I just got into lord of the rings this past week end and have been listening to the Sam and Frodo duet the whole time. It really breaks my heart that this show never got to come back because it honestly looks gorgeous.
...and after 14 years, the revival no one thought possible is happening. watermill theater, summer 2023. whether this will be the final word or the first step to a more successful run, only time and feedback will tell.
And it was absolutely wonderful. Rather than going for spectacle, it was an intimate, interactive performance. It has a charm that the West End production didn't have.
An excellent job, Fangirl! Thank you for taking the time to research and then share your knowledge. The music is beautiful, but I never realized how spectacular the show itself was.
Thank you so much for doing a video on this! I am a long time fan from the US and I’m still so upset I was never able to see the musical. I really hope that it comes back someday even as a live concert!
the music really speaks for itself 💗 my friend went to London when it was playing there and came back with the soundtrack and we were both obsessed with it. I was always shocked it never caught on, it’s one of my absolute favorite musical soundtracks. Sometimes I forget some of the songs weren’t in the movies!
I'm a big fan of this show, though I've never seen it performed live. As both a Tolkien and musical theater fan, this hits all the right buttons for me. Thanks for the background info on the original production. I'm glad the recent revival got good reviews! Regarding the Saruman song, they seem to be singing a creation myth. Eä is the Elvish name for the Universe, Arda is the world, and Ainulindalë is the Music of the Ainur, the song that brought the universe into existence. The other names refer to stars, the moon, and the godlike Valar, as you mentioned, as well as Iluvatar, the creator God of Tolkien's mythology. I agree with your overall assessment though. The song seems to be a reminder to Saruman about his origins and his duties as he slips further into darkness.
One of the speculated reasons the show hasn't come back for a world tour is the untimely death of Producer Saul Zaentz at age 92 in 2014. I'm sure the loss of the producer, and LOTR and Hobbit rights holder for the stage and film productions, passing away was a major reason for it's dissappearance.
Great work! Saw the musical in London in 2008. Amazing! Being finnish I really enjoyed the elvish lyrics. There are some finnish elements there. And I recommend to listen to Värttinä who composed some of the best songs in LOTR musical.
This is honestly the first place on the internet where I've found positive reception for the LOTR musical. I've never actually watched the musical but, Dear Eru, I have fallen in love with the soundtrack. And the clips that I have seen on youtube are just straight up gorgeous! I don't know what went wrong. ( I mean, besides the accident). But people in general that I've talked to in real life and online generally have a negative reception of the musical. Maybe it was too ambitious for its scope and just couldn't live up to expectations. Or in my opinion, this is one of those cases were the whole is not greater than the sum of its parts. Not all of it might be great but parts of it were spectacular.
As someone who saw the London version, here is my take: Basically it had the same issues as the Cloud Atlas movie: Ambition and scale. Individual parts were great like Frodo and Sam, the soundtrack, Gollum, the Ringwraiths, the set design, Shelob, Galadriel, the orcs etc. But it just didn't all work together. Keep in mind that this was trying to condense the entire trilogy, which took about 9hrs at its shortest run in film, into a 3hr play. And it was ambitious as hell! We had battle scenes, stunt work, wire work, stiltwalking, enormous puppets, rotating stages, a massive cast, a full orchestra, it was a huge production, and one of the most expensive shows ever put on at the West End. But early reviews sadly were mixed at best, and it fell into the same problem as the Spiderman musical, where it would need to sell out every show daily for months on end just to break even. Also some bits just weren't that good. The Balrog was awful, just a big tattered cloth with a vague impression of a screaming face, the ents were rather underwhelming as basically just green guys with big beards on stilts, and I wasn't a huge fan of their actor for Aragorn. Still, it is being revived for an immersive theatre show in Berkshire later this year, so maybe it'll experience a revival in interest!
I remember my own skepticism about this musical. But in the last week or so I finally got to hear some of the music and see clips of the show. Color me gobsmacked and deeply sorry I have not seen this amazing show. Thank you for this video.
Watching this video in 2024. Sadly wasn’t able to see the musical ages ago. I am obsessed w the songs lothlorien and wonder. Currently there is a musical happening in Chicago but the production isn’t the same as the og but songs are the same.. if they come to New York, I’d give it a chance.
Glad this popped up in my recommends. I saw this musical in London and it was, in all honesty, the best experience I've ever had in the theatre. It totally blew me away! Hard to explain unless you've seen it, but it had literally everything - it was just incredible! And I still listen to the music fairly regularly. Tragic it never returned, it was a pure work of art.
The order and naming of the tracks on the soundtrack is a bit misleading. I think it was organised that way to make a more cohesive album, but it isn't how scenes played out on stage. For example: 'The Siege of the City of Kings' (no idea why this is the name chosen on the soundtrack - internally it was referred to as 'Boromir / Orc Attack') is when Saruman's army attacks after Lothlorien, kills Boromir and kidnap Merry & Pippin (hence the reprise of Saruman's theme to reflect it being under his orders). This is then followed by 'Lasto I Lamath' (sung by Arwen) as Boromir's wake while Aragorn mourns. I'd guess it was changed to be the prologue on the album so that we didn't just jump straight in with 'The Road Goes On', but it does mean they cut the 'Springle Ring' which is a great piece of instrumental music that all the hobbits danced to as a pre-show.
Amazingly well done. Nothing anything of us does is ever perfect, but, I'd have to give you top grades for this commentary. Having said that I'll add a few thoughts..though not in order. Gimli, is singing with Gandalf in the caves of Moria, lamenting the loss of the glory of Khazad-Dum. Seems appropriate that Gandalf would be able to sing with Gimli the wizard having an idea of the place at its peak and its being a tomb now. The Cat and the Moon is what put me off from seeing the production. Critics writing about the musical focused only on this one scene stating something to the effect ["The whole production was largely about "tap dancing hobbits" with no story just silly buffoonery to make you half laugh."] There were videos about the flight to the ford. The strong vocals at the end came at the time the waters guarding Rivendell washed the Nazgul away. There were several reworking of Varttina's music. Toronto had a better more extended version as the fellowship entered the golden wood. With the effort to shorten the length of the production no doubt it was...shrunk. I can't say enough good about Lothlorien. I still weep at times hearing Laura, the choir and orchestra. ..I can't find a reference, but I think, Wonder was inspired by both Galadriel facing the test of taking the ring/sacrificing Lothlorien and the preservation of high eleven magic in Middle Earth, but also her lament to Varda in the book.
Thank you for covering this! More people absolutely need to know about this ambitious and gorgeous show! I agree with you everywhere except for the Gollum/Smeagoln crossover - that's one of my favorites 🤣 I would love a world tour of this one day -- fingers crossed 🤞🤞
I’ve loved this musical since I found out about it way back then. I think the same comment came back often, the text was flat lining. I think if a revival was to be done, they should rewrite all of the music and make it a Les Mis situation where it’s sung-through. I believe in such and epic proportion of a story, a fully sung musical would help the story advance easier, especially that the setting keeps on changing. As much as I love Galadriel, and as important as her character was in the books, I believe for the purpose of the musical I’d reel her back just a bit and give more important to Gandalf and Aragorn who both make the story advance. I’d do less instrumental moments as well. I don’t know, I feel like so many songs in this musical, although beautiful, are disjointed from the story, so we go nowhere with them.
I'm trying to get that musical! A trilogy that has become a musical! who does not want to see one! saw the first movie as a 10 year old even though my mom forbade me to watch it until I turned 14.
Have managed to find musical both CD and DVD, although there were pictures with music on DVD, but it was good, I still liked the CD the best! WONDERFUL music!
loved this video - your analysis and overview was wonderful! i found the lotr musical because i was a huge fan of laura michelle kelly. she sounds even more amazing in person when i saw her on broadway.
I was lucky see this on my trip to London 2007. The production was beautiful and had many clever tricks to portray the different settings etc. The music was also very good and roles mostly well cast. My big problem was the text. I don't know how much of Tolkien's own lines were in the Canadian version but in London the text was very flat. As they had to cut half an hour from the show they probably just simplified the text. It is unfortunate as every time they statrted to speak, the mood fell. Despite that Lord of the Rings still remains one of the most memorable musicals I've seen.
stories we tell will cast their spell, now and for always...
ua-cam.com/video/suL8eUXyMx0/v-deo.html
I just got into lord of the rings this past week end and have been listening to the Sam and Frodo duet the whole time. It really breaks my heart that this show never got to come back because it honestly looks gorgeous.
...and after 14 years, the revival no one thought possible is happening.
watermill theater, summer 2023.
whether this will be the final word or the first step to a more successful run, only time and feedback will tell.
We at least deserve a full-length album.
And it was absolutely wonderful. Rather than going for spectacle, it was an intimate, interactive performance. It has a charm that the West End production didn't have.
The musical is coming to Chicago this summer!!
An excellent job, Fangirl! Thank you for taking the time to research and then share your knowledge. The music is beautiful, but I never realized how spectacular the show itself was.
Over the years this has become one of my favorite musicals!
Thank you so much for doing a video on this! I am a long time fan from the US and I’m still so upset I was never able to see the musical. I really hope that it comes back someday even as a live concert!
Thank you for this! I really wish I could see this musical.. I am in love with the soundtrack. ❤️
Thank you for literally being the only person who gives a shit to make a single video about this musical because it NEEDS to be spoken out!
the music really speaks for itself 💗 my friend went to London when it was playing there and came back with the soundtrack and we were both obsessed with it. I was always shocked it never caught on, it’s one of my absolute favorite musical soundtracks. Sometimes I forget some of the songs weren’t in the movies!
I'm a big fan of this show, though I've never seen it performed live. As both a Tolkien and musical theater fan, this hits all the right buttons for me. Thanks for the background info on the original production. I'm glad the recent revival got good reviews!
Regarding the Saruman song, they seem to be singing a creation myth. Eä is the Elvish name for the Universe, Arda is the world, and Ainulindalë is the Music of the Ainur, the song that brought the universe into existence. The other names refer to stars, the moon, and the godlike Valar, as you mentioned, as well as Iluvatar, the creator God of Tolkien's mythology. I agree with your overall assessment though. The song seems to be a reminder to Saruman about his origins and his duties as he slips further into darkness.
One of the speculated reasons the show hasn't come back for a world tour is the untimely death of Producer Saul Zaentz at age 92 in 2014. I'm sure the loss of the producer, and LOTR and Hobbit rights holder for the stage and film productions, passing away was a major reason for it's dissappearance.
Great work! Saw the musical in London in 2008. Amazing! Being finnish I really enjoyed the elvish lyrics. There are some finnish elements there. And I recommend to listen to Värttinä who composed some of the best songs in LOTR musical.
This is honestly the first place on the internet where I've found positive reception for the LOTR musical. I've never actually watched the musical but, Dear Eru, I have fallen in love with the soundtrack. And the clips that I have seen on youtube are just straight up gorgeous! I don't know what went wrong. ( I mean, besides the accident). But people in general that I've talked to in real life and online generally have a negative reception of the musical. Maybe it was too ambitious for its scope and just couldn't live up to expectations. Or in my opinion, this is one of those cases were the whole is not greater than the sum of its parts. Not all of it might be great but parts of it were spectacular.
As someone who saw the London version, here is my take:
Basically it had the same issues as the Cloud Atlas movie: Ambition and scale. Individual parts were great like Frodo and Sam, the soundtrack, Gollum, the Ringwraiths, the set design, Shelob, Galadriel, the orcs etc. But it just didn't all work together. Keep in mind that this was trying to condense the entire trilogy, which took about 9hrs at its shortest run in film, into a 3hr play.
And it was ambitious as hell! We had battle scenes, stunt work, wire work, stiltwalking, enormous puppets, rotating stages, a massive cast, a full orchestra, it was a huge production, and one of the most expensive shows ever put on at the West End. But early reviews sadly were mixed at best, and it fell into the same problem as the Spiderman musical, where it would need to sell out every show daily for months on end just to break even.
Also some bits just weren't that good. The Balrog was awful, just a big tattered cloth with a vague impression of a screaming face, the ents were rather underwhelming as basically just green guys with big beards on stilts, and I wasn't a huge fan of their actor for Aragorn.
Still, it is being revived for an immersive theatre show in Berkshire later this year, so maybe it'll experience a revival in interest!
I remember my own skepticism about this musical. But in the last week or so I finally got to hear some of the music and see clips of the show. Color me gobsmacked and deeply sorry I have not seen this amazing show. Thank you for this video.
Watching this video in 2024. Sadly wasn’t able to see the musical ages ago. I am obsessed w the songs lothlorien and wonder. Currently there is a musical happening in Chicago but the production isn’t the same as the og but songs are the same.. if they come to New York, I’d give it a chance.
great recap and great video. Wish I could've seen this musical live too
Glad this popped up in my recommends. I saw this musical in London and it was, in all honesty, the best experience I've ever had in the theatre. It totally blew me away! Hard to explain unless you've seen it, but it had literally everything - it was just incredible! And I still listen to the music fairly regularly. Tragic it never returned, it was a pure work of art.
The order and naming of the tracks on the soundtrack is a bit misleading. I think it was organised that way to make a more cohesive album, but it isn't how scenes played out on stage.
For example: 'The Siege of the City of Kings' (no idea why this is the name chosen on the soundtrack - internally it was referred to as 'Boromir / Orc Attack') is when Saruman's army attacks after Lothlorien, kills Boromir and kidnap Merry & Pippin (hence the reprise of Saruman's theme to reflect it being under his orders). This is then followed by 'Lasto I Lamath' (sung by Arwen) as Boromir's wake while Aragorn mourns. I'd guess it was changed to be the prologue on the album so that we didn't just jump straight in with 'The Road Goes On', but it does mean they cut the 'Springle Ring' which is a great piece of instrumental music that all the hobbits danced to as a pre-show.
Amazingly well done. Nothing anything of us does is ever perfect, but, I'd have to give you top grades for this commentary. Having said that I'll add a few thoughts..though not in order.
Gimli, is singing with Gandalf in the caves of Moria, lamenting the loss of the glory of Khazad-Dum. Seems appropriate that Gandalf would be able to sing with Gimli the wizard having an idea of the place at its peak and its being a tomb now. The Cat and the Moon is what put me off from seeing the production. Critics writing about the musical focused only on this one scene stating something to the effect ["The whole production was largely about "tap dancing hobbits" with no story just silly buffoonery to make you half laugh."] There were videos about the flight to the ford. The strong vocals at the end came at the time the waters guarding Rivendell washed the Nazgul away. There were several reworking of Varttina's music. Toronto had a better more extended version as the fellowship entered the golden wood. With the effort to shorten the length of the production no doubt it was...shrunk. I can't say enough good about Lothlorien. I still weep at times hearing Laura, the choir and orchestra. ..I can't find a reference, but I think, Wonder was inspired by both Galadriel facing the test of taking the ring/sacrificing Lothlorien and the preservation of high eleven magic in Middle Earth, but also her lament to Varda in the book.
thank you for this video! glad to see someone talk about it with love
Thank you for covering this! More people absolutely need to know about this ambitious and gorgeous show! I agree with you everywhere except for the Gollum/Smeagoln crossover - that's one of my favorites 🤣 I would love a world tour of this one day -- fingers crossed 🤞🤞
I’ve loved this musical since I found out about it way back then. I think the same comment came back often, the text was flat lining.
I think if a revival was to be done, they should rewrite all of the music and make it a Les Mis situation where it’s sung-through. I believe in such and epic proportion of a story, a fully sung musical would help the story advance easier, especially that the setting keeps on changing. As much as I love Galadriel, and as important as her character was in the books, I believe for the purpose of the musical I’d reel her back just a bit and give more important to Gandalf and Aragorn who both make the story advance. I’d do less instrumental moments as well. I don’t know, I feel like so many songs in this musical, although beautiful, are disjointed from the story, so we go nowhere with them.
I'm trying to get that musical! A trilogy that has become a musical! who does not want to see one! saw the first movie as a 10 year old even though my mom forbade me to watch it until I turned 14.
Have managed to find musical both CD and DVD, although there were pictures with music on DVD, but it was good, I still liked the CD the best! WONDERFUL music!
loved this video - your analysis and overview was wonderful! i found the lotr musical because i was a huge fan of laura michelle kelly. she sounds even more amazing in person when i saw her on broadway.
I was lucky see this on my trip to London 2007. The production was beautiful and had many clever tricks to portray the different settings etc. The music was also very good and roles mostly well cast. My big problem was the text. I don't know how much of Tolkien's own lines were in the Canadian version but in London the text was very flat. As they had to cut half an hour from the show they probably just simplified the text. It is unfortunate as every time they statrted to speak, the mood fell. Despite that Lord of the Rings still remains one of the most memorable musicals I've seen.