Lord of the Rings Musical

Official Website

Just went to go see it yesterday at Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto... Let's just say that I'm happy we got 2 $100 tickets for $53.00 total.

Don't get me wrong though - the stage was exploding with talent - the backdrops were astounding, and the music was phenomenal. My major concerns about the show was mainly the casting, and how they twisted around the original story so much.

First of all, Gandalf was not up to par. He could act and sing and dance - but he wasn't Gandalf. He didn't have the presence that he had in either the book or the movie. He seemed too much like somone in thier 40s, rather then an aged and wise wizard known throught middle earth. This was my only major upset with the casting - as for the rest they more or less were acceptable for the part.

As for the music - the instrumentation was excellent - there's something about a live orchestra that can't be beat. During some of the songs, the vocals got a bit muddled, and it was hard to hear some of what they were singing about, but overall it was really well done (Like I said, there was a great deal of talent onstage). Especially within the elvensong - it was beautiful to listen to them sing. My only concern is that I didn't walk away from the theater with one (not a single one!) song in my head - I couldn't remember the lyrics to any of them. Generally - I'll walk out of a theatre singing one of the songs that got stuck in my head (perfect example was RENT. I watched it at home last week, and I'm still singing the songs).

I had anticipated them dropping some stuff to fit the story inside of 3 hours, but they changed the story in parts too I really didn't expect to see the whole story played out in 3 hours (unless they all took massive doses of speed beforehand) - but some of the ways they changed the script just didn't work. Such as:

Spoiler:

The Ents ransacking Helms Deep.

Sam putting on the ring in Mordor, and kicking Orc ass with the help of Smeagol

Battle of Pelenthor fields just didn't happen... Period. Aragorn and co go to Gondor (which is only just assumed), and then immediatly head to the black gates to face off against Sauron.

etc...

Like I said - I'm happy we got such a good deal on the tickets, I wouldn'tve been too happy if I had spent $220 on this show. Not even a standing ovation for them.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Didn't they chancel the show already?

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Not yet - it ends sept. 3rd iirc.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Locke

Spoiler:

The Ents ransacking Helms Deep.

Sam putting on the ring in Mordor, and kicking Orc ass with the help of Smeagol

Spoiler:

Some form of those two items happened in the book. During the Helm's Deep battle, a large group of orcs was swallowed up by the nearby forest, presumably consisting of some form of Ent. And Sam did put on the ring in Mordor and battle his way to Frodo. He did it without Gollum, though... because he'd betrayed them by then.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?