Dot, I really hope you can see this! As I have mentioned here before, when the musical was playing in Toronto back in 2006, we went three times with three different groups of people. Wonderful, so wonderful! I'm not much of a live theatre person, but this performance struck many heart chords. Gollum was superb! And I will never forget how they showed the flooding of the Ford of Bruinen (amazing!), although for some reason this was changed later on—a disappointing loss. The music was brilliant. 'Now And For Always' is still a treasured song in our home:

(These are the Frodo and Sam actors we saw).

I was able to get, via a credit on Audible, The Return of the King, narrated by Andy Serkis. So, The FotR and TTT I have on CD, but The RotK is digital. Serkis does a magnificent job of bringing to life each character. And, of course when it comes to Gollum ... .

Also, I just read that a The Lord of the Rings opera has been approved by the Tolkien estate:

https://www.classicfm.com/music-news/lord-of-the-rings-opera-approved-tolkien-estate/

I've just ordered a Tolkien commentary that I haven't seen before, but I know I've read something else by the same authors (I think it was a book on Tolkien's artwork), which was very good. Here's an excerpt from the blurb:

In The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion internationally acclaimed scholars Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull examine Tolkien's masterpiece chapter by chapter, offering expert insights into its evolution, structure, and meaning. They discuss important influences on its development, connections between that work and other writings by Tolkien, errors and inconsistencies, significant changes to the text, and archaic and unusual words used by Tolkien. Thousands of notes, keyed to standard editions of The Lord of the Rings but universally accessible, reveal the richness and complexity of one of the most popular works of fiction in our time.

Extensive reference is made also to writings by Tolkien not previously or widely published, including elaborate time-schemes, an unfinished manuscript index to The Lord of the Rings, and most notably, the important Nomenclature or guide to names in The Lord of the Rings prepared for the use of translators, long out of print and now newly transcribed and printed in its entirety.

It was apparently first published in 2005 and won an award from the Mythopoeic Society (a literary society that focuses on the works of Tolkien, Lewis and the other Inklings), but the copy I've bought is the new edition for the 60th anniversary of The Lord of the Rings. That was 10 years ago, so this must have been published in 2014, but it seems to still be the edition currently in print.

Anyway, it should be waiting for me when I get back to England at the end of this week, so that's something to look forward to! I will share some impressions here and would be interested to hear what others here think of it, if any of you have it. 

I like reference books to Tolkien’s works. Tolkien’s World from A to Z is the book I am borrowing right now.  I wish there were more reference books to C. S. Lewis and Narnia.  Are the books about Lewis and Tolkien helpful in your understanding of both authors? 

@narnian78 Some of them are, some of them aren't! I've found some wonderful commentaries on the Narnia books that have really deepened my appreciation of them, and some that have just been mediocre stating-the-obvious stuff, or that seemed to be more about the commentary author's opinions and prejudices than about what Lewis actually wrote.

I haven't read as many Tolkien commentaries, but David Day's The Tolkien Companion was a big help to me as a new and young reader of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings in the early 1990s, as it's a straightforward A-Z guide to the characters and places and so on in those books and The Silmarillion, which I hadn't yet tackled at that stage.

I will be picking up the Reader's Companion later today, along with another Tolkien-related book I ordered soon after (I had them delivered to my workplace, as there's no safe place for leaving parcels outside the block of flats where I live), so I will post my thoughts in due course!  

@jo I finally looked at your little video (lovely), and the link to the news about the Opera!  I watched and listened to the Lament for Boromir, beautifully done with 3 voices.

I mischievously thought that the three hunters might have caught the Orcs sooner, if they hadn't spent so long singing!  

I am now reading Tales from the Perilous Realm by J.R.R. Tolkien.  It is mainly fairy tales and stories, some  of which are included in other collections. If you are interested in Tolkien’s shorter works I definitely recommend it. The stories appear to have been published long after Tolkien passed away. Roverandom is one of the most interesting and is about a toy dog becoming a real one. Tom Bombadil is a poem and is one of Tolkien’s occasional works of poetry. As I remember he was usually considered a minor character who also appeared briefly in The Lord of the Rings. It is a nice collection, and I am glad that the stories were published.

So the first images from "War of the Rohirrim" are now online, and whilst it probably looks more "anime-ish" than I was expecting (even for an anime) I'm definitely still excited for this.

https://www.theonering.net/torwp/2024/06/11/118653-war-of-the-rohirrim-images-and-an-exclusive-interview/

So, I went to see the musical.   I loved it. I get why people might not like it, but I adored it.   My birthday isn't until November, but I requested that this be my birthday present and it was an excellent decision on my part. I went with a group (nightmare coordinating multiple vehicles in Chicago traffic, but large family means group discount tickets so that worked out) and for the most part everyone liked it. A few of the less musical theater inclined siblings weren't as impressed, and there were discussions about the story changes, but overall a thumbs up from everyone if you're a fan of LotR. One of my sis-in-laws did see it when it was in Toronto, and most of the story changes that she didn't like there are still present in this new production, but since they're working off the same book that makes sense. It's mostly just the staging that's different.

From what I understand, the Watermill Theater production last year stripped down the staging a lot to fit a more intimate space with a much smaller cast, fewer special effects, and musicians on stage rather than in an orchestra pit. Chicago Shakespeare used the same staging, and it felt like the hobbits were telling the story by a cozy fire.

(that's Rosie with the red hair. the musicians were almost always dressed like hobbits if they weren't actively in the scene as someone else)

I think the only one who had a better time than me was my six-year-old nephew. The weekend we were all available coincided with his birthday so when the hobbits got the audience to sing Happy Birthday to Bilbo before the show started he thought everyone was singing to him. The hobbits also went around the theater before the show welcoming everyone to Bilbo's party and asking where everyone was from and things like that. We happened to get Sam Gamgee in our section and he wished my nephew many happy returns and complimented his red panda plushie. My nephew has also heard the West End cast recording and his favorite track is Gollum's so when we had a good view of Gollum climbing down into the theater at the start of Act II he was thrilled. 

There has been talk of an international tour, but so far the only other location announced is New Zealand. Fingers crossed that it comes closer to where I live so I have another opportunity to see it, and also talk my local Tolkien book club into coming with me. Traveling up to Chicago from North Carolina makes for an exhausting weekend and none of them wanted to make the trip this time.

Really, the only disappointing part of the show was they weren't selling tshirts with the musical's logo. The kind of nerd who travels to see a musical is absolutely also the kind of nerd who would buy a tshirt after the show.  

The trailer for War of the Rohirrim is now available online:

@icarus 

It looks interesting. The animation style looks really nice, and it looks like it could be mature, and not some kiddie cartoon.

I shall watch it, just to see. Not madly keen on the cartoon style, but it may be better than Bakshi 1978.

(I didn't watch Rings of Power reinterpretation of what Tolkien wrote)

Meanwhile I'm about to start Book Six of LOTR.

@icarus I remember seeing the announcement and early stills from the project and thinking that anime was an interesting style choice. Not one I'm opposed to though--the colors and lighting are gorgeous, and it's an anime art style more grounded in realism compared to styles in shows like Pokémon.

@jasmine_tarkheena I don't watch a lot of anime, but it seems overall that anime has grown beyond its reputation in the 80s and 90s as exclusively kids cartoons and is now producing more stories targeted at older teens and adults. Studio Ghibli's films often have deep stories that resonate with both young and older adults and have seen both box office success and critical acclaim, so that has set a promising atmosphere for this movie's release. 

War of the Rohirrim an interesting example to me of how popular Japanese animation styles have become in recent years in order to adapt a story as well known and foundational to fantasy as LOTR. I share the concern of other online posts that I've seen--that the art style may unfortunately alienate LOTR fans who don't wish to watch anime and that the story of Helm Hammerhand, while cool, is too niche for fans of anime who only have a passing knowledge of LOTR. I want to see it though, and we will see if the risk pays off. 

@coracle I've only seen clips of the Bakshi movie, but I saw a comparison somewhere of how certain shots inspired Peter Jackson's directing. I think it was an interesting decision to rotoscope all of the movement, though it almost makes the character actions seem too fluid to me. I also currently have Rob Inglis's narration of The Two Towers checked out from the library. I'm working my way through the trilogy, albeit very slowly, so an audiobook helps me to keep better pace and makes doing the dishes more fun! Happy reading to you you as you start Book 6! 

Changing the subject for a moment (sorry), here's something I just heard about that sounds well worth reading! 

Beyond Bilbo: J. R. R. Tolkien's long-lost poetry to he published 

Reckon that's going on my Christmas list!  

I must admit I laughed out loud at one section of the above article, where it's revealed that the editors were struggling to translate a poem Tolkien had written in Old English, until they realised what it actually was. I won't spoil it here — you'll just have to read the article...  

I am now reading Understanding the Lord of the Rings: The Best of Tolkien Criticism edited by Rose A. Zimbardo and Neil D. Isaacs.  It includes the essay The Dethronement of Power by C. S. Lewis. The essays are quite deep, and I would recommend a very careful reading of The Lord of the Rings and Tolkien’s other books for a good understanding of them. There is one essay devoted to Peter Jackson’s movies, Another Road to Middle Earth: Jackson’s Movie Trilogy by Tom Shippy. Although this book isn’t all such an easy reading, there is something for everyone who loves Tolkien. 🙂

Regarding the Tolkien poetry collection I mentioned earlier, here's a review of it that turned up in my news feed, which others here might like to read as well:

First publication of J.R.R. Tolkien's collected poems offers new insights into Lord of the Rings author's personality

Very interesting that they've included the multiple rewrites he made of some poems, as well as commentary. (The example mentioned in the article, "The Sea-Bell" from The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, was one of my favourites when I was in my late teens and going through a difficult period — I remember learning it by heart, as it really spoke to me at the time. I'm glad to say my life has been re-enchanted since then — an answered prayer that I didn't know I was praying — but that's another story. )

Definitely something I want for Christmas and I would love to hear if any other NarniaWebbers are reading it as well!