(Though for some reason, it was referred to as a ‘long awaited party’.

So the performance begins outside – where we are all guests at a Long-expected Party. As show time approaches, everyone heads to behind the building – following signs to the ‘birthday party’. A large ring of woven willow decorates the front lawn of the venue. The audience arrive in a beautiful, bucolic location, where food and drink can be enjoyed by a slowly winding river. Rediscovering the piece, in its new, MUCH smaller and more intimate staging, I am closer to being convinced. It was not surprising when the show was not the hoped for success. The extravagant, elaborate staging could not conceal the fact that the songs were not particularly memorable, and it just seemed like Tolkien’s story wasn’t really suited to this kind of telling. When The Lord of the Rings musical first appeared, in all its (at the time) ‘most expensive musical ever’ glory, I went to see it in London. Sam Nuwan Hugh Perera and Frodo Louis Maskell with Gollum Matthew Bugg sneaking in the background Photography Pamela Raith The Lord of the Rings restaged

Gollum script lord of the rings