LOTR the Musical
I am TwenteenOne today. As is my brother, Happy Birthday to him.
He is, as matter of fact, one minute younger than myself, and thus eternally in my shadow. Though, in practical terms and much to my dismay, I am eternally under his shadow. I am more dwarf than wizard in stature.
I am currently in the kitchen. Housemate C looks like a gnome. She doesn’t always look like a gnome, she has a towel atop her head.
Down to business… what follows is a short, somewhat derisive, review of The Lord of the Rings musical, which Sylvan Historian and I, along with some other friends, of which, as I’ve said before, we have many, went to see on Oct 31st. I had big realistic expectations. They were dashed. I had an amazing time. No, seriously, I had an AMAZING time.
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Unless you’ve become a hermit the past few years, resolutely boycotting cinemas and steering well clear of all and any bookshops, you’ll be aware of the phenomenon that is Tolkien’s epic trilogy, The Lord of the Rings, you’ll know vaguely, at least, the story.
Successful hermits, I applaud your tenacity. I hope that neither your head-hair nor beard-hair (nor feet-hair if you’re a hobbit) have become infested with small rodents, and concurrently apologise for your undoing through this snippy synopsis:
Fantastical land of Middle Earth. Hobbit [little person] inherits evil ring created by Dark Lord [Sauron].
The task: Hobbit to travel across said fantastical land to destroy ring in a particular volcano before
(a) Hobbit is completely corrupted by ring
OR
(b) Dark Lord snatches it back
If the hobbit fails the repurcussions are dire, all life in said fantastical land is under grave danger.
You’d assume then, Hermit and book-reader/movie-goer alike, that any attempt to adapt Tolkien’s tale would have a vested interest in the development of Frodo – hobbit protagonist – from, to put it crudely, carefree at the beginning to much-burdened at the end.
This is merely one of the things the LOTR Musical appears to have overlooked. There is no emotional journey. Frodo – admittedly played an understudy on the night I saw this production – didn’t seem an iota different from when we first encountered him at Bilbo’s 111st to when he agreed to sail to the West with the Elves.
I’m going to finish this soon! promise xxx
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