An epic fantasy-filled journey of friendship, courage and peril.
The Lord of the Rings: The Musical Tale retells Tolkien’s tale with a score that ranges from soaring ballads, earthy folk tunes, and moments of magic. The familiar journey is all here; Frodo (played by Rarmian Newton) inherits the Ring, the Fellowship forms, and danger shadows every step towards Mount Doom. However, the story is told through music that captures not just the grandeur of battles, but the intimacy of friendship and sacrifice.
Most musicals begin when the lights dim and the curtains lift. However, The Lord of the Rings - A Musical Tale decided otherwise. The performance starts the moment you walk in. Even before the first note of the official score, the actors were already on stage, playing instruments, harmonising, and chatting casually with the audience.
The atypical fourth wall-breaking welcome is warm and inviting, as though you're being received to a gathering in the Shire.
Despite lacking the extravagant sets or dazzling mechanical effects that some West End or Broadway productions are known for, it still manages to be immersive. The magic here wasn’t in grand spectacle. The heavy lifting was through the music, movement, and the way the cast carried the spirit of Tolkien’s world in every gesture and note.
The most astonishing performance for me came from the actor who played Gollum (Laurence Boxhall). It’s one thing to mimic the cursed hobbit's eerie mannerisms and contorted body language, it’s another entirely to sing for the duration of a musical in Gollum’s cracked, raspy voice without once breaking character.
It must have been exhausting on the vocal cords, but he never wavered. Every line and every note felt true to the Gollum we’ve grown to love and fear through both the books and films.
The music is the star of the evening. At times, it felt like listening to ancient songs passed down through generations. Other numbers swelled with urgency and drama, pulling you into the darker corners of the journey. It was a score that understood the rhythm of Tolkien’s storytelling: from stillness to sudden bursts of danger, from gentle humour to aching loss.
As a lifelong fan of The Lord of the Rings, I walked into the theatre with a mix of excitement and wariness. It’s not easy adapting a story so beloved and extensive into a stage production without losing something essential.
To my relief, the musical managed to capture the emotional core of the tale while giving it a fresh form. When the Fellowship was formed, it was handled beautifully, balancing the gravity of the mission with the warmth of newfound camaraderie. The tender relationship between Gandalf and the hobbits was laced with humour and care, as written in the books.
Of course, not everything was to my taste. The elves’ costumes felt strangely out of place. Instead of the ethereal, flowing garments that many associate with the cinematic vision of Rivendell or Lothlórien, their attire looked more akin to traditional Indian garb.
It wasn’t unattractive, but it jarred with my mental image of Tolkien’s elves. I could appreciate the creative choice as perhaps an attempt to diversify visual influences, but it broke the illusion just a tad for me.
A practical point worth noting: if you’re sensitive to flashing lights or prone to seizures, caution is advised. The fight scenes often feature intense bursts that flood the stage, sometimes lasting several seconds. It’s not a production flaw, and actually heightened the drama of those moments, but could be overwhelming for certain viewers.
One of the most remarkable things about this production was how it reminded me of why I fell in love with The Lord of the Rings in the first place; that even the smallest person can change the course of the future.
After leaving the theatre, I realised what stayed with me most wasn’t a single scene or song, but the atmosphere the cast created at the start. For a few hours, we were not patrons in a theatre, but fellow travellers drawn into the fireside circle to hear the telling of an old, cherished tale.
Remember that scene where Pippin Took and Merry Brandybuck encounter the magical trees in the books or the film? Keep an eye out for that scene in the musical, when the leaves begin to fall from the theatre’s ceiling. That simple touch transforms the space entirely. Watching those leaves drift down while the story unfolds makes the moment feel surreal and incredibly immersive, as though the forest itself had crept into the theatre.
The Lord of the Rings – A Musical Tale is now playing at the Sands Theatre.
