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an early look @ Lord of the rings...by me :)

L

lcohen999

Guest
Good morning All,

I had the pleasure to see the opening preview of LOTR on saturday.

Now, I really wanted to enjoy this play. I have tried to, but cannot read his books (too descriptive for my taste) but was a huge fan of the movies.

I am also an advid theater go'er and I understand that there are usually more the 'subtle' changes to make it work as a play.

However, overall I would have to say I was extremly disappointed.

PROS:

The stage, FX and costumes were amazing. Some parts, such as the Black Riders were much underutilized though, which was disappointing. If you have a good imagination, you can really enjoy the way they built everything. The stage had an almost unlimited set of configurations which help to really drive the story. However as I am sure many of you have heard during the battle of helms deep, the stage did break and we lost one scene. Its previews and it happens.

CONS:

The story seemed very disjointed. It really isn't a musical; I would say you had 60% dialogue, 30% singing, and 10% making noises. (Seriously).

I was not a fan of Gandalf and the way he portrayed him. The character seemed very forced. You didn’t feel for the characters the same way you did in the movies, or even the books. Frodo was very weak as well, and he never evolved throughout the play.

They key thing is the producers are going along the premise that you already know the story, either through the books or movies. However, if you are ignorant to the story, you will not be able to follow it.

Everything does not flow very well at all, and it is easy to get lost.

Overall, I would, very disappointingly have to only give it 2*. I know when the show actually starts, it will be better. However, based on what I saw, they would need to take an axe to really improve it.

You can tell they are in it for the long haul, but honestly I really don't know.....

I can answer anyone’s questions about the show!
 
Wow, thanks for the mini-review...I'll probably check it out anyways though.
 
I would hope most people will.

The first day of previews is only asking for trouble.

What did upset me is when I purchased the tickets, there was no statement which said 'Preview tickets", etc.

Yes, they did offer everyone free alcohol, water and penuts, but to pay full price was a little tough to take.
 
Did you have to fill out a review as part of the preview process? I would hope that they would if they want this play to be a long lasting success.
 
It will be interesting to watch this thread develop: likely a lot of other UTers will see this over time (my tickets are in May), and the reviews naturally will differ from person to person, and the play may be fine-tuned a great deal. We'll see...

42
 
sorry for the delay in my reply.

Music: there was one fantastic song in the first act. Both my wife and myself we thinking if the entire play has this kind of energy, then we are home free. However, that was not to be. A lot of the songs were more quiet, broken up and had no real emotion (not without trying btw). The score itself was good, but not memorable. The CD was not available for the previews so I could not see a track list to see how each song will be broken up.

We were not asked, at least not publically to fill out any kind of information sheet or review. The lights came up, and everone left. (as an appendix, there was only about a 40-50% standing ovation, take that however you like). I am sure they could have grabbed some people at random, but I don't know.

There were a lot of the production crew in the audience taking notes throughout (one in every 15 person had a notepad on them, it seemed).

interchange42: I am sure the play you will see is going to be vastly different than the play I saw. Which brings me to my next point. We saw the opening night of previews, paid full price, but was not given any notice when we bought the tickets that this was the case. It can be seen as nothing else but a cash grab.

I would rather have waited until May to see the play to know that all the kinks were worked out (the mics were not working properly either for our show) and it would have cost me the same for a far superiour production.

That will always leave a bad taste in my mouth.....
 
I agree that it is odd that previews would not have had reduced prices.
 
lcohen999:

Sounds like The Producers. Did they sing 'Springtime For Sauron' ?
 
lol you know, I was thinking the same thing.

I would have taken a springtime for anything by the 3rd act to be honest.

Everyone keeps saying how TO is no longer a theater town.

Maybe the problem is, we keep getting crap (hairspray (useless play), the producers (should have been good, was NOT!), etc.

Wicked could have had a long run here if it stayed with a permanent cast.
 
lcohen999:

You saw the wrong 'Ring'. Come over to the dark side with Babel and I'll introduce you to Mr.Wagner and his works.
 
I found The Producers laughable not because of the comedy but because of its obsurdity. I really didn't like it. I agree with the assessment that Toronto cannot be a theatre town without showing the shows in the quality people expect to see it.
 
I found The Producers laughable not because of the comedy but because of its obsurdity. I really didn't like it. I agree with the assessment that Toronto cannot be a theatre town without showing the shows in the quality people expect to see it.
Click to expand...

Did you not like the show because it was a bad show, or because it was bad quality?

I think our rep as a theatre town is built on more than just the big ticket shows, and that the rep is solid enough to withstand a few bad productions.
 
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