I saw the new version of the musical last week! Rebranded as an immersive musical tale, but it was simply amazing, one of the best shows I've ever seen (I've seen a lot) I knew it had been on in the early naughties and had been gutted I hadn't watched it. The new version is stripped back and smaller scale, but it's the same show at heart, simply stunning and beautiful. The cast all play the music and it's partly outside. It's being shown at the Water Mill Theatre in Newbury, it feels like being in the shire, and is on until October, check it out!!
So do they kind of read the script and sing the songs like a reader's (singers?) theatre? Did they keep the choreography? I'm really curious now that bits and pieces are on YT.
@@minissa2009 It was a full reproduction of the musical but in a smaller theatre. The immersive bit was because it started outside in the shire, as it was in the real English countryside it felt just like the shire. The characters were chatting, and playing games with the audience during the prologue, Bilbo's birthday party. Then you go inside for the show as Frodo goes inside bag end, the story then takes off fully which was incredible, then back outside for the epilogue when the story returned to the shire. It worked really really well!
@@arancadneyThanks so much! I'm working my way through the upload of the 2007 production posted on YT. Sound and video are a little uneven but at least I can imagine what the production looked like. I really appreciate you replying with this description! Waiting for it to come to the US!
I got to see it as well. I thought it was a fantastic production, and I really hope it goes on tour. If you search for "Lord of the Rings Watermill" there's a couple of videos available.
I saw it and really enjoyed it. I immediately bought the CD and play it still. Lothlorien was amazing and makes the hairs on my arms tingle all these years later.
I was there in 2007! All i remember is Laura Michelle Kelly belting the Lothlorien song while doing aerial yoga hanging from the roof. That alone was worth the price. 😂 still gives me goosebumps
Rankin Bass’ Hobbit was my intro to tolkien, and I saw the Musical LOTR before the films or reading the books. The plot was definitely minimal, but I remembered following it quite well, the later half being more condensed than the fellowship sections. To me it was like watching an opera based on Greek or Roman mythology. You’re there for the spectacle, and if that interested you enough, maybe you’d go back and find the source material to have a better understanding of what you just saw.
I saw this twice in London and must say thought it was the best musical I have ever seen. I still get goosebumps today when I hear the music. It is one of those memories I will never forget .
The songs are truly beautiful. 'Lothloren' and 'Wonder' give me tingles every time! 'The Road Goes On' and 'Now And For Always' are two of my favourite songs ever too. Well done to the songwriters.
I saw the show twice during its run in London. Still one of my favourite musicals I have ever seen. I think the songs were/are incredible. I still regularly listen to the music from it! (which is what led me tofind this video) I hope they one day do another version of it for an anniversary, but I doubt it!
Something I heard from someone who worked on the show, was that the Balrog at the end of the end of act One was created by origami. A huge fold-up monster. Also had a lovely "Peppers Ghost" effect of Bilbo vanishing.
I saw the London production as a teen, and I still remember it! Mostly I agree with your parents. The good bits were VERY good, and the awkward bits were awkward. So many of the visuals were fantastic. The hobbits catching fireflies, the aerial elves in Lothlorien, Gollum 'swimming' down from the ceiling, the revolving stage, the Cat & The Fiddle scene, the orcs on stilts (someone screamed as the interval ended and they entered down the aisles from the back of the theatre). Weirdly I don't remember the Balrog! There were so many clever visual touches. And the sountrack was wonderful. I still listen to it today, particularly Galadriel's two songs and 'Now & for always" The struggle the show had was that you just can't depict battles as big as Helm's Deep or Minas Tirith on a little theatre stage with a cast of 40. Even with projections and little vignettes of moments in the fight, the scale just didn't come across. So the plot went: Fellowship of the Ring, Frodo and Sam leave for Mordor and we follow them for a bit, everyone else stages a big battle to cover for them, the end. Most of Two Towers, and Return of the King had to be skipped. This messed with the scope of the story, where it's a few tiny people in a vast world, with the fate of multiple peoples riding on their success and contributing to it. There just isn't time to get to know everyone well enough to care about them in a 3hr show. I do think there might be a way to do the story well. HelloFutureMe has suggested making the story SMALLER on purpose, and only following Frodo and Sam once the Fellowship splits. That way you could keep the story close and personal, and give the audience the time to really care about those characters. And you'd still have the big set pieces and puppets like the Mumakil and winged Nazgul. I think something like that could work.
The Watermill production was absolutely amazing. Amazing. Obviously they had to really, really compress the timeline but my goodness, it is a fun adaptation.
I was so lucky to see this show on stage in London at the Apollo Theatre. I was 15 and i thought it was breathing. My brother bought the CD whilst we were there and i immediately uploaded every song to RU-vid. After the release of Hamilton I found a big uptick in the amount of comments and likes my videos were getting, so i checked the stats and the viewership had spiked dramatically! I really hoped it was going to be the start of its return. So sad that show just disappeared. I remember the website saying "coming soon" in 213 (I think it was) and getting so excited! Now, even the website is gone.
As a LOTR fan from the late 70’s and living an hour from Toronto I certainly remember this show being put on but resisted going to see it. It seemed at the time to be a bad idea and history seems to have proven me right.
I was lucky enough to have seen it. In that same theater as you. My friend got me a ticket for my birthday. I remember loving the production and the songs. I'm not sure if i remember the actual story though. But i wish I'd known it was playing again earlier this yr, as i did love it then
The fact that you said what you say at 11:39 (to 48) a year or so before Rings of Power dropped is NUTS. Wish someone would have told ol' Benzoids that...
As a big fan of both Lord of the Rings and musical theater, this show is a guilty pleasure of mine. I never got to see it onstage so I can't speak to whether it worked or if the story was coherent. All I know is that I really enjoy the music from it. I love how they integrated Quenya into the lyrics. I love the tongue-twister of a song they sing in Bree. I love Gollum's Jekyll & Hyde style duet with himself. And "Now and For Always" is a beautiful song that perfectly captures Frodo and Sam's bond and the indomitable nature of hobbits. Musically, I thought they portrayed the story well. But maybe it works better as a soundtrack album than as a stage production. That said, there's apparently a revival of this show in the works for 2023. I'm very curious to see how it fares. It would be awesome if they filmed a performance of it.
My daughter and I have had many conversations about the adaptation of the book into the movie (with your help), and I agree a stage adaptation of such a massive book would be damn tough. Maybe an opera trilogy, a la Wagner's Ring series? One needs lots of time, and illusion of lots of space to make this adaptation a success. It could happen. So cool for your parents to join you. Thanks Jess's mom and dad! You should be proud of your daughter's hard work!
This musicl has stayed with my since I got to see it in 2007, some of the visuals and the music was too nice to forget. Also it invoked the same magical feeling I got from my first literary encouters with Middle Earth which were more ethereal and magical than that of the movies so it remains quite special. I just wish there had been more evidence left behind for people to experience it now
I only recently found your channel and am trying catch up on your oeuvre. I thought I knew a lot about Tolkien but I learn something new from each of your videos. This video really floored me! I had never heard of this musical. Unlike Professor Tolkien I have no objection to fantasy as such on stage. I have no more problem suspending disbelief that a sprinkling of fairy dust can impart the ability to fly than that Dianna Rigg is an 11th century Scottish queen (The Old Vic, 1973). I’ve found the original cast album on Apple Music and I’ve listened about a third of it. It’s not bad. I’m hoping I can find a video of the whole production. Thanks for your work.
That there was a musical is news to me. I get a sense of what the producers were trying to accomplish. Wish I'd seen it. Your parents are adorable, Jess, and you appear to be a wonderful family, which gives me a good feeling.
It's just been revived for a limited two month run at The Watermill Theatre, Newbury; I went to see it for my Birthday, and I think it was a fantastic revival. The setting - a delightful watermill converted into a little theatre, set among the beautiful English countryside that inspired the Shire - was a perfect match for the story, the actors were spirited and friendly, the production design was in many ways inspired (despite the fact that, as a LARPer I recognised several pieces of costume from my own wardrobe). It was better than the London production by far - and probably less people will see it over the run than saw it in one night in London.
Very late to this party (just found your channel and I'm loving it) but my mind is blown. I was in my second year of university for THEATRE TECHNICAL PRODUCTION in 2006 in TORONTO when this thing showed up. We talked about it at length in our courses. We marveled and studied the set pieces and costumes. We all imagined this future of high budget technical shows to lift us in our future careers. I'm certain we had at least 1 instructor who was working on the thing. And it was so wiped from my memory that I am still trying to think who of my friends might recall if I actually saw the thing. As a student I doubt I would have been able to afford the tickets, but maybe I went to a preview? I'm almost certain I did as I remember the stage moving, even typing this I remember Merry's lav mic failing and not getting fixed until almost intermission. Holy crap I was there. It was horrible. Thank you for reminding me. #rankinandbasswasgoodfightme
I saw the musical on 8 Dec 2007, half way through it's London run, but I have no memory of it. However in my annual newsletter, which was written in the following days I was enthusiastic: "Spectacular is a word that underplays the experience of the Lord of the Rings musical I saw in December. One was not watching the Fellowship in the mines of Moria with the fiery Balrog, one was there with them! I too have "The Official Stage Companion", by Gary Russell, a beautifully produced hardback guide to the design, creation and production of the musical, a gift I received at the time. Maybe my longer term thoughts on the production are better revealed by knowing that 16 years later I still have not read it. Thank you for your videos which demonstrate that you have carried out detailed research into Middle Earth and its peoples.
I would say the music itself (as that is my only frame of reference) was really quite pleasant. "Now and For Always" is really quite a moving number...
I worked FoH in Toronto for this production and your video is giving me severe flashbacks. Helm's Deep used to break down on the daily. On double shows, the delays used to give us less than a 30 minute break between shows. Michael Terriault (Gollum) used to hang at stage door in his full make up and a bathrobe because he didn't have enough time to get his make up re applied.
If they wanted to cut run time for the play, they just needed to have most of the journey via giant eagle and then have a random Hobbit remark: "Imagine if we had walked all that way!".
I saw an EARLY Toronto preview (spring of 2006) and yes, there were many technical problems. The 3-layered rotating stage element that allowed for such creative scene compositions broke down several times and led to multiple awkward delays mid-act. I agree with Jess's parents here that the story moves by too quickly even at 3+hours to really register. The 2023 production cutting so much of the non-Hobbit material is the best option honestly, especially since the Hobbits have most of the best songs. I later bought and really love the London cast album--the music is gorgeous and is this production's standout feature. The Elves in particular have such a beautiful, alien musical style that sets them apart from the other races in ways the films never quite accomplished. Absolutely check out that cast album if you're interested, it's $20 well spent if you can track it down somewhere.
I remember hearing about the show at the time, but as I'm from Scotland, a family trip to London for a 10 year old boy to see a LoTR musical simply wasn't in the cards. Only many years later did I come across the songs on RU-vid, and they definitely appeal to my tastes. The biggest impact that any of the songs had on me only came a few years ago, though. When my Dad passed away, I spent a lot of that day helping my Mum and siblings, speaking to relatives who came to pay their respects and the undertakers who came to collect his body. Needless to say it was an emotionally draining day and when I went to bed that night, I stuck on a pair of earphones and put my liked songs on shuffle. Eventually Wonder from the LoTR musical (I think in the show its a song sung by Galadriel) came on, and I was particularly moved by the following lyrics: Out of death, life Out of night, day, glory from sorrow Out of grief, joy Out of storm, comes strength for tomorrow Out of dust, gold Out of fire, air, comfort forsaken Out of rage, calm Out of loss, find, glory awaken Corny as fuck I know but they were lyrics I needed to hear at that moment.
This show has been revived at the Watermill Theatre in the UK. Its running until October. I saw it this weekend at it was one of the best things I've ever seen live. It's an intimate theatre and thr show starts and ends in the garden outside.
It's funny, I only know that this happened because when I was searching for Tolkein music on RU-vid the renditions of the Prancing Pony songs from this musical came up. Funnily enough I heard the news about them PLANNING this musical in, I don't know, 2004 or something back when I spent most of my time online on the IMDb forums for LOTR, but I never heard about it actually going into production and coming out or anything. In contrast I do have very clear memories of the great Hobbit stage play in the 90s I saw where Gandalf, Elrond and Bard were actors but the entire rest of the cast were puppets. I was doing a quick Google and it looks like, remarkably, it may have only been an Australian/New Zealand production.
at 1:10 when jess said hi, i actually though it was video feed of her mom and for a split second i legit thought she was an immortal elf ..or a vampire, freaked me out. but turns out im just dumb and it was just jess with a low res camera
It’s funny I actually knew about this musical not because of Lotr but because of my background in theatre. I found the cat and the moon while researching for Broadway Wishes a student run groups where we would show musical numbers to raise money for the make a wish foundation. I loved it from a lotr, a realistic, an almost Irish, and a purely musical standpoint. The rest of the show is never gotten into because it seemed so lost that it didn’t feel worthwhile to look for.
I love the Lord of the Rings books and Middle Earth has been in my imagination since I was about 8 years old. I find musical theatre really quite a difficult genre to like - the songs often feel contrived, even manipulative. My wife and daughter saw the restaging of the LOTR musical at the Watermill on September last year and I joined them for a second time. I have to say I was unexpectedly bowled over by it. I can imagine it being overblown and entirely messy on a large scale, but this honed down version was exquisite.
Those of you who got to see this show are very, very lucky. Speaking as someone who has never left the U.S., was 6 years old when the show was actually running, and only heard about it 6-7 years after the show shut down during my first LOTR phase in 5th grade. Fortunately for people like me, someone was able to compile audio and video from various sources to piece together almost the whole show for anyone to see on RU-vid!
I heard of it when it was on stage but I never had the money to bother with it. I tend to agree Tolkien. There are things that can be done stage and can't be. It probably would have been better if they did a 'Globe' version of it, but I doubt they would have even considered it. I love William Shakespeare done pure and simple, with all the words. I agree that Tolkien's stories are too complex.
After initially watching this video, I went on a deep dive for this musical, watching other reviews of it, listening to the album, and researching its history for myself. I managed to find a recording of it, though I didn't finish watching it and now I have to track it down again. The audio and visual quality was practically nonexistent, but I was able to tell that when Gandalf came in to talk to Frodo about the ring, he just would not stop yelling at him and it was honestly hilarious. XD It's really sad that this musical didn't do well and isn't more well known. I absolutely love the soundtrack. (Now and for Always is to DIE for!) From what I can tell, the biggest problem with this musical was its plot. I think if we could get a good writer to sit down and fix the script, this musical could have a real chance of being good. I hope that happens some day. I desperately want to see this performed on stage!
I never got to see the musical myself, which seems to be a blessing and a curse. I was, however, utterly obsessed with the London cast soundtrack as a young teen deep in my lotr phase (I say phase like it ever really ended lol). The visuals I did see in clips were entrancing, the song for Lothlorien STILL gives me goosebumps. I think you’re right that there was no way this could ever work, it’s simply too much world and story for a stage play. And yet, perhaps because I never saw it except in my head, there’s something about the idea I just can’t stop loving. There was clearly so much thought and care put into the sets, the effects, the costumes, the music (they worked with a Finnish folk band to get the sound of the language that had most inspired Elvish). And I think there’s something beautiful about turning Tolkien’s story, which is fundamentally musical, into a story told through music. Maybe it’s better for me it only lives in my imagination and in clips I found on RU-vid. But I can’t help but be glad that it exists, a different and beautiful vision of a beloved world… even if the reality of such a show was an impossible dream.
So I saw this musical at 16 in Drury Lane. The only bits I remember vividly are Frodo and Sam's song, the execution of the orcs and Laura Michelle Kelly belting interchangeably. It was compelling but not the most memorable experiences ever.
I've never seen it performed, so I can't speak to the coherence of the plot, but I have listened to the music. A lot of it seemed kind of new age-y in a way I didn't necessarily detest, but I preferred the movie soundtracks. That said, I unironically love the hobbit numbers, especially the drinking song, the Cat and the Moon. A real banger!
I have been reading Tolkien since I was fifteen; so, sixty-two years. The existence of a musical adaptation was a mystery to me until today (20 April 2024). I still have difficulty with the superb Peter Jackson movies being too condensed for my tastes. A three hour musical, especially one so totally devoid of substance as described, would probably have driven me out before the first intermission. An adaptation must, at a minimum, maintain the flavor of the original source material. None of the scenes from the musical that were interspersed with this video gave me the slightest impression that I had been transported into Middle Earth. On the other hand, the Jackson films put me there as soon as they began and never once did I get the feeling that I was not living and breathing a tale of Middle Earth. I believe that I fully understand Jess’ grounds for rejection of the musical and, from what I gleaned, I wholeheartedly agree.
Completely different but related, a small community theater group in my town made one called "one musical to rule them all" where they took well known theatre songs and changed the lyrics to fit the story, it was so much fun, you still needed to know the story to understand what was going on but it was great
I saw this in London… why no one ever did a full dvd filming of it before it shut down is beyond me. Even more perplexing as there are several musical numbers professionally shot from the west end show. Why did they not film the whole thing? Or perhaps they did and it was never made available. The show was stunning but in hindsight does not suit a theatre audience. It was too dark and patrons too far away to see what was going on and get involved with the characters. There were also wayyyy too many songs. But what an impressive production.
I only happened upon it on YT about a year ago. I was able to find a video of it with really bad sound but was able to play the music at appropriate times from another video. I have to admit that, while I liked Arwen getting a song and she and Aragorn getting IIRC the happy ending reprise, Aragorn's part of the story seemed really muddled, especially in Rohan. I do like the music, and the scene with "Now and For Always" actually captures the scene where Frodo and Sam are talking about the story they've landed in right before they cross into Mordor. If you're actually reading this a year after you did the video, do you know what's up with a revival of the show? What little I saw looked like the one revival of Sweeny Todd that was done with really minimal staging and the actors playing some of the accompaniments themselves. Oh, and I lost count of how many times I'd read it somewhere around 30. I even read the Silmarillion on my rereads, albeit a "good parts" version. Tolkien is my literary god.
I live in Toronto, and saw the show when it ran here. I was studying costume design at the time, so am well versed in what goes into a theatrical production. I thought that technically the show was amazing. I don't remember details about the costumes, but I remember being impressed with the set: concentric segmented rings of floor which could rotate and raise and lower on command to change the landscape of the stage from a rolling hill to a castle in moments (it also of course reinforced the "ring" image).I was also impressed with the Balrog and the Lothlorien scene. But I agree the show fell flat. For one thing, I generally judge a musical by how likely I am to be humming the songs as I leave the theater, and that didn't happen at all in this show; a better composer would have helped a lot. Also, I was mystified not only by all of the things they cut out (which is to be expected), but with some of the things they added. For example, the character of Bill Ferny (a character briefly mentioned in the Bree chapter of the books) was expanded to the point that all of Wormtongue's lines were given to him. It would have made more sense to have Wormtongue show up in Bree. So I am not sure if staging the whole story of LotR is even possible, but I am certain that this production missed the mark by more than it had to by putting emphasis in the wrong places.
My first thought was that I'd never heard of this before, but now that I think harder I'm pretty sure that I did hear about it at the time. It was never near enough to me to make me consider trying to go, though, and I was pretty skeptical anyway. I think the Peter Jackson movies are something of a miracle, and having heard some of what was planned for the original two movie version I think that a lot of the credit for the quality of the adaptation has to go to the New Line Cinema CEO Robert Shay who insisted on expanding it to three movies. The two movie version might have been good, but I'm not sure it really would have been Lord of the Rings. A musical, where a significant amount of the time is going to be taken up with singing and dancing, is going to have an even harder time fitting in enough of the story to be recognizable. That's even if much of the music advances the story, which can happen but is hardly the norm in musical theater. I could maybe see a cycle of shows (something like Wagner's ring cycle) pulling it off, but a single musical wouldn't really have a chance. All that said, if it were opening near me I'd probably still give it a chance.
I saw a stage version of the hobbit on stage and very much enjoyed it. Granted expectations are much lower for a children’s community theater production Some musicals are just strange. My sister-in-law once got us to watch “Cannibal the musical“. That’s a strange little play. Just because reviews are good or bad doesn’t mean you’ll like or dislike a play. The reviews for an all male production of “taming of the shrew” were mostly all negative. After the play I saw one of the supporting actors and went up to shake his hand and told him I enjoyed the play, it was much better than I was expecting. I mostly remember that instance because my wife told me I shouldn’t have worded the compliment as if my expectations were low. But both reviews read hated the play so my expectations were very low.
I had the pleasure??? of seeing this in early 2008 on a educational tour with my university theatre department the acting was not great but from a technical perspective it was outstanding. I think about Gollum climbing headfirst down and never seeing a rope come off of him.
I saw the musical during its Toronto run. While I agree that it was not a good stage performance, there are some gems within it. The 'hobbit' songs are very memorable. Now and for Always is my favourite, but The Road Goes On and Cat and the Fiddle are excellent as well and have stuck in my mind for years. I fully accept that a good chunk of the music is not easy, or the sort of thing that has people humming as they walk out of the theatre. And I'm not entirely certain they were intended to be. A good portion of the music feels like it's aiming for contemporary classical composition rather than stage musical composition. The sort of thing that gets academics in the classical music world excited while looking down their nose at the work of mainstream composers for movie and stage. But the songs that are directly connected to the hobbits capture the spirit of them very well, on the surface simple and catchy, but with lots of complexity happening within the score. While Howard Shore's musical interpretation of Middle Earth is a masterful body of work and will likely live in most people's minds as the definitive soundtrack, Rahman's songs have a place in that soundscape as well. Sit by the firelight's glow Tell us an old tale we know Tell of adventures strange and rare Never to change, ever to share Stories we tell will cast their spell Now and for always
Saw the show twice when it was in Toronto. The whole thing just fell flat. You can have all the special effects you want, but if we don’t care about the characters, it doesn’t matter. I think the best performance was Michael Therriault as Gollum. He was one of the few Canadian actors who reprised his performance in London. The new production at the Watermill in the UK sounds interesting
I watched the updated version of this at the Watermill last year...One of the best things I've ever seen, and I've seen a bunch being a stage actor myself. This was phenomenal. The instruments are fully implemented, you've got Merry and Pippin running around with a Cello on his shoulder and a mandolin across her back. Some of the harmonies too, chef's kiss. Check out - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-fW5LlaFiat8.html 'Now and for Always' as a taster. I think it's transferring to Chicago...or Toronto...that way anyway
I think the biggest mistake is trying to tell LotR as the musical. Take a part of it and expand it and explore it in the way the stage is most effective. This is gonna be a hot take, but I think the story of just the bobbits in Rings of Power would make the right kind of content for a play.
I have seen some things from the musical on RU-vid and strongly feel it comes across as overwrought. However I also think "Lothlorien" was mind-bogglingly beautiful. My own suspicion is that to tell LOTR on stage needs probably the same approach as THE MAHABARATA or NICHOLAL NICKELBY, coupled with a style that focuses on the imagination of the audience rather than special effects. The audience will go with you on a ride, will see what you see if you see it hard enough, react vividly enough. The audience need not see the Balrog at all, imho.
Can fantasy work on stage? Yes, Shakespeare did it in several plays, and it works well, and can even be performed successfully even by highschool students from a small school in Illinois. (not objective here. My grandchildren were in that production of Midsummer Nights Dream.) A Lord of the Rings musical? No. It calls for grand opera at the very least, and it's hard to imagine even that working. A musical of The Hobbit might work.
One of my biggest impossible wishes is that I could’ve seen the musical when it was running, as I truly do love the soundtrack and the clips I have seen from it. It must’ve been a truly magical experience.
I think bringing the story to the front was a mistake in this case. You can certainly take the Cats-approach and illustrate certain locations and characters in a giant magical revue, with leitmotifs and suggestive acting, but it will never work within a straight-forward narrative logic.
I love the soundtrack. Every once in a while I'll listen to it again. Yesterday though, I stumbled upon a bootleg and I watched up to just after The Cat and the Moon. So far, in my opinion, anything that isn't song and dance is very tedious. I'm not loving Gandalf's choices in acting. I played Gandalf in a play version of The Hobbit, so I have a bias in that regard. There is some narration at the very beginning as well of which I'm not a fan. Too much exposition. I will finish it eventually and hopefully I'll at least enjoy the spectacle.
I think I heard of it (maybe I'm confusing it with a musical Harry Potter) but never saw anything about it. It's production seemed doomed from the get go.
You are in luck i saw it in London but admittedly only remember parts of it i think because of how long it was over 3 hours in them really uncomfortable theatre chairs was hell i imagine this didn't help with people remembering it most adults probably had bad backs by the end the effects was good though
I saw this when I was in England and it was awful. Certainly not even being close the comparing with musicals like Phantom of the Oprea, Les Mis etc. Not even near as good as Grease or Spamalot. Yes the costumes and the "showmanship" was good but as you said, Jess, it was over all confusing and the storyline was terrible. For someone who never read the book or even seen the movies would be totally lost when they saw this musical.
I've also never really agreed with that Tolkien quote. It always seemed to me that the theatrical/cinematic representation is not tertiary, but secondary. When successful it comes before the world the author created. To me it always seemed like Tolkien didn't want to have his world building be replaced by somebody else's wordbuilding (set and production designers). And theatre might even be more equipped to deal with fantasy than movies, because theatre stems from the same oral tradition you've mentioned in other videos. But yeah, LOTR musical was never going to be good. Do you think a Hobbit musical would be better?
I wish I got to see it, even if it was a bit of a mess. The music is gorgeous, but I don't like the guy they chose for Aragorn's voice---too nasal for a King of Gondor.
