Gunfist

On saturday, while visiting my brother in our nation’s fair capital, I went along to see the new(ish) Lord of the Rings stage production. Overall it was worth the money - the show is literally spectacular, with an incredible moving stage, and some brilliant moments, like the balrog (which closes the first half), the giant spider, and some clever bits of wirework. The story doesn’t really lend itself too well to a 3 hour musical/play (and the songs aren’t much to write home about), but they make a good fist of it, and overall I was satisfied. However, there were a couple of minor issues I should mention.

The first was one of the songs near the end, sung by Galadriel (I think). The song, from what I remember, was about being immortal and living forever, possibly with refernce to Aragorn and Arwen. This was fine. The problem was the melody (and, lets face it, lyrics) which was “strongly reminiscent” (thanks legal team) of the classic “Who Wants To Live Forever”, by Queen, which is of course a cornerstone of the auditory treat that is Highlander. Given that the bloke who played Aragorn had a distinctly Christopher Lambert style “european” accent, and was waving a sword during the song, this was a tragic. I can only assume that one day the composer will catch Highlander on TV and suddenly realise why people chuckle during his big number. Who waaaaants to liiiiive foreveeerrrrrr.

The other problem was the casting of Elrond. It would be fair to say that his performance lacked subtlety. It would also be fair to say that Brian Blessed after a crate of whiskey would have probably considered said performance “a touch over the top”. Even when he wasn’t over. acting. EVERY. word. he made the effort in the physical part of the art, such as sort of half spinning off stage when allowing Gandalf to address the fellowship, after gesticulating wildly at them while talking. It was almost mesmerising to watch, even when standing still he would be aggresively posed, hands spread in whatever wacky elf-pose seemed appropriate, acting his heart out. Of course, he had by far the most restrained bow at the end. It’s just a job, love.

ALSO: while searching to see if anyone other than my brother and I spotted the who wants to live forever similarity, I discovered not one but three Highlander films are in the works. Paul’s prayers have been answered.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 20th, 2007 at 4:18 pm and is filed under Other, What. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. This post is tagged You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.