Movie reviewing is a tough beat, writes Geoff Pevere. “You can fill newspapers with page upon page of global atrocities, injustices and outrages and expect very little by way of indignant outrage expressed by your readers. But suggest they might have been wrong about loving Star Wars? For this you bring down the wrath of the heavens.”
Tag: 03.24.06
Ouzounian: Rings Is Dull
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”
“Rings”: It Makes The Movie Look Better
“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.”
Lord of the Rings” Onstage – Unfinished Business
“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.”
Brantley: “Rings” Is Lost In Space
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.”
“Rings” – It Takes More Than Money To Make Theatre
“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.”
Sarah Caldwell, 82
She was the founding director of the Opera Company of Boston and the first woman to conduct at the Metropolitan Opera. In its glory years Ms. Caldwell’s company was a model of bold, imaginative programming, offering musically insightful productions with distinguished casts.”
A Blend Of Modern And Aboriginal
Australian Ballet and Bangarra Dance Theatre (an aboriginal company) collaborate on a piece. “The traditional Aboriginal element of dance and that kind of spirit that flows through the movement is what makes it so unique, and such an amazing hybrid of old and new…”
George Lucas On America’s Negative Cultural Influence:
“As long as there has been a talking Hollywood, Hollywood has had a huge impact on the rest of the world. There has been a conflict going on for thousands of years between the haves and the have-nots, and now we are in a position for the first time to show the have-nots what they do not have.”
An Early Critical Consensus On “Rings”?
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.”