Well Frodo, we’re not in The Shire anymore.
Sydney is in for a great big year of musical theatre, and it’s already off to an epic start with the Australian debut of The Lord of the Rings - A Musical Tale, which seeks to bring the Middle-earth of J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic fantasy series to the State Theatre for one month to rule them all (cough cough) before embarking on a national tour. This tour commemorates the 70th anniversary of The Fellowship of the Ring hitting the shelves in 1954, which is of course the first book of the trilogy that inspired Peter Jackson’s blockbuster films in the early 2000s.
For elder Millennials like me, the franchise conjures memories of a simpler time: a time when movies were treated more like a coveted form of storytelling rather than just another option in an endless barrage of ‘content’ to ‘stream’. A time when I would go to the local cinema to watch each new instalment in the adventures of my favourite beardy boys club with my dad, who even loaded my sister and I into the car for a day trip to Sydney to check out an epic exhibition about how those epic movies were made across the ditch in New Zealand. (So many used prosthetics! So cool!) I believe that there’s elements of LOTR lore that are so inescapable that you need not have watched the movies or read the books to get it. (Am I right, Preciousss?)
There have been several attempts to realise the story of Frodo and the One Ring on stage, as musical theatre fanatics and Tolkien die-hards have put their heads together over the years. Filled with folk-like music, this fabled adaptation by Shaun McKenna and Matthew Marchus is the most prominent production there is, but that’s not to say it comes without baggage – it has also gone down as “one of the biggest commercial flops in West End history”. There have been several rewrites since then, and it’s even gathered some acclaim. But the question remains – did they bite off more than they could chew? Armed with an enthusiastic ensemble of 32 actor-musicians overseen by resident director Therèsa Borg, the Australian team sets out to make the most of an unsteady foundation.
...flowers are especially due for rising star Laurence Boxhall’s scene-stealing turn as Gollum.
Each performer is terrific, and we are welcomed into the theatre by a throng of lively Hobbits making merriment on and off the stage, even weaving into the audience (a precursor to more immersive theatre to come). It’s also always special to see actor-musicians intermittently picking up instruments throughout the performance and playing them beautifully; from guitar, to harp, to piano accordion (even if the rather modern appearance of those instruments is a bit disruptive to any efforts to suspend your disbelief and buy into the magical, medieval-lite world).
Honourable mentions must be made for the reverent and cunningly camp way that Terence Crawford wields the staff of wizardly authority as Gandalf, and flowers are especially due for rising star Laurence Boxhall’s scene-stealing turn as Gollum. This corrupted creature does not emerge until after the intermission, but the combination of Boxhall’s spindly, hairless-cat-like physicality (complimentary) and masterful way of maintaining Gollum’s distinctive style of speech (even whilst singing!) is worth the wait.
There are also some interesting choices happening with the staging; washes and flashes of coloured lights combine with eccentric puppetry and bonkers set pieces to completely alter the mood and take us into new realms of Middle-earth – a giant sheet is able to take on the form of the fiery beast who Gandalf shall not let pass, and there’s also some fun with a certain giant spider later on. The choreography of battle scenes can get quite exciting too, especially when there’s an ensemble of more than 30 people to share the action. However (and maybe this is just me) something doesn’t quite sit right about a troupe of petite orcs in hooded helmets leaping about as they perform jazzy fight choreo, á la the teen gangs of West Side Story.
Elsewhere, the script doesn’t give us much to ground ourselves in (neither the actors, or the audience). The entire Fellowship of the Ring trilogy has been incorporated into one show, with all of the complexities of Middle-earth and its various inhabitants compressed and whittled down to fit – so even though the musical runs at a lengthy two hours and fifty-five minutes, the pacing is often frenetic, and transitions are abrupt. A lot of the dialogue comes across like an auto-generated copy-paste job of memorable lines from the movies, but it’s delivered by shallowly-developed personas that loosely resemble the characters that live in our collective pop-culture consciousness.
The score is elaborate, evocative, and often very pretty. However, the songs themselves are not particularly memorable, and don’t go far to meaningfully further the story.
The entire journey of The Lord of the Rings is an incredibly ambitious thing to translate in this way, and musical theatre is a delicate form that can easily be mishandled. The result is a shallow tribute to LOTR that takes itself very seriously, but also doesn’t entirely do justice to musical theatre as an artform. So the question arises: who is this for? Sure, the commercial incentive to produce a show tied to a franchise that is already well known and loved is obvious (it’s the same reason we seemingly can’t go a day without Lego releasing another pricey Harry Potter-inspired kit). But there’s a thin line between boarding the nostalgia train and the risk of oversaturating the market (rumours are that viewership numbers are dwindling for the second season of Amazon’s costly new series set in Middle-earth).
...there are some unexpected moments of tenderness towards the tail-end of the show that truly shine.
A Musical Tale feels like a missed opportunity to tell a different story set in the same fictional universe – think of the runaway success of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, or Beetlejuice the Musical, which is about to make its hotly anticipated Aussie debut. Or, to go all-in with what could be a brilliantly silly musical parody – just look at the global voyage of Titanique, whose maiden Australian voyage will continue to nudge-nudge and wink-wink in Sydney for months to come.
Softer, romantic moments between characters like Aragorn/Strider (Rob Mallett, Elvis: A Musical Revolution) and Arwen (Stefanie Caccamo, Well Behaved Women) are not exactly easy to get emotionally invested in, for example. Actually, Aragorn’s Elvish lady love largely serves the same function as her blonde counterpart here, Galadriel (Jemma Rix, aka Australia’s favourite Elphaba, and Elsa in Disney Theatrical’s Frozen); to randomly appear off to the side of the real action, crooning an alluring ballad of support from afar, cheering on the mens’ quest.
Naturally, Rix’s performance is charged with her leading lady charm. However, the costuming lets her down. Look, I’m a big fan of an all-in-one pantsuit, but her sleek, gold-embellished ensemble appears sort of understated amongst all of the spectacle. A goddess like Galadriel demands a big, impactful, flowing gown; especially when Cate Blanchett’s ethereal portrayal of the character in the films is so iconic. (Speaking of the legendary Aussie actors from the film franchise, STC regular Hugo Weaving wasn’t spotted in the opening night crowd, having stated in a recent interview that he has “absolutely no desires” to reprise the role of Elrond.) While we’re on the topic of the representation of women in Middle-earth, the character with the most empowering line in the entire film trilogy (“I am no man!”), Éowyn is omitted altogether.
Meanwhile, there are some unexpected moments of tenderness towards the tail-end of the show that truly shine. This includes the enemies-to-friends dynamic that crops up between Dwarf of the House of Durin, Gimli (Connor Morel), and Elf of the Woodland Realm, Legolas (Conor Neylon). (A neutral side note: in this production, Legolas more closely resembles young Elrond from the current Rings of Power television series than the blonde-locked young Orlando Bloom of the movies.) And by the time Rarmian Newton (playing Frodo Baggins) and Wern Mak (as Samwise Gamgee) act out their final scene together, there are a lot of tears in the room – their pure besties dynamic could rival that shared by Wicked’s core frenemies. That’s not to be outshone by the magnetism on show between Sméagol and Gollum (who are, yes, two personalities battling it out in the mind of one emaciated former Hobbit).
I’d argue that it’s the quality moments like those aforementioned that are the most frustrating of all when it comes to The Lord of the Rings - A Musical Tale; because they make it impossible to write off the entire thing. So choose your own adventure, just be sure to pack some snacks for the road ahead.
The Lord of the Rings – A Musical Tale is presented in Australia by Kevin Wallace Productions, GWB Entertainment, Middle-earth Enterprises, Tim McFarlane, KHAM Inc, People Entertainment Group, The Watermill Theatre and Chicago Shakespeare Theater. It is playing at Sydney’s State Theatre from January 7 – February 1, 2025. Tickets start at $69 and you can find those and more over here.
