“Lord of the Rings” on Stage a Mixed Bag-gins

For those who sated their literary appetite with JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, the Peter Jackson films of the past few years have been treasures. Even those who weren’t fans acknowledged the cinematic value of the opus. Now, a stage version has opened in Toronto, but the reviews are mixed.

Without even opening the novels, a casual observer can tell that the work is an epic -- trilogies can't be much else. Inherently, this is easier to do on screen than on stage. The producers and directors for cinematic works can rely on all sorts of computer enhancement, and there’s loads of room in the great outdoors for crowds of extras (indeed, in Mr. Jackson’s films, people volunteered to be dead orcs laying in a field of mud for a full day of filming a battle scene).

On stage, this is much trickier. Extras have to play multiple roles, and the stage must either have a vast number of sets or must be bare, to let the audience use its imagination. At Toronto’s Prince of Wales theatre, they have opted for the former. As Reuters put it, “The 55-strong cast slipped into 500 costumes and engaged in fight scenes and acrobatics atop a 40-ton, computer-controlled stage floor featuring 17 elevators, which spun and rose amid magic and illusion.” The total cost to put this thing on was C$28 million (US$1=C$1.17). Yet, it wasn’t entirely convincing.

New York Times theatre critic Ben Brantley flew up to Toronto to see it and told his readers, “Everyone and everything winds up lost in this ... adaptation of Tolkien's cult-inspiring trilogy of fantasy novels. That includes plot, character and the patience of most ordinary theatergoers.” Of course, “ordinary” doesn’t describe Tolkien fans – “fanatic” is more accurate in many cases. Over at the Los Angeles Times, Charles McNulty said, “Pity the production can't be judged exclusively on its design, it would be roundly considered a hit.” The show, he thinks, needs cutting. Still, “The good news for investors is that commercially the project will surely pay off.”

However, it fell to the hometown side to get really nasty about the production. The Toronto Globe and Mail’s Kamal Al-Solaylee wrote, “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.” After Toronto, it’s off to the West End next year and then onto Broadway. There are enough Tolkien addicts to make it worth the effort commercially if not artistically.

© Copyright 2006 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

Home