Cover ‘The Lord of The Rings - A Musical Tale’ is now playing until August 31. Photo: Daniel Boud
‘The Lord of The Rings - A Musical Tale’ is now playing until August 31. Photo: Daniel Boud
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This three-hour reimagining of ‘The Lord of The Rings’ swaps Tolkien’s epic sweep for theatrical inventiveness. Uneven pacing and curious creative choices aside, it’s a novelty worth experiencing—for the joy of live theatre, if not the grandeur of the films
Before you attend The Lord of The Rings - A Musical Tale, here’s what you must know: everything about the movies. I say movies, because cramming Tolkien’s sprawling trilogy into a three-hour song-and-dance extravaganza would require wizardry even Gandalf doesn’t possess. And trust me—you’ll want that movie knowledge, given the warp speed at which the plot hurtles forward.
If the thought of a dancing, singing, and frolicking Smeagol—and yes, even Gandalf—makes you smile, you’re in the right place. The fun kicks off before the show even begins, with an unofficial “pre-show” in The Shire: Bilbo Baggins’ boisterous birthday bash. Hobbits wander into the aisles, chatting and dancing with the audience, even swiping an unsuspecting guest’s bag to parade on stage. Bilbo himself presides over the festivities, celebrating his “eleventy-first” (111th) birthday with all the mischief and merriment you’d expect.
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Above Frodo, Sam and Gandalf in A Lord of The Rings - A Musical Tale. Photo: Daniel Boud
Frodo, Sam and Gandalf in A Lord of The Rings - A Musical Tale. Photo: Daniel Boud
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Act One leans heavily on exposition, determined to bring the uninitiated—or the long-forgetful—up to speed. Frodo’s farewell to The Shire and the Fellowship’s formation are drawn out into numbers that (more on this later) linger far longer than they should. Then Act Two slams the accelerator, with Sauron—supposedly the all-seeing, omnipresent villain—hardly making his presence felt. Even the climactic battle, the crown jewel of the films and admittedly tricky to stage in musical form, feels rushed and oddly weightless.
The music—an original score by Academy Award winner A.R. Rahman (Bombay Dreams, Slumdog Millionaire), Finnish folk band Värttinä, and Tony Award winner Christopher Nightingale (Matilda the Musical)—is an intriguing but uneven mix. In place of a traditional orchestra, the hobbits moonlight as onstage musicians, swapping violins, cellos, and other instruments mid-scene. It’s an impressive feat of multitasking, but one that often pulls focus, teetering into fourth-wall-breaking territory and undercutting the drama.
Where musicals truly thrive is in those numbers that move you—melodies that creep into your consciousness and resurface days later. Here, apart from Now and For Always, a tender duet between Sam (Wern Mak) and Frodo (Rarmian Newton), everything else is forgettable—and some, we’d rather forget. Chief among them is Galadriel’s Wonder, bafflingly placed in the final battle scene. Instead of heightening the stakes, it turns the moment into something oddly campy.
Above The Nazgul in The Lord of The Rings - A Musical Tale
The Nazgul in The Lord of The Rings - A Musical Tale
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And then there’s the matter of costuming. Some choices were downright baffling—Orcs clad in leather jackets and gas masks, as if they’d wandered in from Mad Max, a far cry from the grotesque, fearsome creatures of the films. The elves, meanwhile, floated in wearing what looked suspiciously like Indian kurtas–another jarring detail jarring due to the lack of prior connection to India in the Lord of the Rings lore.
But the show wasn’t without its highlights.The set, built with intricate wood carvings, had a rustic charm that grounded the production in a tactile sense of place. Its simplicity was elevated by clever staging: projections that shifted landscapes in an instant, shadow puppetry that conjured entire armies or looming creatures, and swathes of fabric used to dramatic effect in the Balrog scene, unfurling and twisting to suggest the monster’s fiery, towering form. These moments brought a spark of theatrical ingenuity the rest of the production too rarely matched.
While some characters—Legolas (Conor Neylon) and Aragorn (Rob Mallett) in particular—are brought to life so distinctly on screen in the films, they feel surprisingly underdeveloped in the musical. Yet the cast themselves deliver stellar performances, often elevating thinly written roles through sheer presence, charisma, and vocal strength. Their commitment is evident in every scene, even when the material gives them little to work with.
Above Smeagol with Frodo and Sam in The Lord of The Rings - A Musical Tale. Photo: Daniel Boud
Smeagol with Frodo and Sam in The Lord of The Rings - A Musical Tale. Photo: Daniel Boud
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Standout performances came from Frodo and Sam, as expected, with Merry (Jeremi Campese) and Pippin (Hannah Buckley) delivering much of the comic relief, and Gandalf (Terence Crawford) commanding the stage with ease. Smeagol (Laurence Boxhall), in particular, was a live wire—scrambling up set pieces, clambering over props, and injecting every scene with restless energy.
In the end, The Lord of the Rings musical may not match the sweeping grandeur of the films, but it carves out its own charms. From the inventive staging to the committed performances, there’s a sincerity at its core that wins you over, even when the execution wobbles. It’s a reimagining that invites you to see Middle-earth through a different lens—one that celebrates the joy of live theatre as much as the story itself.
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Nafeesa Saini is the Features Editor at Tatler Singapore, where she shapes long-form stories on culture, business, philanthropy, wellness, and the people driving change in Asia. With a deep interest in storytelling that intersects meaningfully with identity and impact, she has profiled a diverse range of visionaries, from scientific pioneers in AI and health to creative trailblazers and literary minds.
Nafeesa’s writing includes cover stories and profiles that spotlight influential voices, alongside commentary on the trends reshaping our world.
Off the clock, Nafeesa unwinds with fiction, a good thrift hunt, and ‘brainrot’ TikTok scroll—while always keeping one eye on her next cultural getaway, usually to Indonesia.
