YOU’VE read the book, seen the movies and now the musical – except it isn’t really a musical but a series of spectacular scenes with dialogue and songs.

And spectacular is hardly the word for it – it’s a phantasmagoria of light, action and sound that I, for one, have never seen in the London theatre before.

Drury Lane in its dim, distant past was renowned for its spectacles, the horse race in The Whip, the shipwreck in Glamorous Night and so on… Now it has come back and with a vengeance, the stage revolves – sections of it rise and fall, people appear and disappear as if by magic, there are lighting and other effects which you have to see to appreciate as verbal description would not do them justice.

There are walking, talking trees, elves appearing out of the foliage covering the auditorium boxes and well choreographed kabuki style fights where one side seems to be on springs which makes for impressive action.

Amid all this there is a story trying to get out, one which covers three long novels (four if you count The Hobbit) and now condensed into under three hours.

How does it work? It doesn’t! The authors have done their best and tried to bridge the gaps between scenes with descriptive dialogue but unless you have prior knowledge of the stories it doesn’t really add up or make sense.

But does that matter? No, I don’t really think it does. My companion, who had no idea about Middle Earth and all that there from flows, just sat back and enjoyed it for what it is – a fabulous visual pleasure.

There are, of course, actors amidst the visual glory trying to make their presence felt without, I’m afraid, very much success as the scenario is so episodic. Even with the help of the synopsis in the programme it’s also very difficult to follow.

There were some exceptions; Laura Michelle Kelly makes a very beautiful Lady of the Golden Wood, even if her flights about the stage reminded one of her previous incarnation as Mary Poppins. She sings beautifully and dominates her scenes as the character should.

As Gollum, the one time owner of the ring of power, Michael Therriault twists and turns his body in contortions I would not have thought possible. He is the personification of demonic evil, his hissing voice and physical writhings make him a real denizen of another world.

His entrance, which he makes climbing down the scenery, is breathtaking and he never lets up, maintaining a performance which makes one forget for a moment that this is a human being and an actor, not a demented hobbit.

Gandulf, the good wizard of the piece, is sympathetically portrayed by Malcolm Storry, even if his disappearances and re-appearances seem to belong to “the one jump and I was free” style of scriptwriting.

James Loye, as Frodo Baggins the put upon “hero” of the tales, brought out the boring side of the character but failed to make him the least bit sympathetic, so one never empathised with him or cared where he went or what he got up to.

The rest of the cast filled in the gaps between the spectacle adequately and joined in the action sequences with gusto.

The songs, when they appeared, were very lacklustre and one might just as well have done without them except, I suppose, you can get away with more obfuscation of the plot if you describe it as a Musical rather than a dramatisation of the original.

In a word, this is a wonderful piece of theatre and one the likes of which you may never see again – Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings it ain’t.

Editor’s note: This review relates to a preview performance seen by the reviewer on Thursday, June 14, 2007.

The Lord of the Rings, based on the books of J.R.R.Tolkien.
Book and Lyrics by Shaun McKenna and Matthew Marchus.
Music by A. R. Rahman, Varttina and Christopher Nightingale.
Directed by Matthew Marchus.
Choreographer – Peter Darling.
Set and Costume design – Rob Howell.
Lighting – Paul Pyant.
Sound – Simon Baker (for Autograph).
Moving Image – The Grey Circle.
Special Effects – Gregory Meeh.
Illusions and Magic – Paul Kieve.
Musical Director – Richard Brown.

Presented by Kevin Wallace and Saul Zaentz
Theatre Royal Drury Lane, Catherine Street, London, WC2.
Evenings: 7.30pm/Matinees Thurs & Sat: 2pm
Box Office: 0870 899 1109

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