The Lord of the Rings Musical - My review

[Crucifer]

Signed.

[MithLuin]

Signed as well! But we'll need more people - 1000s, at least - to get any attention.

[Rowanberry]

Signed. Hope this will have some effect.

[Mrs.Underhill]

I finally got the musical on iPod, and I thought some of the songs there were excellent! I have Now and For Always, Gollum/Sméagol and Lothlórien on a constant replay loop for several days now, they are soo good!

Now and For Always and Gollum/Sméagol make an excellent character piece/study and hit the spot for me powerfully because that's what I look for in musicals. A great concentrate of ideas and trials of Book 4 in just two songs. And they even mentioned Stoors and Fallowhides (geeky squee!) And Frodo singing about Sam just slays me. And Gollum/Sméagol I thought was brilliant, in how tortured Gollum was, and how he tried to sing the same hobbit song, be like them, but his dark part wouldn't let him and won in the end.
Lothlórien song was magical and I loved the concept of Lórien being Galadriel's child, because that's what it was, Galadriel used her Ring to create it and in a way Sauron's One Ring and his domain was the price paid for her meddling with nature. It's all intertwined, and I loved that musical hit that note.

I also liked Cat and Moon, Flight to the Ford and some other Elvish pieces. Aragorn/Arwen stuff was meh and run-of-the-mill but those three songs alone made me happy that I got this musical.

I also watched some YouTube clips linked here. Looks like Toronto version of Gollum/Sméagol didn't have him trying to sing Now and For Always too, there was just dialogue. I definitely like my version better!
Also it seems hobbits were wearing fake noses in Toronto but not in London - great improvement too, as Frodo and Sam actors are handsome fellows and it's harder for me to fall for someone as a leading hero who has a big fake nose.

What makes me upset as that I won't see on stage now. 3 years ago you could fly to London for 300$, now it's like 1000$, it's crazy, no way I'm getting there this summer. And I thought it will go to Broadway in NY next which would be close to home, but now I'm reading here it's going to Germany.

OK, time to go sign that DVD petition...

[Erunáme]

It was a purist's nightmare!

I have purist tendencies so wasn't completely horrified but fairly irritated. Also I don't like musicals (except Sweeney Todd) so there wasn't much hope.

The hobbits were the only good thing about it in my opinion. The beginning was nice and enjoyable. But then Gandalf came on stage. The actor was horrible...overdid it waaaay too much. Even Iavas agrees for the most part so I must not be that off. Same for the actors that played Elrond (even worse than Gandalf!) and Galadriel. Boromir seemed poor as well...and why the heck would they give Boromir what appears to be dreadlocks??

The Ents...dude...so embarrassing! At least they looked interesting.

And what's up with all the silly hand/arm movements the elves are always doing? It doesn't fit them at all!

I wish we wouldn't have wasted the money for me to see it but Iavas really wanted me to come with him as well. Personally I don't think LotR should have been made into a musical. The story was pretty much massacred and the numerous misstatements (Arwen's a half-elf? WTF? Tuor and Beren are the only humans in the line, but that's way back and in between others chose to be Elven kind. I don't see how just Tuor and Beren would make her a half-elf) made me cringe. It felt like the main reason for this to be made was to cash in on the LotR craze, but hey if they threw a few lines in from the book here and there it might look faithful! I realise others here enjoyed it greatly, but it's not for me at all.

[sauronsfinger]

Eruname... its comforting for me to read a review by somebody here who felt much like I did when I saw it in Toronto.

[Erunáme]

Thanks. At least you're one person who won't be pouncing on me, telling me how wrong I am! And to think...I was holding back in that post.

[JewelSong]

Well, I thought the LOTR musical was great fun. And if you didn't care for it, you're not "wrong" - you just have a different opinion.

I certainly didn't expect it to be like the book OR the movie. When you turn a huge book into a musical or a stage play, it has to be changed. Look at "Les Miserables" - they took just a couple of bits from the book and made a very successful show.

If you don't LIKE musicals to begin with, you probably wouldn't like it no matter what they did with it. I saw it both in Toronto and again in London, where it had been much changed. The Gandalf we saw in Toronto was terrible, I thought...the one in London much better. I loved the hobbits as well...and Shelob rocked. Best Spider Ever. I also really liked how they did the Black Riders and how the unseen Rangers protected the hobbits as they went along the road.

I know what you meant about the Elves hand movements, Eru, I thought they were very distracting and weird. Obviously the director was trying to do something, but I have no idea what.

I thought the story-line with Arwen and the Elves leaving was well-done and made it so non-readers could understand the implication of destroying the Ring.

Anyway, I really enjoyed it - despite some obvious flaws. But then, I LOVE musicals as a rule and enjoy most live entertainment. So I just took it for what it was and got into the spirit of it!

[Crucifer]

And what's up with all the silly hand/arm movements the elves are always doing? It doesn't fit them at all!

I didn't get that either. I found it irritating and distracting.

[sauronsfinger]

Jewel Song - the version I saw was in Toronto.
I agree with you 100% that Gandalf was terrible. The funny thing is that the actor portraying him - Brent Carver - is a excellent actor in many other things. I have seen him in at least two stage productions at the Stratford Festival in Stratford, Ontario Canada and he was great both times. However, in LOTR he had the bad fortune to be given most of the expository speeches and he seemed directed to recite them as fast as possible to get it all in. There were none of those beautiful pauses or weighty silences that added so much to the fim version.

Saruman was the worst. They had an actor that looked like motorcycle biker in Otto Premingers Nazi coat from Stalag 17 and it was just terrible.

And I do like musicals a great deal. In fact, as I get older I find myself drawn to musicals more and more. But the music I heard in Toronto was mediocre at best and I heard nothing which stuck with me. There certainly was not one tune that you left the theater humming. And then there is the matter of that very stylized "music" that I call Cirque Solei wailing. That is like fingernails on a chalkboard to me.

I agree that some of the effects were good - the way they did the Balrog was extremely impressive. The stage itself, with all of those wood vines covering the surrounding area was gorgeous.

Since I saw it, I have gone back to Stratford and have seen several other actors in stage productions. The actor who was Boromir in the stage play, was so jarring to me. He just did not fit the role in any way. I saw him in To Kill A Mockingbird last summer and he was amazing.

This causes me to question the director of the play and how he did his job.

[Alatar]

It was a purist's nightmare!

I have purist tendencies so wasn't completely horrified but fairly irritated. Also I don't like musicals (except Sweeney Todd) so there wasn't much hope.

The hobbits were the only good thing about it in my opinion. The beginning was nice and enjoyable. But then Gandalf came on stage. The actor was horrible...overdid it waaaay too much. Even Iavas agrees for the most part so I must not be that off. Same for the actors that played Elrond (even worse than Gandalf!) and Galadriel. Boromir seemed poor as well...and why the heck would they give Boromir what appears to be dreadlocks??

The Ents...dude...so embarrassing! At least they looked interesting.

And what's up with all the silly hand/arm movements the elves are always doing? It doesn't fit them at all!

I wish we wouldn't have wasted the money for me to see it but Iavas really wanted me to come with him as well. Personally I don't think LotR should have been made into a musical. The story was pretty much massacred and the numerous misstatements (Arwen's a half-elf? WTF? Tuor and Beren are the only humans in the line, but that's way back and in between others chose to be Elven kind. I don't see how just Tuor and Beren would make her a half-elf) made me cringe. It felt like the main reason for this to be made was to cash in on the LotR craze, but hey if they threw a few lines in from the book here and there it might look faithful! I realise others here enjoyed it greatly, but it's not for me at all.

Hi eru,

Sorry to hear you didn't enjoy it, but a few caveats for you. Firstly, as you know, it just closed on Saturday. All the full time firts choice cast had already left, so almost the entire cast you saw would have been the second string. I saw this cast myself last time and they certainly weren't as good as the previous cast. Laura Michelle Kelly was streets ahead of both subsequent Galadriels that I saw.

Personally I love the music, but I didn't start that way. Its not that I disliked it, it simply made no impression on me. Since then I really have grown to adore it. My two biggest gripes are with the Balrog and the Ents. The first part of the Balrog is fantastic, where we don't see it. Gandalf simply stands on the Bridge and the red light, wind and effects tell us he is facing something BIG and SCARY. When he turns around and we see the origami Balrog, its such a letdown. The imagination is better here.

The Ents were just too.... Hasty. In every way. They added nothing to the story and looked ridiculous.

As for the story, I'd say heavily compressed rather than massacred. Things like Arwen being half-elven don't even register for me in the larger conception. Elrond is called Half Elven and she's his daughter. Hardly a stretch! Besides, I'm not expecting purism in a 3 hour adaptation of a 1000 page novel. I would have more of a problem with the roll-up of Denethor/Théoden into one character, but I can see why they did it.

In fact if there's one thing that grated, it was all the references to "the great king". Whats wrong with calling him Isildur? Surely one more name isn't that confusing!

[sauronsfinger]

from Alatar

Besides, I'm not expecting purism in a 3 hour adaptation of a 1000 page novel.

I do not expect purism from any adaption of anything from one medium to a different medium. But you do have a valid point in that you cannot take a 1200 page novel and turn it into a 3 hour play and expect that the story is told.

Which is why the idea of musical becomes even more problematic since a good portion of the time was used up by music which in my opinion did nothing to advance the story. That one song and dance number in Bree was such a take-off on "Master of the House" from LeMiz but without any of the charm. I do not know if they changed it for London, but in the Toronto version they had at least one dancer in a Davy Crocket coonskin cap during that number. Visually absurd.

[Ophelia]

Sauronsfinger - I feel equally comforted when I meet someone else who detests the films.

I love the stage show, but I loved the original London cast much more.

I can't stand "Master of the House" and would never have thought of comparing it with "The Cat And The Moon." And still wouldn't, I'm glad to say.

But if something works for you, it does; if it doesn't, it doesn't.

[MithLuin]

'The Cat and the Moon' makes the point that hobbits are fun-loving and that they are able to pull others into their story, more or less - they come into the Inn as strangers, and then everyone is involved in the song and dance. I will not deny that the same point could have been made in less time, but I will say that is one of the most fun bits of the show so cutting it would be a mistake. I think it was trimmed from Toronto to London, but at this point, I can't recall. I found the costumes for Bree to be very random and typically theatrical. I was not sure what they were going for, but nothing there said 'Tolkien'.

'Master of the House' establishes how unscrupulous the Innkeeper is, so it's very cynical. Cynicism is mostly lacking from the LotR musical. Personally, I cannot stand it, so 'Master of the House' is one of my least favorite songs from Les Mis. I put it with Javert's sililoquies - nicely done, but not something I *want* to listen to.

As for the elvish hand-gestures.... They had to establish elves, men, dwarves and hobbits as different races/cultures. They mostly skipped out on dwarves - Gimli is short, and we have his song in Moria, and that is that. Hobbits are short and well-padded, as well as fairly simple-minded. Men are men. So...what makes elves elves? Well, they have that facepaint over one eye. They seem to like flying . And they have an other-worldliness that is slightly spiritual and thus stylized by ritualistic gestures. I'm not suggesting this worked, but that is I think what they were going for. They wanted the elves to look 'other' but also ancient.

[Alatar]

You don't like "Stars"??????????????????????????????????

[MithLuin]

I find it boring

I never claimed to have good taste. My favorite song from that musical is 'One Day More' and my favorite storyline is the revolutionary students. I don't even like 'Castle on a Cloud.'

[Alatar]

Castle on a Cloud is a ditty.

One Day More is awesome.

But Stars... ah. He's the villain of the piece, but for all the wrong reasons. he represents truth and justice, but taken to its extreme.

There, out in the darkness
A fugitive running
Fallen from grace
Fallen from grace
God be my witness
I never shall yield
Till we come face to face
Till we come face to face

He knows his way in the dark
Mine is the way of the Lord
And those who follow the path of the righteous
Shall have their reward
And if they fall
As Lucifer fell
The flame
The sword!

Stars
In your multitudes
Scarce to be counted
Filling the darkness
With order and light
You are the sentinels
Silent and sure
Keeping watch in the night
Keeping watch in the night

You know your place in the sky
You hold your course and your aim
And each in your season
Returns and returns
And is always the same
And if you fall as Lucifer fell
You fall in flame!

And so it has been and so it is written
On the doorway to paradise
That those who falter and those who fall
Must pay the price!

Lord let me find him
That I may see him
Safe behind bars
I will never rest
Till then
This I swear
This I swear by the stars!

I have a soft spot for Javert. Can you tell?

[truehobbit]

I want to know how the Vinyamars got that foto in Alatar's sig!


I've seen the musical in London twice and I LOVED it!.
And I'm somewhat of a Purist.
Well, maybe mostly a Pragmatist.
But certainly nowhere near a Revisionist!
I wanna see it again!

*sighs for its run in London having been ended*


(How's that for getting the thread back on topic? )

*hates the very idea of a "Les Mis" musical. In fact, of even distorting the name "Les Misérables" to 'Les Mis" ... how about a "Lordy" musical for a "Lord of the Rings" one???*

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Hi, hobby!

[Primula Baggins]

HOBBY! <knocks over china cabinet on way to get a hug>