#1
Posted: 2/5/06 at 1:33am
Ok, I said I was going to do this tomorrow, but I figure i may as well write this while it is all fresh in my mind.
Please keep in mind this was the first show ever, and a preview, so some things may change and others were not working properly. This also may be long as the show lasted five hours...and I may have to do it in parts. Also, forgive the few spelling errors (or many)...it is late.
Overall, as a fan of LOTR, I was pretty happy with this adaptation, though it was too long (but again, that will probably not always be the case) and I'm not sure people will want to pay to see it multiple times. It is neat for the first time, but it is a long show to sit through more than once, and tickets are so overpriced it is also too exensive to sit through more than once.
Walking into the theatre was a cool experience in itself. They have done their best to make the Princess of Wales into Middle earth. A giant ring surrounded by tree branches filles the stage. Branches jutted off the stage and over the boxes. The lights cast shadows over the whole orchestra section, making it look like all the seats were under trees.
The director, Matthew Warchus greeted us and welcomed us to the first performance. He warned us about possible tech problems and told us drinks and food were on them that night (alcohol included) to make up for any problems they may encounter.
ACT ONE:
The entire show remained pretty faithful to the LOTR novels, though it has been trimmed at quite a bit in order to fit into the show.
We began with a voice over and shadows showing us the story of Bilbo and Gollum.
Then we opened at the shire where Gandolf told us about the ring and Sam and Frodo began their quest.
Sam and Frodo sang a song about travelling. However, I must say this is not a musical. Most of the music is in the background, and the songs the characters sing are simple things like lullabies and bar songs. Sam and Frodo weren't singing because they were in a musical, they were singing to past the time on the road.
The stage itself was amazing (though also the reason for many of the tech problems). It not only turned, but it rose in various places, turned into steps, created obstacles, separate parts of it were able to move up and down alone or altogether. I have personally never seen that.
The black riders were also neat. Not sure how to describe them. They were people but were also sort of puppet type things.
I won't describe all of act one, other than to say it is the first novel and is pretty close to the book. (There were three acts, and each was devoted to one of the books).
The end of act one was really neat. (MAJOR SPOILER HERE)
When Gandolf encounters the creature in the pit, this thing rises out of the stage. all of sudden, I felt really cold and realized that the theatre had gotten windy and foggy. Leaves were being blown everywhere as Gandolf disappeared and the act ended. It was really cool, cause you actually felt like you were IN the show. During intermission, I noticed there were large fans all over the theatre hidden in the trees. I had not noticed that before.
Act 2:
My favorite thing in this act were the Orcs. They were on these stilt things that allowed them to jump and flip around on eachother.
Here is where we encountered problems. Towards the end of the act, something went wrong. All of a sudden, everything stopped and the stage director told all the actors to get off stage. They reset everything and went back to the last scene and started again. At the exact same spot everything stopped again and they told us there would be a five minute break.
After almost ten minutes they announced that they would not be doing that scene and the stage manager explained to us all what had happened in that scene.
ACT THREE:
By now, it was after 11pm and everyone was getting restless. Some people had left. Shelob, the giant spider was interesting to see. It was a giant puppet run by about 8 people. There was a neat fight between Sam and the Orcs.
Like I have felt about the books and the movies, this act went on too long. But that is more Tolkein's doing than anyone. They were just being faithful to the book.
Ok, breath and I will talk about the performances themselves.
PERFORMANCES:
I first have to say, the entire cast was amazing. There is really no one I can say who did badly, although at the start they seemed a little unsure of themselves, but quickly gained confidence as the show continued.
Well my favorites had to be Michael Therriault as Gollum and Brent Carver as Gandalf.
Therriault jsut astounded me with his Gollum. I saw him as Bloom in the Producers, and liked him in that, but was slighly unsure about whether or not he could pull off Gollum. But he was perfect. He had so much physicality and energy. He had the voiced and the dual personalities down. Although, he did remind me of the movie version. He was fantastic to watch, though.
Brent Carver was no suprise. Just a great fit as Gandolf. Likeable, wise, strong voice. He was great. The couple songs he sang (mostly songs to soothe others as they were being hunted) sounded beautiful from him.
James Loye's Frodo was also wonderful. He and Peter Howe's Sam made a great pair. Their voices meshed well when they sang together, and their friendship seemed genuine.
Carly Street as Arwen was also fantastic. She has a beautiful voice and seemed very much in love with Aragorn.
Rebecca Jackson Mendoza was a delight as Galdriel. She had such a beautiful and strong voice.
Richard McMillan's Saruman was delightfully evil. However, I had seen him as Scar in the Lion King and had complete faith he could pull off the part. (He also goes to my church.)
Gabriel Burrafato was a great Legolas. He had a very huanting voice.
Evan Buliung was perfect as Aragorn. Nothing else to say about that.
next up, the music.
THE MUSIC:
The music was very Celtic in style. If you know Enya, that is what pretty much the entire show sounded like. Most of the singing was background music in order to add to the feel of the show (kind of like a movie is done). I found it fairly interesting. Some of the songs were quite haunting, others fun. But if you are not a fan of that type of music, it could drive you crazy (just ask my boyfriend).
I still think it is weird that they are planning a cast recording. There is very little singing done one stage, and any that is done is not specifically about that scene, but just about the mood of it (in a bar, a song about drinking for example).
When there was choreography (the bar scene, for example), it was quite interesting and different. I can definately say it was staged very differently from most things I have seen. It was very impressive in terms of dance and movement. It was a culmination of actors, dancers, and acrobats.
I think I liked the show because I liked LOTR. My boyfriend, who had not seen any of the movies or read any of the books was thoroughly confused and board. I spent both intermissions trying to explain what was going on to him. So I'm not sure that people with no LOTR background would be able to get into it.
I also haven't decided if I liked it enough to see it again.
If there is any more people wanna know, just ask. I can't feel my wrists anymore, so I'll stop for now.
Please keep in mind this was the first show ever, and a preview, so some things may change and others were not working properly. This also may be long as the show lasted five hours...and I may have to do it in parts. Also, forgive the few spelling errors (or many)...it is late.
Overall, as a fan of LOTR, I was pretty happy with this adaptation, though it was too long (but again, that will probably not always be the case) and I'm not sure people will want to pay to see it multiple times. It is neat for the first time, but it is a long show to sit through more than once, and tickets are so overpriced it is also too exensive to sit through more than once.
Walking into the theatre was a cool experience in itself. They have done their best to make the Princess of Wales into Middle earth. A giant ring surrounded by tree branches filles the stage. Branches jutted off the stage and over the boxes. The lights cast shadows over the whole orchestra section, making it look like all the seats were under trees.
The director, Matthew Warchus greeted us and welcomed us to the first performance. He warned us about possible tech problems and told us drinks and food were on them that night (alcohol included) to make up for any problems they may encounter.
ACT ONE:
The entire show remained pretty faithful to the LOTR novels, though it has been trimmed at quite a bit in order to fit into the show.
We began with a voice over and shadows showing us the story of Bilbo and Gollum.
Then we opened at the shire where Gandolf told us about the ring and Sam and Frodo began their quest.
Sam and Frodo sang a song about travelling. However, I must say this is not a musical. Most of the music is in the background, and the songs the characters sing are simple things like lullabies and bar songs. Sam and Frodo weren't singing because they were in a musical, they were singing to past the time on the road.
The stage itself was amazing (though also the reason for many of the tech problems). It not only turned, but it rose in various places, turned into steps, created obstacles, separate parts of it were able to move up and down alone or altogether. I have personally never seen that.
The black riders were also neat. Not sure how to describe them. They were people but were also sort of puppet type things.
I won't describe all of act one, other than to say it is the first novel and is pretty close to the book. (There were three acts, and each was devoted to one of the books).
The end of act one was really neat. (MAJOR SPOILER HERE)
When Gandolf encounters the creature in the pit, this thing rises out of the stage. all of sudden, I felt really cold and realized that the theatre had gotten windy and foggy. Leaves were being blown everywhere as Gandolf disappeared and the act ended. It was really cool, cause you actually felt like you were IN the show. During intermission, I noticed there were large fans all over the theatre hidden in the trees. I had not noticed that before.
Act 2:
My favorite thing in this act were the Orcs. They were on these stilt things that allowed them to jump and flip around on eachother.
Here is where we encountered problems. Towards the end of the act, something went wrong. All of a sudden, everything stopped and the stage director told all the actors to get off stage. They reset everything and went back to the last scene and started again. At the exact same spot everything stopped again and they told us there would be a five minute break.
After almost ten minutes they announced that they would not be doing that scene and the stage manager explained to us all what had happened in that scene.
ACT THREE:
By now, it was after 11pm and everyone was getting restless. Some people had left. Shelob, the giant spider was interesting to see. It was a giant puppet run by about 8 people. There was a neat fight between Sam and the Orcs.
Like I have felt about the books and the movies, this act went on too long. But that is more Tolkein's doing than anyone. They were just being faithful to the book.
Ok, breath and I will talk about the performances themselves.
PERFORMANCES:
I first have to say, the entire cast was amazing. There is really no one I can say who did badly, although at the start they seemed a little unsure of themselves, but quickly gained confidence as the show continued.
Well my favorites had to be Michael Therriault as Gollum and Brent Carver as Gandalf.
Therriault jsut astounded me with his Gollum. I saw him as Bloom in the Producers, and liked him in that, but was slighly unsure about whether or not he could pull off Gollum. But he was perfect. He had so much physicality and energy. He had the voiced and the dual personalities down. Although, he did remind me of the movie version. He was fantastic to watch, though.
Brent Carver was no suprise. Just a great fit as Gandolf. Likeable, wise, strong voice. He was great. The couple songs he sang (mostly songs to soothe others as they were being hunted) sounded beautiful from him.
James Loye's Frodo was also wonderful. He and Peter Howe's Sam made a great pair. Their voices meshed well when they sang together, and their friendship seemed genuine.
Carly Street as Arwen was also fantastic. She has a beautiful voice and seemed very much in love with Aragorn.
Rebecca Jackson Mendoza was a delight as Galdriel. She had such a beautiful and strong voice.
Richard McMillan's Saruman was delightfully evil. However, I had seen him as Scar in the Lion King and had complete faith he could pull off the part. (He also goes to my church.)
Gabriel Burrafato was a great Legolas. He had a very huanting voice.
Evan Buliung was perfect as Aragorn. Nothing else to say about that.
next up, the music.
THE MUSIC:
The music was very Celtic in style. If you know Enya, that is what pretty much the entire show sounded like. Most of the singing was background music in order to add to the feel of the show (kind of like a movie is done). I found it fairly interesting. Some of the songs were quite haunting, others fun. But if you are not a fan of that type of music, it could drive you crazy (just ask my boyfriend).
I still think it is weird that they are planning a cast recording. There is very little singing done one stage, and any that is done is not specifically about that scene, but just about the mood of it (in a bar, a song about drinking for example).
When there was choreography (the bar scene, for example), it was quite interesting and different. I can definately say it was staged very differently from most things I have seen. It was very impressive in terms of dance and movement. It was a culmination of actors, dancers, and acrobats.
I think I liked the show because I liked LOTR. My boyfriend, who had not seen any of the movies or read any of the books was thoroughly confused and board. I spent both intermissions trying to explain what was going on to him. So I'm not sure that people with no LOTR background would be able to get into it.
I also haven't decided if I liked it enough to see it again.
If there is any more people wanna know, just ask. I can't feel my wrists anymore, so I'll stop for now.
Updated On: 2/5/06 at 01:33 AM
