Abby Epplett, Historian

In my first essay after my winter holiday hiatus, I begin a new chapter to Lord of the Rings: The Animated Musical where I describe the process of research and producing a hypothetical adaptation of the bestselling book series by British linguist J.R.R. Tolkien. At last, I will begin presenting selections of dialogue and music to accommodate the concept art that I began creating in 2024. Composers commonly make demo recordings of their work using themselves or their friends as the performing artists, from “I’m in the Middle of a Muddle” for the 1950 Disney animation Cinderella sung by middle-aged male songwriters Mack David , Al Hoffman , and Jerry Livingston instead of a peppy young woman like the title character, or an early version of “How Far I’ll Go” for the 2016 Disney animation Moana sung by Broadway star Phillipa Soo , a close friend of its songwriter Lin-Manuel Miranda , since her voice perfectly matched the protagonist. But before I reveal my own demo reel, I ne...

I am taking a brief hiatus from working directly with The Lord of the Rings and other texts by J.R.R. Tolkien to talk about another facet of my project: musical theater. Tolkien’s works contain songs in a variety of genres along with implied dance sequences. My hypothetical animated musical will honor these creative choices. The reader may ask, why did Tolkien write in this distinctive style? While he was likely inspired by a myriad of historical European traditions — Celtic bards , Nordic skalds , Greek aoidoi , and other ancient singers — his stylistic choices to include lush descriptions of scenery, contemporary slang, and passages of dialog show similarities with lavish Broadway productions. Tolkien did not have the luxury of living in New York City and seeing the latest hit during its first run, and London’s West End did not support the type of musicals seen across the water , but movie editions allowed British fans to catch a glimpse of this new medium. Interestingly, th...