Last night I went to see the theatretical adaptation of the Lord of the Rings. It was promoted as a grand production and the expectations were high. Overall the experience was good, but there were a few things that let those high expectations down.
The props were great, and the usage of space was creative. Creating visual effects by combining physical props and projected images worked nicely and really brought the fantasy world alive. Too bad there were a couple of technical glitches during the show, one that caused the play to stop for a moment, but most I didn't even notice during the play (only heard about them when discussing with one of the staff members afterwards).
The adaptation of the story was excellent, considering there is a lot of story to be told and only limited amount of time. Some scenes were completely skipped, like the whole Helm's Deep events, but many small details hinted about those skipped scenes (if you know the story well enough and could regognize those). I don't mind those omissions. I'd rather take the parts of the story included so that they don't feel too rushed. Only scene I (once again) missed was the encounter with Tom Bombadil. Why does it always be the first scene to cut?
While everything else was great (despite the omissions and technical issues) the biggest let down was the acting. At times it felt like hobbyist theatre. With this scale of production I was expecting something a bit more. It wasn't too bad to disturb the experience, but I wouldn't say it was great either. Except for Gollum - the cast was perfect and they did great job portraying the character.