Category: theatre

The reviews are in on Lord of the Rings, the musical. Toronto Star critic Richard Ouzounian had an unexpected reaction: “From the morning last March when this city first heard that a stage version of J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic trilogy would be having its world premiere here, some people hoped it would be magnificent, others feared it might be foolish. But no one ever thought it would wind up being dull. Yet somehow that’s the most fitting word”

“Artistically, the stage version makes the movie seem that much more impressive. Neither a straight drama nor a traditional musical, the new production succeeds only as a dazzling spectacle. Even so, you’ll need to bone up on the books just to follow what’s going on, let alone enjoy the ride. Or better yet, get the DVDs, which for all their interminable length demonstrate how material as intractable as Tolkien’s can be made dramatically addictive.”

“The blueprint for the adaptation — a heroic, if misguided, undertaking billed as a hybrid of drama, music and spectacle — is now in place. All it needs is an engaging storytelling approach, an emotional arc, credible performances and a more coherent musical score. In other words, what’s missing from this adaptation is the essence of theatre itself as that divine place for sharing stories and forging emotional connections between the audience and the performers.”

This ambitious effort, writes Ben Brantley, is “a murky, labyrinthine wood from which no one emerges with head unmuddled, eyes unblurred or eardrums unrattled. Everyone and everything winds up lost in this $25 million adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien’s cult-inspiring trilogy of fantasy novels. That includes plot, character and the patience of most ordinary theatergoers.”

“Behold a paradox. “Lord” is now viable on stage because of the popularity of the movies. Yet even at this stunning budgetary level, theater can’t compete with film unless it finds its own, distinctive language. That hasn’t sufficiently happened here. And as a result, the iconography of the show isn’t fresh enough. Yet, at least.”

The mega-production of Lord of the Rings opened in Toronto Thurday night. “The general feeling is that the spectacle overwhelms the story, and that the hybrid musical/non-musical doesn’t really work. It’s not that three-and-a-half hours is too long – some of us are used to sitting through Wagner. It’s that it isn’t enough time to tell the story. Even Peter Jackson needed nine hours of movie time.”

An actress in London’s West End is delivering her lines with synthetic vocal cords. “Who’s Afraid of Virginia’s Sister by Sarah Daniels stars disabled actress Amy Golden in the lead role using a communication aid with a synthesised voice to deliver her lines.”

It’s opening night in Toronto for the CAN$28 million stage production of Lord of the Rings, and seemingly everyone is holding his breath. “LOTR is unusual in being a show that is nearly impossible to define, because it simultaneously is and is not a musical, is and is not a play, is and is not a circus act, is and is not a vast spectacle. It’s a theatrical experience unlike any other. But how it is ultimately defined, by critics and audiences, will go a long way toward determining whether the show runs for one year — or many years.”

David Hare is skipping London and opening his new play in New York. “No fewer than 13 of Sir David’s previous works, including Racing Demon, Pravda and Plenty, have had their premieres at the National Theatre in London. However, Sir David said that his last stint there, for his play Stuff Happens two years ago, was ‘almost the most frustrating experience I have ever had in the theatre’. The National’s way of doing things, he said, was not helpful to playwrights.

Next year, Toronto’s Hummingbird Centre will close for a 20-month renovation, which is expected to revitalize the theatre’s place in the city’s cultural landscape. Which isn’t bad for a building that wasn’t expected to survive at all once its resident opera and ballet companies moved out three years ago.