Fifty-nine years later, the English writer would have been rolling in his grave. There have been five musical iterations to date, with the latest treading the boards in Auckland this month.

Was Tolkien correct in his concern?

The first musical iteration of the Lord of the Rings (LOTR) in 2006 was dubbed by the Guardian an “unimitated disaster” critically and financially. A year later, its £12.5 million ($27.2m) production at London’s iconic West End became one of its biggest commercial failures. Indeed, it was “a world too much”.

Unlike its forebears, the latest rendition proves a hit fantasy show doesn’t need to be swallowed up by special effects or have a practically criminal price tag.

By taking a less is more approach to the complicated tale and forging a connection with the audience, rather than stupefying them, this time there’s more heart – and less overwhelm.

Lord of the Rings – A Musical Tale, now in its second week at the Civic in Auckland after successful runs in Chicago this past July and in Berkshire, UK, where this production first opened in 2023, took on this reel-it-back approach. And it paid off.

Directed by Paul Hart (Red, Private Peaceful) and produced by independent theatre production company Kevin Wallace Productions (Our Town, Eden) and GWB Entertainment (Matilda the Musical), the production’s origin story began 24 years ago when producer Kevin Wallace first started the discussions to obtain the stage rights of the title.

It has been described as “the greatest show in Middle-earth” by the Guardian and, after seeing the Chicago show, I thought it was the most exhilarating musical adaption of LOTR yet.

Hart is a true creative. He sees what ordinary people think is a problem and moves toward it like an octopus – each arm exploring new angles and textures, adapting and shifting to uncover an innovative solution – while maintaining a cool demeanour. They are the kind of qualities you would hope the boss to have if working relentlessly alongside them to bring a beast like this to fruition.

Two Hart facts intrigued me. One: when his assistant first emailed Wallace about taking on a new LOTR musical production, it was March 31, 2020; the UK was in its first lockdown over Covid and theatre sales would drop by more than 90% that year. Two: In April 2022, he told Wallace something that had never been done before in musical theatre: he principally wanted to tell the story from the perspective of the hobbits.

“When we step into that theatre, in Paul’s iteration, we’re all hobbits,” Wallace told our media group in Chicago, noting he thought the idea was “genius”.

Guided by that lens, the number of cast members went from around 50 to 24. The venue was much smaller and intimate – the Watermill Theatre’s seating capacity was 10% of that at the West End. Simon Kenny’s (Sweeney Todd) stripped-back set design meant minimal distractions, and the hobbits’ costumes were simple (and pretty accurate to Tolkien’s descriptions).

But there’s more to it than that. With its many worlds, races, languages, and cultures, Middle-earth is complex, to say the least. Music and choreography are the secret sauces that tie it all together. Not only do they help make sense of the plot’s intricacies, but they also bring contemporary relevance to Tolkien’s books.

“Music is an integral part of our version of the story. And when you think about music if you are familiar with the books, the books are actually filled with silent music. Because all those characters and key moments … he’s written poetry for them, which he expects to be sung,” said Wallace.

Remarkably, instead of having an orchestra tucked away from view as in the norm in many musicals, this iteration has each actor playing the instruments themselves – from fiddles, bass, and cellos – while in character.

“In this case, there is no escaping the fact that it’s live music because it’s all done in front of you. It is an exhilarating experience and it’s a technologically challenging experience because every instrument is mic’d and every actor is mic’d … you’ve got a moving orchestra on stage.”

Nineteen songs were composed by the legendary AR Rahman, Värttinä and Chris Nightingale, bringing in an exotic blend of Indian, Finnish and British sounds. “[They] took the influences of their life experiences and really wove together a score that I think does a beautiful job of connecting to a story that is intercultural that also happens to be a fantasy world,” said music director Michael McBride.

Every part that has a song needs to be staged. This critical responsibility falls on choreographer and movement director Anjali Mehra (Queen of Spades, Rumi the Musical), who comes from a classical and contemporary dance background. “I have to do the sort of visual storytelling for the whole beast,” she said.

“It’s creating all the different movement worlds for those creatures and characters so that you immediately feel like you’re in a different place”.

One of the adored features in Tolkien’s books was the creation of the Elvish language. In a musical, however, reciting an untranslated fictional language may not be as impactful. To solve this, Mehra ingeniously translated the Elvish language through movement.

“They have these extra very specific, hand movements that they do [denoting] that they have their own language to express things”.

Mehra explained she would take the translation of Elvish in the books and use them to describe things with movement.” So you know, something like the shadow would be this,” she said, delicately lifting and swaying her arm and fingers. “So all through the piece, you start to see the same hand movements come up in different moments, and you go like, ‘Oh, this is about them defeating the darkness’.”

“That’s my hope anyway,” she added.

When asked why he chose to bring a production centred on community and hope to Aotearoa, Wallace, an Irish native, spoke of the warm connection he felt during his first visit. He noted the striking similarities in the landscape between here and Ireland, but what moved him most was the profound mutual respect shared among the people.

“Coming from a country which has struggled with that … I found that really impressive and heartening,” he said.

“New Zealand can teach the world about companionship.”

The Lord of the Rings – A Musical Tale is on now at the Civic in Auckland until December 1. Tickets are available via Ticketmaster.

Varsha Anjali is a multimedia journalist for the Herald. Based in Auckland, she covers travel, theatre and more.