LOTR Premiere Review *SPOILERS WITHIN*

[MissElphie]

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.



Updated On: 2/5/06 at 01:33 AM

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 2/5/06 at 1:38am

Sounds fascinating and bizarre - I'm still not sure why this is being done on stage - it sounds like its not really a musical and not really a cohesive drama - more like the kind of pre-Cecil B. DeMille stage extravaganza's that people like Sarah Bernhardt appeared in in the 1880s.

[Link Larkin Wanabe]

Posted: 2/5/06 at 1:43am

I can't wait to see it. Isn't that revolving set ridiculously enthralling? How were the actors?

Akiva
Updated On: 2/5/06 at 01:43 AM

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 2/5/06 at 1:51am

Thank you MissElphie for your report. I am curious but also for professional reasons trying to keep a distance until I see the show opening night.

Did it start on time at 7:30? And Act three was just beginning at 11 PM??? Shades of CAMELOT's first public performance in Toronto many years ago.

It does sound as if the music is almost incidental to the plot. Were there any songs that advanced the story or detailed the characters?

[MissElphie]

Posted: 2/5/06 at 1:59am

frontrow:
My show was sceduled for 7pm, however they did not open the doors till almost 5 min to. The show started at about ten after or so.

The music is I think there more for mood than anything. I don't think it really advances the plot or characters or anything. When they travel they sing travel songs. When they drink, drinking songs, when they sleep, lullabies. Very few of the songs were directly related to the moment they were being sung at. Does that make sense? Many of them were taken directly from Tolkein's works themselves.

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 2/5/06 at 2:03am

You wrote that the show is 5 hours. Was that a typo?? If not, congratulations for having that much stamina!

[MissElphie]

Posted: 2/5/06 at 2:04am

Not a typo. It was five hours. But that was due to tech problems and stuff. The running time of the show is normally 3 hours 40 mins.

And yeah....it took quite a bit of stamina. I may just have to see it again because I'm not sure sure that by the end I was able to really give it a fair chance. I kinda just wanted to leave.

[EponineThenardier]

Posted: 2/5/06 at 2:06am

I. WANNA. SEE. THIS. SOOO. BADDD.

Awesome review. :) Wish I could have been there.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 2/5/06 at 2:08am

Was the theater packed? Man, I wanna see this show. It sounds like one of those things you just have to see to understand it all. I'm interested to see the reviews it gets and whatnot. Thanks for the review!

[Link Larkin Wanabe]

Posted: 2/5/06 at 2:09am

How was Michael as Gollum, Brent as Gandalf and Carly as Arwen? Micahel is an idol of mine and is SO nice. I bumped into him on the street once and we talked for a while as we walked up Yonge Street, and he was such a gracious performer. Brent is...wel...Brent, and Carly is a friend of lots of people I have worked with. So I am interested in how they fall into their roles.

Akiva

[MissElphie]

Posted: 2/5/06 at 2:10am

The show was sold out. Though, it emptied out a little for act three (the people in my row with younf kids had left), but was still pretty full.

EDIT:
Link: I added about the performances to my review above for you.
Michael was one of my favorites. And Carly was just stunning.
Overall the cast was wonderful. I can't really pick on anyone.


Updated On: 2/5/06 at 02:10 AM

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 2/5/06 at 2:12am

Link, you lazy dweeb, it's IN her review!


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.



Carly Street as Arwen was also fantastic. She has a beautiful voice and seemed very much in love with Aragorn.

Updated On: 2/5/06 at 02:12 AM

[Link Larkin Wanabe]

Posted: 2/5/06 at 2:13am

I swear that wasn't there before when I read it. Please tell me I'm not crazy and you added it later.

Akiva

[MissElphie]

Posted: 2/5/06 at 2:14am

lol. Link, you are not crazy. I took a break and then added it later.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 2/5/06 at 2:15am

Brent...is Brent? what's that mean? Just being nosy.

[SirLiir]

Posted: 2/5/06 at 2:16am

Is this show slated for a run on Broadway? It seems awful long and expensive to run (ouch for ticket prices). Though I of course would love to see it but my question is: would this have commercial success here in NY? The repeat business doesnt seem to be there.
Updated On: 2/5/06 at 02:16 AM

[Link Larkin Wanabe]

Posted: 2/5/06 at 2:16am

He is one of Canada's most brilliant performers, already a Canadian legend, as I'm sure most other Canadians on the board will agree with.

Akiva

[MissElphie]

Posted: 2/5/06 at 2:18am

SirLiir: Toronto has the sole contract for at least one year. It cannot play anywhere else for that time. If it does well here (which even after seeing the show I honestly still can't predict) it may go to Broadway.

And yes, Link. I agree. Brent Carver is a legend here. Updated On: 2/5/06 at 02:18 AM

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 2/5/06 at 2:24am

I third that.

I can't believe tickets are that expensive - well, no one will say you don't get your money's worth in run time!

[Link Larkin Wanabe]

Posted: 2/5/06 at 2:28am

Yeah...I was wondering if there was any cancellation or rush line, because I REALLY can't afford it now. If there were lottery, cacellation or rush it would make my life easier because I could go to theatre between classes and see what cheap(er) seats were available.

Akiva

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 2/5/06 at 2:33am

How much are tickets? I can't see it running on Bway. It seems like Vegas or like Orlando or something would profit from it though.

[everythingtaboo]

Posted: 2/5/06 at 2:38am

I understand that after Toronto, it's going to London into the Dominion Theatre, then Broadway last stop.

It sounds amazing. I couldn't keep my eyes open through the first movie and a half, but the live version may do it for me!

Back to the score, did you feel the AR Rahman influence alot? I love his sound. Also, how many actual "songs" would you say there are, as opposed to the chants and all. Did the program actually list song titles?

Thanks for the review! Great job, you deserve a long night's sleep, I think!

[Matters]

Posted: 2/5/06 at 2:41am

UNENDING SPOLIERS

Ok, I was there too and figured I'd review as well. I didn't read the above review yet since I tend to be easily swayed and want to put down my initail thoughts before reading someone elses, though I'll admit i'm not so good with putting stuff in words. Ok, so it was a very very intersting experience. First we had to wait in the lobby until about 5 to 7 because they were still rehearsing, but when we did get in the theatre it was nothing short of amazing. They took the twisted twig image in the logo and applied it to the whole stage, extending out covering the box seats and ceiling. So basically the entire front portion of the theatre was crawling with twisted branches with a giant circle in the center which resembled the ring. Before the show an array of mysterious white flying lights began to appear onstage, i think they were meant to be fireflies, and that was pretty cool. So then the director talked to us, explained about the open bar (that was great) and finally the show began. Now, in general I would say that show has great potential but it wsa obvious at parts that the two days they cancelled were cancelled with good reason. The opening was effectively portrayed through projection and shadows on the cylindrical scrim representing the one ring. The prologue gave insight into the backstory of The Hobbit and the formation of the rings and all the stuff you'd need to know. Now, the twisted twig image was quite prominent through the whole show. All of Bilbos house was made of a series of bent twigs, including the fire which I thought looked pretty good. I won't give a moment by moment play by play of the whole show because then we'd be here for 5 hours much the audience was. I'll talk about what stood out and such. Now, I think to enjoy this show you need to possess a bit of the following three qualities:
1) Be a LOTR fan
2) Be a theatre lover
3) Be patient

Although the show was amazing it was quite long, but enjoyable long for the most part. They make great use of puppetry and stiltwalking throughout. A series of puppets not unlike those in The Lion King are used, most notable the Dark Riders which are people on stilts controlling the horse heads with sticks (theres probably a better word I failed to know) and the spider. The spider was amazing, it was an enormous puppet that looked to be woven with sticks (effective, trust me) and each of its legs was controlled by a cast member. The cast members often acted as puppeteers or 'elements'. Near the beginning of the first act when Frodo and Sam are traveling they walk around the set a fair deal, weaving in between hooded men holding rather long sticks. I think they were supposed to be all the physical elements the hobbits overcame and in an odd way it worked. Yes, that reminds me. Alot of the show involved people walking in circles with the set moving up and down. Literally, almost 5 minutes at a time of people walking in circles. Ok, i have a lot of thoughts so I guess I'll catagorize them:

THE MUSIC
The music wasn't at all that of a musical, this truely was a play set to music. Few of the songs were in solid english and nearly all the songs flowed into dialogue leaving no room for applause. The best comparison I can think of for the basic style of the music is the survivor theme, it sorta reminded me of that. I personally really liked all the hobbit songs, espically the song I think is called 'There and Back Again' or maybe 'The Stories We Tell' not sure, but anyways its like the hobbit folk song. It has a place at the beginning, middle and end of the show and its peaceful but catchy at the same time. There was only one huge showstopping number which was astounding. It was in the Prancing Pony when they ask Frodo to sing, it was an upbeat folk song and had a great deal of perfectly syncronized dance moves that greatly incorperated the benchs. They all jumped on/off the benchs in unison, rode the benchs like a teeter-tooter...difficult to discribe but suffie it to say that the Prancing Pony song was extremely well done.

THE SET
Ok the set was amazing, no questions. It was like the turntable in Les Mis, only it was cut into pieces like a puzzle almost and each pience could rise above the stage or go below the stage allowing for nearly any setting imaginable. Projections were often used to show sunsets or water or other similar elements.

THE ILLUSIONS
I wasn't sure what else to call this. There was a great deal of stage illusion used throughout the show from little to large. First of all there were the stiltwalkers which I already mentioned. The Act I finale was amazing, they used large wind machines and a dragon made of what I think was once again woven twigs to show Gandalf's 'death'. In conjuction with bright red backlight and thoudans of piences of issue paper resembling leaves blowing violently in the wind this was a truely amazing sight. The scene with the Cate Blanchett elf whose name I can say but not spell (Galadrial.....you know who I mean) was beautiful. They had a rope ladder decend from the top of the stage and the actors climbed up it, and then the ladder descended to make it look like they'd reached the top. It looked good...during the scene when they have the council meeting and are about to form the fellowship, they went into the backstory of Gollum and there was a great sequence where a flying effect was used to show a hobbit swimming, it was unbelieveably realistic looking. They used flying afair bit in this show and the strings wern't all that noticable (I was in row GG and although I could see the strings they went unnoticed). There were great moments where simplicity reigned, using large pieces of fabric or material to shroud the stage for either a set or a transition or pivitol moment (such as the raising of the dead warriors at the end of act II. There were simple illusions like Frodo disappearing which were possibly the most effective in the show because of their unexpectedness and their simplicity. For most of the 'magic' moments they used light. A lot of light in this show used in con juction with the actors moving as though under a spell, it worked. Then there was this great sequence where Sam started attacking Orcs, he cut off their legs, arms and evben decapitated one and the body parts seperated IN FULL VIEW of the audience, it was amazing. That reminds me, I didn't mention the Orcs. The orcs were quite well done, they looked quite scary and really resembled the movie orcs from close up. They all had walking sticks attached to their arms like the animals in the lion king so that they could mov eand do fun jumping stuff. Ok, thats all i can remember for now. Moving on...

THE ACTORS
An intersting catagory. I need to say first that he ensamble was astounding all around, they were really into the show and you could tell. This show could not survive without the ensamble and their devotion and passion was quite evident. Now then about the leads, in my opinion only three of them stood out: REBECCA JACKSON MENDOZA, PETER HOWE and MICHAEL THERRIAULT (I copy/pasted the names from the lotr website in case you were wondering about the caps) who played Galadriel, Sam and Gollum respecitbly. They stole the show. Galadriel had an amazing voice and sang both the ethnic songs prominent in the score as well as a gentle lullaby. She managed to combine intensity with subtlety and her actions were all beautifully controlled. The use of her hands particularily stood out to me. SHe moved her hands with purose, and with grace. She was extremely graceful but was able to maintain the image of a strong grounding force. She took control of her scenes and handled the ring temptation bit quite well. She was beautifully mysterious and made her role seem effortless which is the furthest thing from the truth. Peter Howe who played Sam stood out to me from the beginning. I'm not sure what it was about his performance, but to me he was the most honest onstage. He beautifully captured the kindness of Sam but didn't turn him into a sentimental wimp by any means. In my opinion he had the most well rounded three dimensional character. He found the comedy where appropriate and maintained the caregiving quality that makes Sam the hobbit he is. It could have helped that he was quite short. And finally....MICHAEL TERRIAULT. Honestly, this guy is my hero and probably one of the best actors i've ever seen. I saw him in the Producers and was impressed to no end but his performance tonight left me speechless, my jaw actually fell at his greatness. His interpertation of Gollum took qualities similar to the movie Gollum but also and more importantly made the poor corrupted hobbit a fully developed person. His physicality was astounding, he moved in a way I didn't know was humanly possibly and can't be easily described...basically his legs were sorta turned in and his upperbody moved in a sort of sharp fluid way if that makes sense. He bolted accorss the stage almost like a lizard which was amazing. But what truuely made the performance was Gollum's battle with himself. This scene could easily make or break Gollum because its so dramatic and intense to the point that if performed by the wrong person it would be laughable. It wasn't. It was both heartbreaking and frightening. I can't put into words how brilliant he was, he stole the show, amazing, he should get an oscar. Yes, I know, wrong genre and country but I don't care he should get an oscar because he WAS THAT GOOD. Honestly, see the show just for him. Ok, I should go on with the rest of the cast.
Rosie- Yes, I'm starting with Rosie. I read a while back that she went to my highschool so I was quite interested to see her performance and she made what you'd expect a forgettable cameo role quite memorable and lovable.
Saramun- They took an intersting approach to the White Wizard, he looked, at least to me, like an ancienct chinese warrior guy. Shaved head, slight bead and everything and in an off way it worked really really well and contrasted with Gandalf wonderfully.
Gandalf- Heres the thing, he was alright in act I but then when he came back as Gandalf the White he took a new turn and delivered all his lines really slwly and I thought at times he was struggling to remember his lines. He also seemed quite bored at parts. I wasn't too impressed with Gandy, he seemed quite frail as though he could fall down at any moment. Not the best performance.
Legolas/Gimli/Boromir- They were all good at their roles in all respects but sorta forgettable. All great actors, particularily Boromir, but forgettable.
Arwen- Beautiful voice, great acting, good performance.
*Yes, I'm getting vague but it's almost 2 in the morning, I'll re-edit this with more detail later*
Strider- Good job.
Frodo- Unfortunately I must say that Frodo was not the best. Not to say he was bad, he was quite good at his role but in comparison to Sam who many of his scenes were with, Frodo took the backseat. Prehaps the novelty of the spectacle of the show distracted from Frodo's performance but...I'm not sure. Y'know when you're really familiar with a show and you see it and depending on the actor it can seem like they're either onstage more or onstage less depending on how their performance is? It was like that, Frodo was just there. Not bad in any way but not outstanding. I'll go into more detail after. (Edit: I just realized that a major component of my feelings towards Frodo is the fact that he payed the role sort of cold. He was quite serious and poker faced and failed to find the fun and happy moments for Frodo. Granted, there are few happy moments but they can and do exist. I feel Elijah Wood made a great Frodo since his portrayal of Frodo was that of a happy, content hobbit who was an optimist. The optimism was lost in Stage Frodo whos name I still can't remember, sorry bout that, and he just seemed really one dimensional to me. On top of that, I didn't like how he handled the 'i'm keeping the ring' part at the end. But that whole scene deserves a paragraph of its own)

Ok, thats it for now. I have so much mroe to say hut i'm tired of typing. Any questions, I'd be happy to answer. OH! Wait, we can't forget when the show stopped. That was fun. You see, I was all into act II, it was so good but then the moment died and people got restless....i'll later describe what I found humerous of that situation. Hope I reviewed well.

Updated On: 2/5/06 at 02:41 AM

[everythingtaboo]

Posted: 2/5/06 at 2:46am

Great job, Matters! I'm sure you're exhausted too.

What was the reaction of the audience during the show, did you all get a feel for them? Were they getting into the show? Were they abuzz at the end of the show, or just exhausted. And could you tell if it was a theatre crowd or LOTR crowd?

[Link Larkin Wanabe]

Posted: 2/5/06 at 2:50am

Great, thorough reviews guys. Go to sleep, you deserve it.

Akiva