that center around the people behind the music, and this is one of them.

The Only Girl In The Orchestra is about Orin O’Brien, a noted double bass player who was the only female member of the New York Philharmonic when she was hired in 1966. This doc covers where she is today, her retirement, her feelings about her instruments and her experiences, and various other interesting tidbits.

Directed by her niece, Molly O’Brien, it is clear that Molly has a great love and reverence for her aunt. She says several times that she wanted to be just like her growing up. Molly had a very stable, very normal life, and here she was, watching her aunt live something larger. But Orin doesn’t see it that way.

The daughter of two actors (old-time western star George O’Brien and Marguerite Churchill), Orin never wanted to be in the limelight – and this is one of the most fascinating things about her character. She watched her parents constantly looking for the next role and the next bit of adulation, and she wanted nothing to do with that. She wanted a stable life where she could fade into the background.

Hired by Leonard Bernstein into the New York Philharmonic, he had exceptionally lovely things to say about Orin. He knew that she spoke the same musical language that he did, and some of the quotes by him are words of one’s dreams. She just smiles at the memories.

There were newspaper articles written about her when she first joined the orchestra, and while others are delighted, Orin is bothered. She was part of a section. The fact that she was a female should have made no difference. Also, I was floored by this particular line in one article, “Ms. O’Brien, who is as curvy as the double bass she plays…” Yikes.

This documentary does a great job of displaying Orin’s continued love of the double bass, and all of her instruments. You watch her teach some of her students, and some of what she notices is almost imperceptible. They know what they need to work on based on her instruction, but it is clear that most of us wouldn’t have the first clue. I have so much respect for what they see and hear that I can’t.

As Orin O’Brien says, “music helps us organize our emotions.” You do not have to love orchestral music to appreciate this documentary and I highly recommend watching it. She is a fascinating character who is very different from what I expected. Really enjoyable.

Runtime: 35 minutes

Motion Picture Rating: G

Languages Spoken In The Film: English

Should You Watch It? Yes

Did I Cry? Nope

My Rating: 4/5 Stars

Available: Free on Netflix