9+ hours of movies, three huge Tolkein books compressed into a West End production? Indeed it’s possible and the current show is very well done as well. Last Thursday I managed to see the latest book, turned movie, turned stage production based on JRR Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings. This show is set in three very compressed, though well timed acts, and broken up by two intermissions. It’s filled with entertaining characters, vivid costumes, finished off with a fantastic assortment of sets and visual effects. I especially liked the how-do-they-do-fly-and-glow fireflies at the start and the disapperance of Bilbo Baggins.
Most of the characters were well done though the Dutch-sounding Saruman and the Scottish Boromir sounded out of place on stage. The hobbits really looked the part – even though I’m sure they’re people of normal height, they somehow looked much shorter and stockier in their roles. Gollum, with the hard task of the voice and contortionist requirements did an amazing job playing his role. The Ents towered perfectly over everyone and though the orcs reminded me more of the hyenas out of The Lion King more than anything, still did an okay job.
A fantastic show that you have to see before it ends. It’s not like the books or the movie and is definitely a theatre experience worth seeing.
Hello! I went to see Lord of the Rings on Saturday last, with my husband, and we both loved the show! It was magnificent in our view and we are taking our daughter, her husband and our Grandson back to see it as soon as possible!
The reason I am writing, is that I was utterly outraged by that little man ,Quentin Letts’s critique of the show in today’s paper!
What is the matter with the little squirt? He obviously is not a Tolkien fan, or if he is, has missed the whole point of the stage show! It is of course a theatre spectacle, but so what! Without the exhuberance and skill of the actors and dancers there would not be a show!
The sets were breathtaking, and the orcs, dark riders, the awsome spider, the wraiths, and the rest were all “real” for me, a lifelong fan of Tolkien’s books! I was totally transported into their world, as were the rest of the audience, who I think were as spellbound as we were. There was no coughing, no children muttering or misbehaving, and the whole show for us was well worth the money!
Anyway, I do hope that Quentin Letts and any other critics who denegrate this show, will not stop people from going to see it! Who are critics anyway? Talentless, irritable, resentful little pepes, who haven’t a clue about what the rest of us enjoy!
I tried the official Lord of the Rings Website to register my comments about the show, and my exhasperation with the boy Quentin, but there was not a message board, but I will try to find a way to congratulate the cast and all the crew somehow, and hope that anyone else who sees the show will do the same!
All the Best
Roseanne xxx