With the rapid expansion of The Lord of the Rings related content in the recent years, perhaps it felt inevitable that a musical would come around. The much beloved, seminal work of fantasy literature did so well as a movie trilogy that dozens of video games and board game adaptations followed. To come full circle to today, with a full movie trilogy for The Hobbit, Amazon's multi-billion-dollar Rings of Power, and other announced projects such as War of the Rohirrim and the Hunt for Gollum, the Marvel-esque saturation of LOTR content today would feel completely alien to the feeling of cautious anticipation in the late 90's before the Jackson films released. Of course, Tolkien's work has been adapted to the stage before (I remember fondly seeing a production of the Hobbit at the local high school when I was six years old), and in some respects lends itself well to the drama and energy of the stage.
Still, if someone were to ask what would constitute one of the most difficult source materials to effectively translate to a compelling and coherent musical, The Lord of the Rings would still be toward the top of my list. Jackson's masterful 10–13 hour trilogy (depending on theatrical vs. extended) gives the material enough breathing room, but only with major cuts of content and themes. Going into the theater, Ralph Bakshi's 1978 animated adaptation was at the forefront of my thoughts as a potential comparison. The film has a shorter but comparable length, and notably did not finish the story in a satisfactory manner (at least in relation to the book's ending). Would the musical be plagued by the same problem?
Here is my review summed up in brief: the musical smartly condenses the plot into a watchable spectacle. That in and of itself, is an achievement, sheerly for its ambition. There are sequences that worked well, and others that fell flat and exposed a certain raw essence of this as something needed further refinement. I would recommend it to LOTR fans that are curious and can make it to a showing so that they can experience it and form their own reaction. I cannot recommend it generally speaking and would urge not experiencing the LOTR story for the first time in this way.
At this point, with my general thoughts addressed, the review will get much more specific, so feel free to stop here if you don't want certain plot elements or details about the show revealed. I will be breaking it down simply by what I thought went well and which moments fell flat.
The Great
Gollum's portrayal was inspired. One cannot see this show without being awed by the sheer physicality the actor poured into the role. The simian gait, the climbing, crawling, leaping and stumbling, it was all on "overdrive" and even further enhanced when the actors would be cutting through the aisles and going past our seats. He took full advantage of the set, always climbing or creeping down and making the space feel bigger and more interactive. The actor did the vocals just like Andy Serkis, which I was initially wary of, wanting an interpretation that went in its own direction. However, by the end, I withdrew that critique and was fully won over. He even managed some great singing! The actor found a way to align our established vision of Gollum with his own finesse. The makeup was simple, but effective; it was not distracting or inferior in any way to the expert CG rendering that the films achieved. Truly a marvel to behold!
The plot was nicely consolidated. This to me, was the most interesting element going in and coming out of the theater, observing and commenting on which content was included. I was prepared to be lenient in this area because of the sheer ambition of compressing such an epic story. They managed to pull it off; the run time was less than three hours (not counting intermission) and managed to span from Bilbo's birthday party to the epilogue of Frodo sailing away with the others to the Undying Lands after the destruction of the ring. Of course, there were many cuts and consolidations (Weathertop and Bree being merged), Gondor and Rohan simply becoming the land of men, Denethor and Theoden merging to become the Steward of the King under the enchantment of Saruman, etc. Many characters were cut, but their absence was not acute within the musical's narrative and plot progression. At the same time, there were some very smart decisions made- Bill Ferny as Saruman's agent returned from his presence in the books to bridge scenes together, and there were many efficient lines that spoke to broader things taking place and expanding the world without the need for them to play out as entire scenes. The necessary sense of traveling great expanses and high stakes battles were largely achieved with little stage time.
The Shelob sequence- don't want to reveal too much, other than just general praise for how effective and spooky they portrayed the grand dame with practical effects to create a compelling scene. I ended up in more debate with my wife Athena on how effective the Balrog portrayal was, but we both agreed on the awesomeness of this scene!
The Good
Saruman and his postmodern orc army. One of my biggest laughs was when Athena leaned in commented that his appearance was very reminiscent of Lord Raiden from the 1995 Mortal Kombat film. The comment was spot on; he looked fabulous with a constant, ironic edge hanging about his expressions and mannerisms. This actor doubled to play Elrond, which he also did a fine job with, although the costume looked more like a cyberpunk elf running a corporation rather than a half-elven lord. The interpretation of orcs were was very interesting; they were urbanized (as was their jig), wearing dark jeans, sweatshirts, and gasmasks usually accompanied by a green fog. This saves the need for any makeup application, and was very intriguing in its own right. What prevents this from being "great" is that it did not mesh with the rest of the style for the characters and setting, and felt a little too out of place.
Actors interacting with the audience and weaving through the seats: I'm always a fan of this and they played this to their full in advantage in the direction. I'm also including here how the Nazgul were depicted as "riders," it was tastefully done with a little apparatus that actors in all black cantered around with.
Gimli had a beautiful, original song of lament when discovering his fallen kinsmen in Moria, completed by him strumming his guitar. It was one of only two songs I was genuinely impressed by, the rest were all mostly forgettable.
Gandalf, Gimli, Frodo and Sam performances- these were my picks for best performances beneath Smeagol and my enjoyment of Saruman. Gimli delivered comedy nearly as well as his movie counterpart.
The Not so Good
The music numbers, as a whole. You compare this production to something like Les Misérables, Phantom, Hamilton, or more recently "Six," and the songwriting and lyrics just weren't anywhere close to the same caliber. The songs themselves derived their strength from the source material, not their own merits. Rather than being the vehicles of the story, the story was usually presented with music numbers kind of just being added on or loosely conveying things. There were nods to some of the folk songs in Tolkien's writings, and some cute hobbit dance choreography (including a hilarious foot-shake greeting), but I can barely remember anything about the songs already, and it's been less than a week! Also, a notable peeve for my wife and I when seeing any live musical- the acoustics needed better balancing, most of the songs had unintelligible lyrics against the background noise and instruments.
The depiction of Elves (no ears?!). Legolas and Elrond were passable, although their outfits were uninspired (this will lead to greater discussion in "The Bad"). They really couldn't keep still even as background dancers, but their interpretive swaying spoke to a weird listlessness rather than complementing the music.
The other performances- mostly flat and unexceptional. Very unfortunately, I do need to mention that two characters were played by understudies for our performance and we were acutely aware of that fact for the run of the show. I've seen very good performances turned in by understudies in the past, and without specifically naming the characters, I'll add that their costumes did them no credit in looking well-armed and ready for enduring the hardships of nature or combat. The vocal ranges for both characters also did not match my expectations.
The Bad
The costuming. There were a few exceptions: the wizards looked fine, as well as the hobbits, although they never went barefoot, always with thong-sandals instead. . . which I would guess is either a union safety or stage liability thing, or perhaps even for louder stomping in the songs. I'm just going to use one character example here- Aragorn. Aragorn is a character with a distinctive journey from Ranger to King. From a plot standpoint, this did occur within the musical, but he was in the same plain outfit the entire time (essentially a green tunic with a belt, think "Link" from The Legend of Zelda) to which he added a gold headband toward the end. His ranger hood was borderline ridiculous, which looked more like Tom Bombadil's oversized hat that he's often depicted with. In fact, very few characters ever had any wardrobe changes, except for (fortunately, and quite obviously) Gandalf. Apart from a lack of appropriate changes, the costumes themselves were just largely bland and looked like they could have been acquired in a trip to a resale shop.
The swords were obviously not metal- which is disappointing as they don't reflect light in that satisfying way and it took away from the immersion. I know there is practicality to consider, but I happen to have a sword myself which is metal but not onerously heavy or dangerous. Just a strange cutback! Further, all instruments were played onstage and not in a pit; at times it worked with fiddles and flutes but other times its a bit jarring when poor Pippin has to lug his cello through Moria. For the first time in my life I thought Gandalf might have been a little too hard on him!
Galadriel and her music numbers. Galadriel radiated pure Elsa energy in her movements, singing pitch and crescendos, even her outfit (look, more costuming critiques!). It was vibrant and energetic, it just did not match her character and almost felt like it was hijacking the entire production. I felt alarmed at the dominating and unmistakable presence of a Disney princess element in the production. Galadriel has more depth than that, so count two adaptations in a row where she feels off after Rings of Power. I don't know if this came more from a direction angle or from the actress's own decisions, but this entire section and characterization needs to be reworked.
If you've stuck with me for all of that, thank you! I could go on longer but by now you've certainly gotten my core impressions on the musical. It is flawed but worthwhile in many respects, and I hope to actually see it revised down the years if they plan to continue its run.
Score: 3/5
-SMM-
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