Chicago Tribune
- Recommended
"...In fairness, this is inestimably challenging material (the novel had 500,000 words) and I don't know how much freedom Hart had to mess with the original book and score, which includes copious amounts of underscoring. (I suspect, not much). At the show I saw, frankly, the musical underline made a lot of the spoken dialog hard to understand as the sound balance throughout was less than ideal, including in the musical numbers where the very decent singers often struggled to be heard above the musicians."
Chicago Sun Times
- Somewhat Recommended
"...Emotional involvement is not the strength of this "Lord of the Rings." It's more a sensory experience - thunderously loud sound effects, a plethora of projections that one could imagine at a trippy light show, and the use of all the hydraulic capacity in the very high-tech Yard Theater to lift people up and down or spin them around. It makes efforts at immersiveness by sending its actors into the audience, but that ends up in this case being both hokey and jarring."
Chicago Reader
- Recommended
"...Fans of the books will appreciate the musical’s denouement, which includes a partial telling of the evil wizard Saruman’s devastation of the Shire. Upon their return, the hobbits set about rebuilding and regrowing their beloved homeland with the aid of some magical elven soil. The Shire is saved—but not for Frodo, who will never recover from his wounds while he remains in Middle-earth. The hobbits’ poignant farewells in this version are the payoff for strong character development on the part of the writers, director, and actors. This is a hobbit’s tale, through and through. And they really are amazing creatures."
Talkin Broadway
- Highly Recommended
"...Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) is presenting the U.S. premiere of The Lord of the Rings–A Musical Tale (it premiered at The Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto in 2006, and its first London performance was at The Theatre Royal Drury Lane in 2007). With book and lyrics by Shaun McKenna and Matthew Warchus, as well as music by A. R. Rahman, the Finnish band Värttinä, and Christopher Nightingale, the show itself obviously represents an ambitious undertaking in seeking to transfer J. R. R. Tolkien's well-loved fantasy trilogy from the page to the stage. Although there are some rough edges and visible seams in the storytelling and music, the adaptation is overwhelmingly successful, and under the direction of Paul Hart, the staging at The Yard at CST is outstanding."
Stage and Cinema
- Not Recommended
"...As a lifelong Lord of the Rings fan, my expectations for this transformation were low (how anyone can adapt a 550,000+-word epic into a musical is beyond me; Les Miserables has about the same word count), but with Chicago Shakes behind the wheel, I expected excellent artistry at the very least. Unfortunately, even on that point I was disappointed."
Chicago Stage and Screen
- Highly Recommended
"...New Chicago Shakespeare artistic director Edward Hall is off to a bold start, scoring prize imports, and the production of The Lord of The Rings:A Musical Tale now receiving its U.S. premiere at The Yard on Navy Pier is one such bounty. As a devoted and longtime member of Tolkien fandom, I anticipated this show with excitement and trepidation: how does one boil down an epic tale whose boxed set of books runs almost 1500 pages?"
Around The Town Chicago
- Highly Recommended
"...This one is a bit awkward for me. I never saw the movie version or read Tolkan's trilogy of books, so I really had to pay close attention as I witnessed the journey to the magical realms of middle-earth as Chicago Shakespeare Theatre brought these stories to life on its "The Yard" stage. Since Jane was out of town, I brought my granddaughter, Sarah to the opening. She has never read the books or seen the films either and while there were times she felt lost in story, she thought the performance itself was fabulous and the special effects powerful."
Chicago Theatre Review
- Highly Recommended
"...This production is a truly ambitious artistic achievement, and my hat's off to everyone involved. It's an excellent example of ensemble storytelling, at its very best. Characters pop up all over in the audience and keep us guessing. The musical score, while not hummable, is pleasant, organic and folksy in style. We've become a nation of short attention spans. In spite of having been trimmed to its current length, the show could still benefit from some additional cuts to bring the production to a more manageable and marketable running time. It's a wonderful adaptation and features all the main characters and primary plot points from both the books and films. But cutting some of the songs and the quieter, more introspective moments would make the production more appealing, especially to younger audiences. The themes of good prevailing over evil, free will challenging fate, and even death being defeated by immortality are all powerful forces in this Musical Tale, which beautifully depicts the enduring power of friendship."
Buzz Center Stage
- Highly Recommended
"...I could go on and on - but don't panic, I won't. Suffice to say that THE LORD OF THE RINGS - a Musical Tale has hobbits and elves, wizards and dwarves in the cast, but the story isn't about them. The characters and their stories get lost, becoming merely a placeholder between songs, many of them with minimal relevance to the action (and variable quality)."
The Fourth Walsh
- Recommended
"...Both diehard Tolkien fans and complete novices to Middle Earth will enjoy the epic storytelling in Chicago Shakes’ latest production. The creative team of Shaun McKenna and Matthew Warchus (books and lyrics) bring J.R.R. Tolkien’s beloved fantasy from page to stage. Hobbits, a wizard, a dwarf, an elf and men unite on a quest to destroy a powerful ring. This unlikely Fellowship creates an incomparable alliance. Individually and collectively, their harrowing journey will force each to confront evil forces in the world and within themselves."
Third Coast Review
- Not Recommended
"...hicagoIt took J.R.R. Tolkien three books, 62 chapters and more than a half-million words to tell his legendary story of Frodo Baggins and the quest to save Middle Earth. Adapted for film, Peter Jackson told the same tale in just over nine and a quarter hours-not counting the DVD extras. Now it's a musical, currently playing at the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, and despite the added singing and dancing, the saga comes in at just under three hours-a run time that I am sorry to say is simultaneously too long and too short."
Chicago On Stage
- Recommended
"...The Chicago Shakespeare Theatre's production of the 2006 Lord of the Rings-A Musical Tale is an auditory and visual masterpiece that I'm sure most audience members, lost in the spectacle, will enjoy, but it falls far short as an adaptation of the classic J.R.R. Tolkien saga."
PicksInSix
- Recommended
"...There is remarkable, and often startling, puppetry early on-and one additional confrontation that took everyone by surprise-which when combined with the live action sequences elevate the mystical nature of the piece. Those familiar with Peter Jackson's film trilogy will not be disappointed, but may do well to manage their expectations as this show is more about the characters and story."
Chicago Culture Authority
- Recommended
"...The ambitious U.S. premiere of The Lord of the Rings – A Musical Tale at Chicago Shakes transforms the Yard into a Middle Earth full of wondrous surprises. The most memorable first-act scene, in which Gandalf the wizard (an appropriately sonorous Tom Amandes) meets what appears to be a very bad end, employs billowing fabric with dramatic projections, lighting and sound to create a truly thrilling stage picture."
BroadwayWorld
- Somewhat Recommended
"...The result is three-plus hours of theater. While I admire the creative team's commitment to honoring Tolkein's books and the LOTR fandom, it's too long. The show is also subtitled "A Musical Tale," which is apt because it's not really a musical. Aside from one or two, the songs in the show don't advance narrative or develop character. Instead, they're more like atmospheric musical interludes or diegetic songs that the characters use to entertain themselves on their journey. Thus, they really just add to the run-time. And many of the lyrics were also tough to discern."
NewCity Chicago
- Not Recommended
"..."The Lord of the Rings" musical, now playing at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, is a disappointing muddle. It squishes too much material from J.R. R. Tolkien's fantasy epic into three hours, leaving little room for character development and drama. Despite some lovely music and amazing puppetry, it doesn't satisfy."
