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Lord of the Rings Media Movies Entertainment

One-Man Lord of The Rings Comes to Chicago 136

Posted by timothy from the smeagol-and-gollum-in-the-same-body dept.
nomadicpuma writes "In tandem with the return of the One-Man Star Wars Trilogy to Chicago (covered on Slashdot) is a new show giving the Lord of the Rings trilogy the same treatment. The One-Man Lord of the Rings, a performance of all three books by one actor in 60 minutes, will also be showing at the Apollo Theater through February 14, and by all indications looks to be similarly excellent."
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One-Man Lord of The Rings Comes to Chicago More

One-Man Lord of The Rings Comes to Chicago

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  • I checked out the site, and this looks really cool!

    What next? One-Man does the Geek Trilogy? (Matrix, Star Wars, LOTR)

    Heh. That would rock. Wish I could go see this.

    -WS

    • Sad news...L&O Actor Jerry Orbach dead at 69 (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      I just heard some sad news on talk radio - Law & Order Actor Fi Jerry Orbach was found dead in his New York City home this morning. Details are sketchy, but apparently his last wisecrack was something about his prostate and a dead body. I'm sure everyone in the Slashdot community will miss him - even if you didn't enjoy his work, there's no denying his contributions to popular culture. Truly an American icon.
    • I hardly think Matrix should go anywhere near the same level as Star Wars and LOTR. It doesnt have a Decipher-produced CCG.

    • Re:Looks awesome! (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Yup! He's done this show a few times in Vancouver, and I've seen it no less than 3 times. It is truly hilarious and cool. He's spot-on with the voices and facial expressions, and he only injects enough humour to be funny without being tiring, with stuff like nods to where you're supposed to change DVDs if you're watching the extended versions, a one-liner about the Silmarillion, and a quick reference to whether or not Sam and Frodo are gay, for example.

      In my opinion, he does a better job of this than Star

      • Re:Looks awesome! (Score:2, Insightful)

        by I_M_Noman ( 653982 )
        He's spot-on with the voices and facial expressions
        I assume you mean that about the Star Wars show, yes? Because how are we to know whether he's "spot-on" with the voices of LOTR characters? Unless you mean "characters as portrayed in the movies", in which case I'd have to say "who cares, since several of the characters in the movies were horribly miscast?"
    • What next? One-Man does the Geek Trilogy? (Matrix, Star Wars, LOTR)
      Don't laugh. You should see how he handles the scnee where Neo fights all the Agent Smiths from The Matrix Reloaded. Simply brilliant.
    • I don't understand why The Hitchhiker's Guide is so low down on his poll of what to do next...
    • Not quite. But 2 guys doing the Complete Works of Shakespeare [reducedshakespeare.com], The Bible, The Complete History of America etc. are pretty impressive. I saw them do the Shakspeare one a few years back - very funny.

      They concentrate entirely on Hamlet in Act 2, leaving all the other works to be performed in Act 1.

  • Geek Fest (Score:2, Funny)

    by Teclis ( 772299 )
    Well, this has got to be a true role model for movie geeks out there. I remember in elementary school that reciting The Grinch Who Stole Christmas was impressive. I could actually recite the whole thing word for word at 10 years old. If he could do that for LOTR, that is, word for word. I'll be impressed.
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • Kind of OT, but yeah. Both me and my gf's brother can recite pi to over 100 digits. The world record is held by some japanese guy called Hirouki Goto, iirc, which was 42195 digits, took him over 9 hours to recite it lol. Since I'm on the topic of memory, the Clark's Nutcracker (a bird), stores up to 30,000 nuts in around 1,000 different places and then after its done hibernating, it comes back and remembers each one of them. And goldfish do not have a short term memory of 3 seconds, or whatever the myth is.

      • Re:Geek Fest (Score:3, Funny)

        by jeblucas ( 560748 )

        ... some japanese guy called Hirouki Goto,

        iirc, which ...

        ... memory of 3 seconds, or

        whatever the myth is ...

        ... on it.

        I can't remmeber the name of it, ...

        ... feats, as well as

        pseudowhatever, remembering stuff ...

        You don't seem to remember too much. Maybe we shouldn't value your opinion overly in this discussion.

      • Re:Geek Fest (Score:3, Funny)

        by EvilBuu ( 145749 )
        the disorder that makes people see colours

        No kidding, this is a condition which affects millions, including myself! More research into possible treatments is really needed.
  • Let's see if we will also get the one man non-stop 10 hours extended director's cut with one actor..

  • If I could (Score:5, Funny)

    by CodeWanker ( 534624 ) on Wednesday December 29, 2004 @07:15PM (#11214051) Journal
    turn MY mental illness into a crowd-pleasing source of income, I'd do it, too.

  • The next step (Score:5, Funny)

    by OO7david ( 159677 ) on Wednesday December 29, 2004 @07:17PM (#11214070) Homepage Journal
    With all the geeks making one man shows, it seems that the next logical step will be the one-man premeir of "self-love:. Heck, there're probably enough "actors" for a simultaneous nation-wide release

  • Pundits say... (Score:5, Funny)

    by dotslashdot ( 694478 ) on Wednesday December 29, 2004 @07:18PM (#11214078)
    Potential Reviews by the Pundits (apologies in advance): "His one man show is the one ring to rule them all!" "The acting dwarfs any other performance of LOTRs" "This one man does the work of elven!" "Mordor, She Wrote!" "His performance was so good, I could write an entire Gollum about it!"

  • least boring! (Score:1, Redundant)

    by myowntrueself ( 607117 )
    Wow! This would have to be the least boring version yet!

    Why is it that despite having unchecked LoTR stories in my preferences, I *still* see LoTR stories on the front page??

  • Abridged (Score:5, Funny)

    by mapinguari ( 110030 ) on Wednesday December 29, 2004 @07:21PM (#11214109)
    I bet he leaves out Tom Bombadil too.
    • Maybe the critics will represent Tom Bombadil. They have pretty much always been, and I bet hold no real interest over this production..

  • Joke (Score:4, Funny)

    by suso ( 153703 ) on Wednesday December 29, 2004 @07:24PM (#11214124) Journal
    If its only one man, then who is going to carry Frodo?
    • I'm sure some artistic liberties will be taken...

      Sam, to off stage: Frodo, you lazy ass... don't make me walk over there and get you. Frodo! Quit your whining. I'm going to keep on walking, and you're going to follow me, you got that? And I don't want to hear another word about your silly ring!

    • If its only one man, then who is going to carry Frodo?


      The same guy that does the light-saber duel. Duh! =)

  • Yeah, but... (Score:1, Redundant)

    by ConceptJunkie ( 24823 )
    You know he's gotta leave out Bombadil too.

  • So how fast does he talk ... (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    The One-Man Lord of the Rings, a performance of all three books by one actor in 60 minutes

    Reminds me of the improv game "Countdown."

    You have a scene, and you progressivly reduce the time for that scene. Usually it's something like 5 min, 2 min, etc. where each time it gets shorter and more frantic, all the way down to one second, where it's basically one actor saying a single word.

    So, you have 9+ hours of movies condenced to one hour.
    Then it's Lord of the Rings in 15 min.
    Lord of the Rings in 5 min.
    Lord
  • that is a --; situation http://www.hammerrevolution.com
  • You see him grab a scrubbing brush and start feaverishly brushing a toilet.

    You see, his version of the book had a typo. The "cleansing of the shite" scene was taken literally.
    • RIMMER: Everyone's entitled to their beliefs, Lister. I never agreed with my parent's religion, but I wouldn't dream of knocking it.
      LISTER: What were they?
      RIMMER: Seventh day advent hoppists. They believed that every Sunday should be spent hopping. They would hop to church, hop through the service, then hop back home again.
      LISTER: What was the idea behind that, then?
      RIMMER: Well you see, they took the Bible literally. Adam and Eve; the snake and the apple... Took it word for word. Unfortunately, their v
      • I knew all my hours of watching weren't wasted.
        Such deadpan humour doesn't go down well in America for some reason (as the other AC responder shows)

        Theres a badly presented but excellent resource listing the scripts for most dwarf episodes here [blueyonder.co.uk]

  • Though technically, it's a company and not just one dude, The Reduced Shakespeare Company [reducedshakespeare.com] is pretty good at this sort of thing, too. By all means, if you get a chance to see them, do so. All 37 plays in 97 minutes, not bad!

  • Weren't the movies enough? (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I'd kind of hoped this hideously dull fad was over. Gess it ain't over until the very last dime is milked from it.

    Watch this post get modded down -1: Gollum by the Tolkein fanboys...
    • I'm no tolkein fanboy, but I'd love to see your post get modded down simply because you're an obvious asshole.

      Not that it matters to you, I mean, your precious karma won't be affected because you had the wit to post anonymously.

  • Check out the video clips... (Score:3, Funny)

    by borgheron ( 172546 ) on Wednesday December 29, 2004 @07:38PM (#11214230) Homepage Journal
    I've seen few things which suck as bad as this in my life.

    GJC

  • Um (Score:3, Funny)

    by CGP314 ( 672613 ) <CGP@ColinGregor y P a lmer.net> on Wednesday December 29, 2004 @07:52PM (#11214322) Homepage
    From the smeagol-and-gollum-in-the-same-body dept


    Err... they are in the same body anyway.


    Colin [colingregorypalmer.net]
  • I'll be doing my 1 finger puppet rendition of War and Peace!
  • Give it ten years and we will all be able to do this. Then we shall welcome our new hologram allies

  • One Man Star Wars Trilogy was Great! (Score:5, Informative)

    by justanyone ( 308934 ) on Wednesday December 29, 2004 @08:29PM (#11214569) Homepage Journal

    My wife and I saw the "One Man Star Wars Trilogy" as my b-day gift to her on Dec. 19th at the Apollo Theater in Chicago (on Lincoln Ave.). The tickets were $19 each plus tax. Seating was for 175 and maybe 125 people were there on a bitterly cold 5-degree-fahrenheit Sunday afternoon.

    The show was fantastic! We are relatively big star wars buffs, so the trivia contest at the start of the show was welcome. We got most of them, but several were so hard that an 11-year-old had to get it (the exact wording of Han Solo as being 'the main course' for the Ewoks).

    The person doing the show (sorry, don't remember his name) was very talented. Several people sneezed, had to step out to the lobby, or otherwise 'interrupted' the show, and he acknowledged each humorously, in character and out, then picked up where he left off. This to me was the mark of someone who has paid their dues in improv theater being a very, very fast think-on-your-feet performer.

    His intonations and body language were exquisite. He managed to make fun of the characters and still be true to the spirit of the show quite effectively. We had a wonderful night of it, a very funny and very worthwhile show!

    At the end of the evening, he gave us a preview by doing Golum ("precious") and we knew it would also be a great show.

    This is high praise from me. I've seen quite a bit of improv and small-performance theater due to a friend being in the scene and being invited to a variety of performances.

    Just my 5 cents. We'll see him again almost assuredly. I hope he makes a good DVD deal recording his performance.

    -- Kevin

  • This is a fantastic show (Score:3, Insightful)

    by bigberk ( 547360 ) <bigberk@users.pc9.org> on Wednesday December 29, 2004 @08:33PM (#11214587)
    I'm pretty sure it's the same guy... I saw the One-Man Lord of the Rings at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival [winnipegfringe.com] (like, two years ago...phhbbbbt to Chicago) and this guy is amazing. He works up a real good sweat running around, doing all the voice and physical stunts. At one point there was even a baby making distracting sounds in the audience, and he used the sounds as effects to add to his performance. The man is on speed or something, go see him if you can.
  • Now that Suprnova is gone where can I get some torrents of this guy?

    What no torrents? Bastards.
  • One man to play them all and in the darkness bind them! Seriously this sounds like quite an interesting idea, wish I could see it although I can't help wondering if it would turn out like that play in Family Guy where all the guy's characters sound the same.
  • I heard that it's been cancelled and all the showings wil now be One Man Star Wars instead. I go to a High School in the South Suburbs of Chicago. I'm pretty close with the art teacher there and we planned a big group outing with him, another teacher and some other students. He called the theater to book tickets and he was told that Charlie Ross was send a cease and desist by the Tolkien family or whoever it is that owns the rights. So we ended up booking a show that was originally supposed to be One Man

  • Must See!! (Score:3, Interesting)

    by RajoftheRings ( 799692 ) on Thursday December 30, 2004 @12:12AM (#11215904)
    I saw this at the Edmonton Fringe Festival this past summer, and as a devoted LOTR fan, I have to admit, it was AWESOME. One caveat -- the play I saw was an adaptation of Peter Jackson's movies, not of the books themselves, so be prepared for the same changes as in the movies. The videos just don't do it justice.... If you have a chance, go see this. You will not be sorry. The bigger fan you are, the more you'll appreciate the little jokes, the sideways glances, the amazing characterizations. The casual LOTR fans left amused, but not moved. I only wish that I could have seen it more than once.
  • We went and saw the show here in Victoria, BC.
    This guy's amazing. Each movie/book takes up 20 minutes and at the end of each 20 minutes the guy looks exhausted from the amount of energy he puts into the show.
    When he was doing the show in Vancouver recently, Ian McKellen was in town and saw the show. He then arranged to have it filmed and a copy sent to Peter Jackson.
    Basically it impressed Ian McKellen so much he wrote the guy a reference.
    He captures the characters and the essence of the books/movies
  • This is the first I've heard of this guy and I have to say I'm glad I live in Chicago now - I'm definitely checking it out - I can't help but think of the movie Free Enterprise [imdb.com] where William Shatner has the idea to do a musical Julius Caeser where he plays every role (except Calphunia who would be played by Sharon Stone) - absolutely brilliant ....

    "This is simultaneously the best and worst movie I've ever seen" - Justin during Free Enterprise
  • One-Man pr0n! Imagine that!
  • If you ever get the chance to see these guys ...

    I saw "The Messiah" in the mid-80's, performed by Desmond "Olivier" Dingle and his sidekick, who at the time was played by Jim Broadbent (since of The Borrowers and other movies).

    They have also done such epics as Lawrence of Arabia and IIRC The Old Testament.

    As might be expected, the mechanics of the production and ego of the director seem to get in the way of the story as often as not ...
  • was by opera-singer-turned-comedienne Anna Russell, who hilariously sings (all the parts), plays the piano, and summarizes completely accurately the entire 4-opera Ring Cycle by Wagner in 20 minutes.

    Best line: "I'm not making this up, you know!"

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