Friday, March 24, 2006

LOTR--the musical

i didn't realize the official opening night was only last night. i read a lot of the reviews that were published today and most critics don't seem to be too wowed by it. my family watched it a couple of weekends ago... personally, i enjoyed myself. i mean, the production had its ups and downs... i was visually very impressed, but the story adaptation didn't sit too well with me, and the character development was a bit lacking. but honestly, what else can we expect from a production that tries to fit the LOTR storyline into a measly 3+ hours when the movies can't even get it right in 10 hours? overall, it was better than i anticipated. and i did have my doubts. no avid LOTR fan wouldn't be skeptical of a musical adaptation! if you thought gollum was amazing in the movies, you should see gollum in theatre... absolutely brilliant. the stage, the lighting, the special effects, all the visual stuff was brilliant. the music wasn't a huge highlight of mine but i was pleasantly surprised at how well it worked with the story. the characters, though... aragorn and arwen, for example. their love story didn't convince me in the least bit. and there was no room for the faramir-eowyn love story at all. in fact, there was no faramir. what an injustice! one of my favourite characters in the series, and even in the movie they messed him up. he's as awesome as aragorn, people! he was nothing like his brother... i can't believe the movie tainted his image like that. but anyway... back to the production. so it was good for a first-time shot at it. i'd watch it again, but in a different theatre, with a different cast (that can portray the characters more convincingly?), a revised adaptation (that can portray the characters more convincingly? cuz i dunno whether the fault lies in the cast or the script), and a more spectacular frodo-gollum struggle (cuz the end-of-the-ring scene was so anticlimactic). also, i have to make sure i sleep well the night before so i'm not tempted to close my eyes like my dad did during parts of the production.

so i bought a t-shirt that night. and i'm still feeling a bit guilty cuz it cost so much. but it's LOTR! i love LOTR. and... it's a nice shirt :) all in all, if you seriously consider yourself a fan of LOTR, i recommend you watch the musical some time. i think it's worth it.

1 comment:

lynnie said...

Your never going to guess what I watched last night! hee hee... it was sooooooooo good.