Tulsa Youth Opera: "The Hobbit"
Lorton Performance Center
June 8, 2025
Last weekend I saw Tulsa Youth Opera perform The Hobbit, an adaptation of the J.R.R. Tolkien novel, as an opera. In another era of my life, it’d be hard to convince me that I would be watching children do an opera, or that The Hobbit’s plot line would make for a serviceable opera, or that I’d be watching children do an opera of The Hobbit, or that I would be reviewing it for work. Sometimes only a few things can be true, and sometimes a bunch of things can be true at once.
But I go to a lot of operas now, and I’m a big Tolkien boy, so I dragged my adult ass over to TU and watched this show.
I am pleased to announce that it was great. It was so much fun. I was very surprised by how talented some of these kids were; even the little little guys, who could barely sing or keep to a rhythm, were so funny and added so much to the atmosphere that I couldn’t even bring myself to care that they weren’t opera superstars. (Of course they’re not! They’re eight. Chill out, Zack.)
Emma Greenway as Bilbo Baggins was absolutely fantastic. The character of Bilbo needs to be flexible, able to be remorseful as well as cheerful—a pipe-smoking cheese hound who finds himself in over his head. I loved Greenway’s ability to take over the stage with a quick showstopper monologue, turning in an instant from excitement about the adventure to horror at the responsibility for other peoples’ lives. In this Bilbo’s hands, an obviously fake sword took on mythic importance.
Brock Cannon’s Gollum was—and I’m not just saying this to be nice because it’s a youth production—truly terrifying and impressive. Able to mimic Andy Serkis’s Gollum Voice to a nearly pitch-perfect degree, Cannon cavorted and leapt around the stage, willing to go to diabolical lengths to get the character across. At several points, Cannon literally let a rush of saliva out of his mouth and onto the stage to showcase Gollum’s more desperate moments. These kids are committed!