Review: "The Lord of the Rings", Princess of Wales Theatre, Toronto, ON, Sunday March 26, 2006

Yesterday my fiancé and I checked out the Lord of the Rings "musical" in Toronto, which just had its official opening last Thursday night.

First of all, this is not a musical. It's a play with musical interludes. I'd say that the ratio of spoken word to sung phrases is at 4:1 at the very least. I thought that was a good thing, too, because not knowing the Lord of the Rings saga as well as some others, I needed to be able to follow what was going on to understand this complex-at-times tale.

Clocking in at over 3 and a half hours, I expected the show to be a bum number, but it wasn't. The time flew by and I wasn't ever bored, which says a lot for me when viewing a theatre production. The stage was technically amazing, the sound quality second to none, and the effects, especially at the end of the first act, were really above and beyond anything I expected.

In terms of the performances, they are good, if not great, but really, the star of this show is the stage itself. I am not a huge fantasy guy nor am I a major fan of musicals but by the end of this show you find yourself applauding not just for the actors but for all of the hard work and imagination that went in to making this show a reality.

If you are looking for something out of the ordinary, check it out.

Overall rating: 8.5/10