Thanks to Grandma’s generosity, on Friday we got to see The Lord of the Rings, the play currently playing at the Princess of Wales Theatre. (For those not in the know, it’s a world premiere of a big-budget musical—based on, yes, the Tolkien trilogy—that is hoped to eventually move on to London and Broadway.)
What did we think? Hot and cold. Lots of interesting bits, but spoiled somewhat by other aspects:
Good stuff:
- Beautiful costumes, and effective lighting and set design (with one exception, in more detail below).
- Lovely, haunting, “un-musical-y” music, much of it by Finnish group Värttinä.
- Most of the performances: James Loye and Peter Howe (hobbits Sam and Frodo) were dramatic standouts; Rebecca Jackson Mendoza (Galadriel the elf queen) a superlative singer. Michael Therriault was an effective, limber Gollum. Surprisingly, veteran actor Brent Carver made a rather unremarkable Gandalf.
- A giant spider operated as an eight-person bunraku puppet. Very low-tech, very stagey, but brilliant.
Not-so-good stuff:
- Orcs. I loved the leg-extending springs that they ran around on, making them taller and more acrobatic, but what was with the crutches attached to their arms? That was copied directly from the hyenas in The Lion King, but anatomically it made no sense here, and ended up making the orcs look like rampaging ski accident victims.
- Book. Meh. Though actually I recognized some of the dialogue as coming straight from Tolkien, so I guess the book problems predate the show a bit!
- Clumsy ending. Right near the end they stuck in a voice-over to get through the last bits, which came across as a lazy way to shoehorn as much exposition as they could in ten minutes.
- Set, specifically the amazingly complicated rotating stage that raises and lowers in about 18 separate pieces. Impressive piece of technology to be sure, but guys: you’re six weeks into previews! Don’t you think you should’ve gotten the major kinks worked out yet? I could take a lot more pure old-fashioned stagecraft than any number of spinning, tilting stages. In our performance the show stopped dead twice because of problems with the stage, most annoyingly during the climactic scene at Mount Doom: instead of Gollum falling and disappearing dramatically into the pit, he was revealed by a half-sunken/half-raised platform, and had to slink offstage directed by a befuddled-looking technician in plain sight. Oops.
The Lord of the Rings is an interesting stage show that contains some thrilling moments, but as a whole theatrical experience it’s not quite there yet. It would be very interesting to see what a total Tolkien virgin would think of the play: Would they understand any of it? Would it be worth their investing three-and-a-half hours in this? Would it have killed the producers to put a plot/character synopsis in the programme?
If you are thinking of seeing they play I have one suggestion: Make sure your seats are not too close to the stage. We were in the second row and much of the Mt. Doom scene was unviewable by us because the set was raised so high (imagine a sheer 10-foot-high wall 5 feet in front of you. You don’t see much of what’s sitting on top). I would recommend getting seats at least a dozen rows back.
I’ve had a good long Sunday-morning catch-up on your blog, Jon. I would really like the recipe for lemon squares so I can some at home. They’re pretty expensive when you buy them.
I should probably see Lord of the Rings since I’m that total Tolkien virgin you’re looking for, having never read the books nor seen any productions. (Well… I read a little, and didn’t care for it one whit.)
A hot tub in the snow?!? I was at a resort in northern Ontario once that had one of those. It was so strange to be hot and wet all over at the same time as the wet hair at one’s neck was turning into ice. Very confusing to the senses, but you sure sleep well afterwards.
Loved the lion picture.
See you all soon, and thanks for all your interesting entries, Jon.
Loris