Playful and energetic, this Tolkien tale contains moments of real wonder
When it came to the West End in 2007, “The Lord of the Rings” was a “notorious flop”, said Dominic Cavendish in The Daily Telegraph. A spectacular mega-musical, incorporating folk, Bollywood influences and pop, it had cost a record-breaking £12.5m to stage, at the 2,000- seat Theatre Royal Drury Lane, and closed after 13 months. So this “enchantingly intimate”, scaled-down staging at the lovely Watermill Theatre, outside Newbury, is a form of redemption for the show.
