t took Peter Jackson over eight hours to tell the story of the Lord of the Rings and he left a lot of the books out of his epics. Now in just about three hours you get to see the entire story set to music in the quite lavish Lord of the Rings: A Musical Tale.
Given the scale of the story and the extraordinary high bar set by Jackson I wasn’t sure just how this incarnation would fare. Turns out the secret is to tell the story from the perspective of the hobbits which makes it far more emotional and frankly, fun. Gone are the extremely long battles scenes, extended romantic interludes, and the machinations of most of the humans, and instead there is an intimacy that highlights the strength and goodness of the hobbits juxtaposed against the evil of Sauron and his minions. There are fight sequences but they are very stylised and while giving a sense of action and danger, they are deliberately theatrical which means they don’t overwhelm the story.
The production makes excellent use of puppetry. There horses of the Nazgul are suitably scary and we finally got to see a very realistic Shelob my arachnophobia went into high gear.
The score has a wonderful repertoire songs from a toe tapping pub song through to ethereal calls to action and the deeply tender ballad Now and for Always sung by Frodo and Sam.
The cast are superb and the pairing of Spencer Davis Milford as Frodo and Michael Kurowski a Samwise was perfect. These two are crucial to the story and they have to be believable. Having seen them on stage (and interviewed them before the event), their obvious chemistry and friendship between the two actors provides a solid foundation for the entire show.
There was one character of course who is forever associated with the ring and that is Gollum. He makes a late appearance in the story, but when he does, he is very memorable. Tony Bozzuto played superbly and frankly stole the show with a performance that delivered his mannerisms, voice, and psychotic nature so well well. Bozzuto also managed to get the biggest laughs on the night with his antics and his copy cat imitation of songs he had just heard his hobbit companions signing.
All up, Lord of the Rings: A Musical Tale is a night of wonderful entertainment and very stylish staging.
Watch my interview with the cast:
THE LORD OF THE RINGS – A MUSICAL TALE
6 November – 1 December 2024
Civic Theatre – Auckland