The Lord of the Rings Musical - My review

Post by **Ophelia** » Fri Dec 07, 2007 11:04 pm

Well, not a revolving one! I saw "The Producers" there, which was the last show it hosted before LOTR. For LOTR, they installed the stage and its mechanics deep in the bowels of the theatre, so they had to take to pieces the stage and front of auditorium to do it.

Post by **Crucifer** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 12:12 am

Ah. Right.

It really is an incredible stage... The movements are incredible...

And I was getting confused with Queens Theatre Shaftesbury Ave. They have a revolving stage... Drury Lane is just off Shaftesbury...

Post by **Alatar** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 11:05 am

Thanks Ophelia, you've got me excited about this again. I'm hoping to see it again in January.

Post by **Crucifer** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 7:08 pm

I'm definitely going to go see it next summer... My thanks also to Ophelia, for reminding me (indirectly) how good it is, and to Al for posting that link of Frodo and Sam...

Post by **Ophelia** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 11:50 pm

You can vote for the LOTR Musical in several categories in the "What's On Stage" awards, here:

www.whatsonstage.com

If you so wish, that is.

Post by **Alatar** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 5:06 pm

Well, I'm going again next Thursday hopefully. I just checked the Website and there's a Q&A session at the Thursday Matinees.

Anyone got questions they'd like me to ask?

Post by **ToshoftheWuffingas** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 6:23 pm

Only the obvious ones: how did Bilbo disappear; are there pinup size pictures of Galadriel?
Given his height I could see how Gimli got besotted.

Post by **Alatar** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 5:48 pm

Well, I loved it even more this time. Knowing that the Ents were to be comic relief rather than serious helped a bit. I still think they're the weakest element of the show, but overall its a minor quibble. I didn't even mind the Aragorn/Arwen love song this time.

I have the three disappearances figured out if anyone wants to know. Well, actually, the only one I was unsure about was the first, and this time I was looking for it!

Anyway, the Cast recording is out on February 9th and there's a cast signing in Dress Circle if anyone wants to go get a copy signed for me. Ahem.

And look at the Taxi that turned up to take us to the Airport!

Mon Jan 21, 2008 6:41 pm

How cool!

Post by **MithLuin** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 6:42 pm

LoL, love the taxi!

I had heard about the music in Feb., and was just coming here to announce it, but you beat me to it

.

Glad you enjoyed it this time.

Post by **Alatar** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 7:28 pm

Oh I enjoyed it both times Mith! Its just that this time I was able to relax and take it in properly without wondering what would be cut and how the compression would be handled.

Incidentally, the Album is available from Drury Lane on Jan 24th, from Amazon on Feb 4th, and the signing at Dress Circle is the 9th.

Amazon Pre-Order

This deluxe two disc set includes a 52 page illustrated booklet. The first disc is an 18 track CD with stereo mix. The second disc is a 19 track DVD with 5.1 surround sound and bonus features.

Disc 1 - Audio CD
1. Prologue ('Lasto I Lamath')
2. The Road Goes On
3. Saruman
4. The Cat And The Moon
5. Flight To The Ford
6. The Song Of Hope
7. Star Of Eärendil
8. Lament For Moria
9. The Golden Wood
10. Lothlórien
11. The Siege Of The City Of Kings
12. Now And For Always
13. Gollum/Sméagol
14. The Song Of Hope (Duet)
15. Wonder
16. The Final Battle
17. Epilogue (Farewells)
18. Finale.

Disc 2 - Enhanced DVD in 5.1 Surround Sound
1. Prologue ('Lasto I Lamath')
2. The Road Goes On
3. Saruman
4. The Cat And The Moon
5. Flight To The Ford
6. The Song Of Hope
7. Star Of Eärendil
8. Lament For Moria
9. The Golden Wood
10. Lothlórien
11. The Siege Of The City Of Kings
12. Now And For Always
13. Gollum/Sméagol
14. The Song Of Hope (Duet)
15. Wonder
16. The Final Battle
17. Epilogue (Farewells)
18. Finale.
19. The Song Of Hope (Duet) (Alternative version) (Bonus Track)

Post by **Crucifer** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 10:10 pm

Now And For Always

I cried in the theater. I really did...

How did the disappearances happen btw?

Post by **Alatar** » Tue Jan 22, 2008 11:54 am

The first one is a classic gauze effect I think. On stage if you light a gauze cloth from behind you can see through it, but lit from the front you can't. Bilbo was behind a gauze, under the "Happy Birthday" Banner, in a spotlight. For the disappearance, they simply did a crossfade from backlit to frontlit. Very clever.

The second was simply sleight of hand. During the end of the Cat and the Moon, we focus on Frodo where we expect him to be. People cross in front of him with benches. He takes a slow motion approach to putting on the ring. As he does, he quickly tucks in behind one of the benches as it passes. Persistence of vision and your mind tricks you into seeing him "disappear".

The final one uses a rigged cloak with a frame. Frodo pulls up his hood and moves to the centre of the stage. Boromir follows him back and grabs him by the shoulders, allowing Frodo to slip out of the frame and into the centre trapdoor. Boromir then pulls the cloak away while simultaneously releasing the frame mechanism so the cloak loses shape. A quick magicians flourish, and its gone.

I love the theatre!

Post by **kams** » Tue Jan 22, 2008 4:21 pm

I love the theatre!

I can tell!

I sounds like knowing the tricks didn't lessen the 'magic' of the show.

For the movies, knowing about the forced perspective and lighting tricks didn't hurt my enjoyment of the DVDs one bit. I was lost in Middle Earth several times in the movie theater. when the the DVDs came out, I was aching to know how they made it work so well.

Post by **Crucifer** » Tue Jan 22, 2008 9:27 pm

Yeah, I think I got the second one while watching... The first completely baffled me...

Post by **Alatar** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 4:03 pm

I got my CD in the post yesterday! (couldn't wait

)

Its wonderful. As I said to someone recently "If Howard Shore hadn't already knocked it outta the park, I'd say this was the ultimate LotR scoring attempt. But its really hard to compare with 12 hours of thematic material."

Still, admirable effort. Sindarin and Old English lyrics, full Orchestra and some soaring vocals. Ok if I post links to a couple of tracks with lyrics V? Fair use etc?

Wed Feb 06, 2008 4:15 pm

I think parts of songs would be fine. Full songs would make me uncomfortable.

Post by **Alatar** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 4:21 pm

Hmm. Can't really do that as I don't have an MP3 splitter. Besides, the songs can't really be judged in snippets. You can get that from the website already. I was hoping to provide one or two tracks in full, but I can see why you might have a problem with that.

Post by **Old_Tom_Bombadil** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 9:58 pm

I just ordered the CD. After reading the comments here I'm looking forward to listening to it even more than I would otherwise.

Post by **Alatar** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 5:19 pm

I don't believe this. I typed in the full lyrics for Lothlórien but I must have hit "Preview" by accident... Gah.

Anyway, here's the song in full, shared legally from the website.

It begins with Legolas describing to the company how Galadriel sang the realm of Lothlórien into existence. There's a full chorus section in Elvish and then Galadriel enters.

http://www.lotr.com/sights_sounds/showf ... opup_5.php