Spanning 1077 pages in its first, single-volume edition published in the 1960s, JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings is a monumental tale. When Peter Jackson began adapting the fantasy epic for the screen, there was some incredulity at the prospect of doing it justice, even across multiple films.
Imagine, then, distilling the tale into a three-hour stage show. It’s a bonkers idea but that’s what the team behind Lord of the Rings – A Musical Tale have tried to do. And somehow, they’ve largely made it work.
This highly entertaining musical, produced with the cooperation of Middle-earth Enterprises (the official body holding the worldwide rights to Tolkein’s The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit books) starts weaving its magic before the show even begins.
While audience members are filing in and taking their seats, various characters roam the theatre, greeting punters, making jokes, playing tricks, posing for photos and generally making merry.
The merriment in the auditorium imperceptibly morphs into the show itself, which starts off celebrating the ‘eleventy-first’ birthday of Bilbo Baggins (Laurence Coy). At the soirée, Bilbo bequeaths his home and fortune – including the titular ring – to his nephew Frodo (Rarmian Newton).
It soon becomes clear the ring is the fearsomely powerful One Ring of legend, which allows its bearer to enslave all forever. Frodo decides it must be destroyed; he sets out with his friend Samwise (Wern Mak) and cousins Merry (Jeremi Campese) and Pippin (Hannah Buckley) on a dangerous journey to Mt Doom – a place where the Ring’s power can be extinguished.
Succinctly describing the complicated story arc is almost impossible but this is essentially the background against which the action takes place. And what a lot of action there is!
The choreography and fight scenes in this show are spectacular. It’s edge-of-your-seat stuff, perfectly timed.
The sets, special effects, lighting, sounds and puppetry are dazzling.
The costumes less so – more simple and effective than elaborate – but they’re well-made and have a certain charm.
The soundtrack spans folk, pop, rock and worldbeat genres. Happy and uplifting at times, wistful at others, often dark and dramatic, it’s an impressive score. No surprise, considering its pedigree: the composers are the ‘Mozart of Madras’ A.R. Rahman, Finnish world music stars Värttinä and Tony Award-winner Christopher Nightingale.
But the heart and soul of the show is the massive cast of 32, who double up as actors and musicians, bringing both story and music to life. They’re spirited, energetic and work synergistically as a tight, effective team under director Paul Hart and resident director Therèsa Borg.
Each cast member is faultless but highlights include Newton and Mak’s poignant portrayal of friendship; Jemma Rix as the radiant, beneficent Galadriel; a handsome and heroic Rob Mallet as Strider/Aragorn; Stefanie Caccamo with her clear-as-a-bell voice and convincing portrayal of Arwen; and Laurence Boxhall, whose depiction of Gollum simultaneously generates revulsion and empathy for the monstrous character.
While this production has a lot going for it, it does have flaws and is not quite as slick as some of the big-ticket musicals to have recently graced Sydney stages, such as Hamilton.
Read: Musical review: Bearded, Theatre Works
The first ‘half’ is too long (as evidenced by the stream of people taking toilet breaks before the interval) and the second feels a little like a headlong lurch to the finish line.
But considering the source material, the team behind Lord of the Rings – A Musical Tale have done an impressive job bringing this leviathan of a story to the stage.
It’s an unusual production and won’t be to everyone’s tastes but diehard Lord of the Rings fans will generally be delighted – and the creatives have succeeded in distilling Tolkien’s tale into digestible, easy to follow story for the masses.
Lord of the Rings – A Musical Tale
Based on the books by JRR Tolkien
Book and lyrics: Shaun McKenna and Matthew Warchus
Music and original orchestrations: A.R. Rahman, Värttinä and Christopher Nightingale
Lighting Designer: Rory Beaton
Original Sound Designer: Adam Fisher
Projection Designer: George Reeve
Associate Lighting Designer: Will Elphingstone
Australian Associate Lighting Designer: Gavan Swift
Australian Sound Designers: Adam Fisher and Shelly Lee
Australian Associate Projection Designer and Video Programmer: Callum Walker
Ents Co-Arranger and Cultural Consultant: William Barton
Puppet Designer: Charlie Tymms
Original Puppet Direction: Ashleigh Cheadle
Casting Director: Natalie Gilhome
Musical Director: Andrew Bevis
Associate Choreographer: Laura Savage
Resident Director: Therèsa Borg
Resident Choreographer: Nicholas Cunningham
International Associate Director: Christa Harris
Fight and Intimacy Coordinator: Dani McCallum
Magic and Illusions: Adam Mada
Music Technology and Ableton Programming: Phij Adams
Music Supervisor and Orchestrations: Mark Aspinall
Choreographer and Movement Director, Australian Deputy Director: Anjali Mehra
Designer: Simon Kenny
Director: Paul Hart
Cast: Georgia Anderson, Lillian Bennett, Laurence Boxhall, Andrew Broadbent, Hannah Buckley, Stefanie Caccamo, Rohan Campbell, Jeremi Campese, Gianna Cheung, Ruby Clark, Laurence Coy, Terence Crawford, David Cuny, Cameron Davey, Natasha Dumlao, James Frampton, Anthony Garcia, Jonathon Gardner, Emily Hackney, Matt Hourigan, Esther Lukins, Wern Mak, Rob Mallett, Jayme Jo Massoud, Connor Morel, Rarmian Newton, Conor Neylon, Jemma Rix, Patrick Schnur, Ian Stenlake, James Whiting and Zayneb Zerzouri
Tickets: $69 to $189
State Theatre Sydney until 1 February 2025
Thereafter the production tours to Perth (from 19 March), Melbourne (from 26 April) and the Gold Coast (4-20 July)
