Finrod's Song
| Convention skit | |
|---|---|
| Title | Finrod-Zong, The Ring of Felagund, Finrod, the rock opera |
| Fandom(s) | The Silmarillion |
| Author(s) | Larisa Bocharova, Lina Vorobjova |
| Troupe | The Rock Order Temple, Theatre "Eterius" |
| Date(s) | 2001 |
| Type(s) | musical theatre |
| External link(s) | "Finrod-Zong" on Zilantcon 2001 (with eng sub); Finrod, the rock opera (2014); Finrod-Zong: full Russian lyrics with commentaries |
| Related articles on Fanlore. | |
Finrod-Zong is a musical in Russian, created by the creative organization Temple. Finrod-Zong was written in 2001 by Larisa Bocharova (Laura) and Lina Vorobyova (Iovin). It tells a version of part of JRR Tolkien's The Silmarillion, focused on Finrod Felagund, Beren, Luthien and Sauron. The musical has been received with great acclaim and is still widely popular among both the Russian Tolkien fans and the fans of Russian contemporary musical theatre.
Since 2017, the original company, Temple, has stopped performing the original Finrod-Zong, replacing it with the renewed version, entitled The Ring of Felagund, that premiered in Moscow on December 23, 2017.[1] The name Finrod-Zong is now reserved for annual April 1 performances with cross-gender cast.[2]
The musical is also occasionally performed by Theatre "Eterius" under the name of Finrod, the rock opera.
In 2016, an English translation of the lyrics featured in the premier performance was created by Victoria Clare.
History
2001-2002
Finrod-Zong premiered on November 5, 2001 at the role playing festivale Zilantkon in Kazan. Later, Temple used the recordings of the Zilantkon and Moscow performances as well as the material they shot at the National Park of Taganay in 2001 to put together the first official video, released by the Fangorn Video studio on DVD, CD-MPEG4, VideoCD and VHS.
Cast
- Beren - Vladimir Pogonets
- Luthien - Tam Greenhill
- Finrod - Roman Susaliov
- Galadriel - Larisa Bocharova
- Sauron - Nikita Koledin
- Thingol - Ivan Serebrennikov
- Melian - Svetlana Sukhovaya
- Caranthir - Pavel Yepifanovsky
- Curufin - Viktor Strigun
- Celegorm - Yuri Nikolaev
- Amarië - Yekaterina Alioshinskaya
Canon divergences in the musical
- In "The Ballad of Galadriel" Galadriel calls Finrod her "only brother", while canonically she has 3 or 4 elder brothers (depending on whether you count Orodreth as her brother or as her nephew).
- It is strongly implied in "The Oath of the Sons of Fёanor" that Celegorm and Curufin (and Caranthir in the original version) are the only remaining sons of Fёanor by the time the events of the story take place, although all seven of them should still be alive, according to The Silmarillion.
- In "The Quarrel of the Sons of Fёanor" the sons of Fёanor are visited by Thingol, who promises to marry off Luthien to the brother who manages to dissuade her from following Beren, and to make the other one the king of Nargothrond. Despite being a major divergence point, this doesn't change the plot of the story.
- Although the sons of Fёanor stop and confront Luthien, they do not take her prisoner and let her go once they realize that she is not going to change her mind.
- In the 2008's studio version of Finrod-Zong, as well as in Finrod, the rock opera Curufin is the oldest of the two sons of Fёanor. The reason for that change remains unknown.
References
- ^ The Ring of Felagund on February 10th, 2018 - the official page of the premier's re-run.
- ^ April Fool's Day Finrod-Zong - the official page of the event that took place on March 31st, 2018.