Well Frodo, we’re not in The Shire anymore. If you’ve ever longed to wander Middle-earth – from the cosy lanes of Hobbiton to the lofty halls of Rivendell, and even the fiery pits of Mordor – grab a stall seat at The Lord of the Rings: A Musical Tale, now at the Sands Theatre till August 31. The story doesn’t just play out on stage – it happens all around you.
The pre-show is a delightful shindig: hobbits scurry through the aisles, ring-toss games unfold, and you’re invited to belt out "Happy Birthday" to Bilbo in surprisingly theatrical style. The story truly unfolds when Frodo inherits a mysterious gold ring, setting him on a perilous journey to Mordor to confront evil with the Fellowship. Time Out tip: a front-row stall gets you maximum Middle-earth mingling – we had Gandalf behind us and Gollum crawling past in the dark.
Folk-tinged, Mumford & Sons-style tunes keep things breezy, and it’s charming to see the cast double as musicians – strumming guitars, plucking violins, even coaxing a harp. But the songs are – dare we say – forgettable and don’t add to the story much. A little disappointing coming from multi-award-winning composer A.R. Rahman. Nonetheless, Stefanie Caccamo and Jemma Rix blew us away with soaring vocals as Arwen and Galadriel, punching through their musical numbers. However, surtitles would have been handy when Elvish or Dwarvish lyrics and dialogues take over.
While the cast are the heroes here, the true villain is the running time. Three hefty tomes are crammed into a three-hour sprint, with Act I zipping through The Fellowship of the Ring and Act II hurtling through the rest like it’s late for a very important appointment with Mount Doom. The pace leaves no room for the story to breathe, and unless you already know your Baggins from your Balrog, you’ll be wandering in the dark. For context: each of Peter Jackson’s films runs around three hours – and he still needed extended cuts to fit in all the key moments. Now imagine trying to squeeze the whole trilogy into a single musical.
The show is a mixed bag. But there are some eye-catching visuals to bring the story to life – washes and flashes of coloured lights, Nazgûl puppet heads looming over the audience, spotlit Frodo halting in the darkness as the Ring’s power floods him, and a billowing sheet morphing into the fiery beast that Gandalf famously shall not let pass. There’s also a playful run-in with an oversized spider.
For Tolkien diehards, it’s an intriguing – if imperfect – addition to the legendarium. For everyone else, it’s like being dropped into Mordor without so much as a map. But hey – seeing Gollum hiss “my precious” in the flesh? It's pretty worth it.
Tickets start from $68. Get yours here.
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