Word: frodo
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...Hurin, which is something of a prequel to the classic Tolkien tales. "It's the first complete tale from the early mythology," says T.A. Shippey, humanities professor at St. Louis University in Missouri. Its antihero is a dark lord and ancestor of Sauron, the evil figure who torments Frodo and Gandalf aeons later. It also focuses on the interaction between humans and elves, a theme which returns in the hobbit books. And at least one Rings denizen - the elf Galadriel - makes a cameo. Some English professors have been frustrated by Tolkien's reputation as a weaver of children's stories...
...curious, wispy thing, with eccentric line readings and maundering instead of majesty. Carver's off-putting mannerisms tilt the focus from Gandalf to the hobbits--leprechaunish here, with round bellies and bottoms, like the Munchkins in MGM's Oz--persuasively played by jockey-size actors. James Loye, as Frodo, and Peter Howe, as Sam, get the message that heroes are ordinary folk who rise under extraordinary circumstances. In this predominantly Canadian cast, the other main roles are handsomely filled. But the show stealer is Michael Therriault as Gollum. Hissing and squealing, writhing convulsively to express Gollum's two warring psyches...
...jockey-size actors. The Shire and its environs are suggested less by sets than by delicately sylvan projections. Rivendell's High Elves are just that: they rise and float serenely (on wires) above the hobbits. The Winnebago-size Shelob tries to wrap her spidery tentacles around a struggling Frodo with the help of six black-clad puppeteers...
...hobbit in the show says, are "like wine for the ears." But as the tale darkens and deepens, LOTR turns into musical drama, with songs replaced by underscoring of the battles. The last real song, and it's a beaut, comes at the end of Act II: Frodo and his friend Sam Gamgee sing in reminiscence of the Shire they love, "Now and for always...
...cast is well led by James Loye as Frodo and Peter Howe as Sam. Brent Carver, a Tony winner for Kiss of the Spider Woman, turns Gandalf into a curious, wispy thing, with eccentric line readings and maundering instead of majesty. But Michael Therriault's Gollum is a sensation. As he hisses, squeals and writhes to express Gollum's two warring psyches (the hobbit he was, the half-life wreck his ring lust has made of him), Therriault gives the most astonishing, show-stealingly schizo performance since Steve Martin's half-man-half-woman...