Singing
Hobbits, Wizards, and Orcs - Oh
My!
By C.S.
Pothitt
Singing
Hobbits, Wizards, and Orcs - Oh
My!
Tip!
Always warm up before you start
singing your songs. I recommend
some relaxing breathing exercises
then gentle humming
first.
It all
started with a simple statement
scribbled across a blank page of
an examination answer-book:
“In a hole in the ground
there lived a hobbit.” Sixty
some-odd years and several
volumes later, Middle Earth is
one of the most well-known and
beloved fantasy
worlds.
Last year,
2005, marked the 50th anniversary
of the complete publication of
J.R.R. Tolkien's masterpiece.
The Lord of the Rings, a
multi-volume epic that followed
The Hobbit, was first
published in London in 1954, with
an American edition following in
1955. This tale of unlikely
heroes has been made into a radio
play (the BBC's Third Program
aired it in 1956); an animated
film (1978); a trilogy of
live-action films (2001, 2002,
2003); several video games (1985,
1990, 1992, 2000, 2002, 2003,
2004) with more being planned;
and now is being made into an
ambitious live-theatre musical
production.
“The
responsibility is huge,”
says Mathew Warchus, the man
chosen to direct the stage
version of The Lord of the
Rings, “but the
opportunity is huge as well,
because you can do some things
you always dreamed of doing on
the stage.”
Lord of
the Rings opened at the
Princess of Wales Theater in
Toronto in February 2006, cost
about $27 million (Canadian) to
produce and faced many
challenges.
“People
feel so strongly about Tolkien's
work,” Warchus says. “I
studied the books very carefully.
I vowed I would not trivialize
the piece in any way, but honor
it and perhaps even add something
to all the available incarnations
of the story.”
With so
many adaptations of the work on
hand, why would someone tackle a
stage production? “To read
the novel is to experience the
events of Middle Earth in the
mind's eye; to watch the films is
to view Middle Earth as though
through a giant window. Only in
the theater are you actually
plunged into the events as they
happen,” says Warchus.
“The environment surrounds
us. We participate. We are in
Middle Earth.”
Fans who
have seen the preview agree. One
said, “It was unlike reading
or watching Middle Earth, it was
like being
there!”
The biggest
question, however, was why a
musical? Do we really want Frodo
to sing, orcs to dance? “We
have not attempted to pull the
novel towards the standard
conventions of musical
theater,” says Warchus,
“but rather to expand those
conventions so that they will
accommodate Tolkien's
material.”
There is
“music virtually the whole
way through,” says Kevin
Wallace, producer of the show,
“Like in the books, the
characters in the stage
adaptation use songs that are
already part of their culture to
express themselves. They do not
sing as in a traditional musical,
… but as in a culture with a
strong singing tradition, they
use music as part of their
everyday life.”
The music
is a collaborative composition of
A.R. Rahman, a composer from
India, Värttinä, a
vocal group from Finland, and
Christopher Nightengale, the
show's musical supervisor. Since,
Tolkien used Finnish as a basis
for Elvish, having a Finnish
group as part of the musical
collaboration has given the music
for this production an authentic
and unique sound.
"It's not
really a musical in the tradition
sense,” Liam Kearns, a fan
from Vancouver who traveled to
Toronto just to see the show,
told The Canadian Press.
“It's really a stage
extravaganza. There's music, but
it's a dramatic play."
When rumors
of this production first
surfaced, there was fear that the
result would be cheesy or would
stray too far from the original
work. To help keep the adaptation
in line with Tolkien's material,
Laurie Battle, Head of Licensing
at Tolkien Enterprises, worked as
Creative Consultant, advising the
director and producer directly,
as well as pointing the way to
further research when
necessary.
Tip!
Hold the mic about an inch away
from your mouth - you should
never touch the mic with any part
of your mouth or face, both from
a singing and a hygienic point of
view! For long high notes start
with the mic further away from
you and as you hold the note
slowly bring it nearer. This has
the effect of making the note
sound stronger and more
consistent.
The effort
paid off. “I highly
recommend any and every Tolkien
fan to watch this
production,” said one fan
who saw the preview.
Lord of
the Rings is appropriate for
children aged 8 and older.
Wallace advises, “People
should use their own discretion
and bring children who are old
enough to enjoy the
performance.” This is
especially true, since it is
about three and one-half hours
long.
Knowing the
story and its characters isn't
necessary to enjoy the musical,
according to Kearns. You can
follow the story, which takes in
all three books, even if you
don't know the difference between
an ent and an orc.
Previews of
Lord of the Rings started
Feb. 4, 2006 and the Gala Opening
is scheduled for March 23.
Toronto will be the only place to
see this production for at least
nine months, when the London
production premieres later this
year. And Wallace says that
Toronto will be the only place to
see this musical in North America
for at least 18
months.
A Kevin
Wallace Limited Production,
Lord of the Rings is
presented by Kevin Wallace and
Saul Zaentz, in association with
David and Ed Mirvish and Michael
Cohl. Tickets, which are $78 or
$125 (Canadian), are available at
http://www.lotr.com
or by calling (416) 872-1212 or
(800) 461-3333.
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About the Author
C.S.
Pothitt is the editor of The
Genre Traveler, an online
travel magazine for science
fiction, fantasy and horror fans.
You can find it at
http://www.thegenretraveler.com
In May, The Genre Traveler,
in cooperation with Beyond
Boundaries Travel, is taking
readers on an exclusive
behind-the-scenes tour of the
World Premiere Lord of the
Rings musical. If you'd like
to join, or you'd like to learn
more, go to http://www.thegenretraveler.com/LOTRTour.htm
before the April 1, 2006 deadline
for reservations.
This article
and report section is presented
by Bob Pardue, the owner of
Music
Playground.
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