I certainly have a not-so-secret indulgence for musicals, but I’m quite picky (some might say snobby) about the ones I like. I tend to be more affected by ones that are small and intimate, rather than relying on flashy effects to make up for their mediocrity (here’s looking at you Wicked). In spite of this, the comments surrounding this piece were intriguing, so my brother and I made a visit to Drury Lane’s reconstruction of Middle Earth with £20 front row centre day seats. I’ve only seen the first film and not read any of the books, while he’s seen all three films and read the first book, so we’re not exactly experts on all things Tolkien.
First of all, in visual opulence, I’ve never seen anything like it. It practically makes Wicked look like some kind of third rate provincial pantomine. Galadrial’s entrance in the golden forest is spectacular indeed, and the trees (my particular favourite) are magnificent.
However- the music. It goes in one ear and out the other, and the lyrics are pretty trite (the ones I could make out, anyway). Perhaps it’s intentional so that they’ll be nice and easy to translate when it hits Europe. The elf queens were the only cast members who could really sing, everyone else was very ropey indeed. The strange thing about the music is that doesn’t do anything to move the story along or develop the characters at all. It’s seems to all be about creating mood and atmosphere. I found that quite an odd decision in a show that’s the height of modernity in every other way as it reminds me of the musical comedies of the 20s and 30s where the music is a diversion. That doesn’t really matter in bits of entertaining fluff, but in an epic piece like this with so many intricacies and sub-plots, it kind of does. I can’t comment on how good an adaptation it was, and I expect it’s caused the Tolkien purists to have the kinds of hissy fits I had over Pride and Prejudice 2005, but my brother said it covered most of the main points, which is only realistic in the limited time available.
We had three understudies in lead roles (Frodo, Sam and Galadrial), but I can’t honestly imagine that it makes a great deal of difference as characterization isn’t exactly this piece’s strongest point. I thought Gollum was excellent and Arwen had a very pretty voice. However, as far as I’m concerned, it’s the ensemble who are the true stars. They really are phenomenal in the way that they have to sing, dance and do all kinds of gymnastics and acrobatics. It’s not a job for the faint hearted and they do it brilliantly. I’d say it’s worth seeing it for them and the choreography alone. The choreography is where the real storytelling is. I could have quite happily watched an entirely danced through version, that would have been quite something.
It’s amazing to look at, the hobbits are cute and bouncy and the orks perfectly menacing. It’s certainly an Experience. It’s just a pity about the music. It’ll be interesting to see how another epic, Gone With The Wind measures up… to be continued!
(This review refers to a performance that took place on March 31st 2008 )
