The Lord of the Rings review: an enchanting musical at Watermill Theatre
Playful and energetic, this Tolkien tale contains moments of real wonder
When it came to the West End in 2007, “The Lord of the Rings” was a “notorious flop”, said Dominic Cavendish in The Daily Telegraph. A spectacular mega-musical, incorporating folk, Bollywood influences and pop, it had cost a record-breaking £12.5m to stage, at the 2,000- seat Theatre Royal Drury Lane, and closed after 13 months. So this “enchantingly intimate”, scaled-down staging at the lovely Watermill Theatre, outside Newbury, is a form of redemption for the show.
Directed by Paul Hart, it draws in its audience with magnificent “clarity and verve”, said Judi Herman on What’s On Stage. Breathtaking set and costume design; shrewd lighting; thrilling sound, projection and choreography; inventive puppetry and fight direction – all these elements have been blended “seamlessly and with wondrous imagination to tell the sweeping tale in little more than three hours”.
Controversially, this delightful theatre lost its entire Arts Council funding last year, said Clive Davis in The Times. Here, it “weaves magic on a budget that might not even cover a month’s sandwiches on a Peter Jackson film set”. Hart makes impressive use of the Watermill’s unique spaces, said Dave Fargnoli in The Stage. The performance begins outdoors on the venue’s riverside lawns, with “cheerful hobbits capering and singing as they gather for the long-awaited party at which a fateful secret will be revealed”. Later, the action “plays out among the atmospheric wooden beams and benches of the intimate auditorium”. The evening is not flawless: it is an “overstuffed” musical that remains clunky in places, and non-Tolkien aficionados might struggle. But it’s playful and energetic, and contains moments of real wonder.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The 20-strong cast, many of them actor-musicians, are superb, said Mark Lawson in The Guardian. In particular, with his extraordinary ability to contort both his torso and his vocal cords, Matthew Bugg as Gollum “makes a formidable case for the superiority of Equity members over CGI”. This “spectacle of compression, by aiming small, brings big rewards”.
The Watermill Theatre, Bagnor, Berkshire (01635-46044; watermill.org.uk). Until 15 October. Rating ****
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Political cartoons for October 25Cartoons Saturday’s political cartoons include hospital bill trauma, Independence Day, and more
-
Roasted squash and apple soup recipeThe Week Recommends Autumnal soup is full of warming and hearty flavours
-
Ukraine: Donald Trump pivots againIn the Spotlight US president apparently warned Volodymyr Zelenskyy to accept Vladimir Putin’s terms or face destruction during fractious face-to-face
-
Roasted squash and apple soup recipeThe Week Recommends Autumnal soup is full of warming and hearty flavours
-
6 well-crafted log homesFeature Featuring a floor-to-ceiling rock fireplace in Montana and a Tulikivi stove in New York
-
Film reviews: A House of Dynamite, After the Hunt, and It Was Just an AccidentFeature A nuclear missile bears down on a U.S. city, a sexual misconduct allegation rocks an elite university campus, and a victim of government terror pursues vengeance
-
Book reviews: ‘Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife’ and ‘Make Me Commissioner: I Know What’s Wrong With Baseball and How to Fix It’Feature Gertrude Stein’s untold story and Jane Leavy’s playbook on how to save baseball
-
Rachel Ruysch: Nature Into ArtFeature Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, through Dec. 7
-
Music reviews: Olivia Dean, Madi Diaz, and Hannah FrancesFeature “The Art of Loving,” “Fatal Optimist,” and “Nested in Tangles”
-
Gilbert King’s 6 favorite books about the search for justiceFeature The journalist recommends works by Bryan Stevenson, David Grann, and more
-
Ready for the apocalypseFeature As anxiety rises about the state of the world, the ranks of preppers are growing—and changing.