Hobbitses! The Playhouse in the Park version of The Hobbit was definitely worth the $8 ticket price. 30 cute kids ran among a few adults, playing all the roles of the "younger" races of Middle Earth to the hilt. The blonde boy playing Bilbo was at least a passible actor, and most of the dwarves gruff voices were funny enough to listen to that it didn't really matter what was going on up there. By the time they were smashing up Mr. Baggins plates, I'd been drawn in.
The Playhouse is built in an old train station at the very back of the Murray city park. It seats around 100 people. Gollum sat in the seat behind me until it was his turn to creep out of the shadows and steal the show. The toy Sting's glow was surprisingly convincing in the low light, and with the exception of the wolves, all the puppet-creatures were well managed too. The narrator sounded closer to Rural Kentucky than Tolkien's homeland, but so did Beorn. Audience is everything, I suppose, and the kids in the crowd loved it. The play was a whimsical time that I think would have made Mr. Tolkien smile.  ¶   0 comments