We're off to dump the One Ring - the One Ring that rules over all

[khaosworks]

Oh. My. God.

It's the Return of the King - and this time he's singing
By Shara Bassi
(Filed: 14/03/2004)

The Lord of the Rings, the J R R Tolkien trilogy that was adapted into three successful, Oscar-winning films, is to become the most expensive West End musical ever made.

The epic story of Frodo's journey to Mordor through Middle Earth, which won 11 Academy Awards, will cost £8 million to stage - £1.5 million more than the current production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

A singing and dancing cast of more than 50 actors will play hobbits, elves, wizards and monsters, and Sauron, the evil Dark Lord, in complex battle scenes.

Kevin Wallace, its co-producer and a former collaborator on musicals with Lord Lloyd Webber, said that the show would open next year.

"I have been in theatre for 25 years and know the power of theatre in telling epic stories. I believe that we will be able to make a version of The Lord of the Rings that will be a brilliant piece," he said.

Mr Wallace, who was the producer at Lord Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Group for seven years, said that the musical would be three-and-a-half hours long.

"If Shakespeare can put all England on stage in Henry IV, I am confident that we can put on the whole of Middle Earth and tell the story of the entire trilogy over that time," he said.

He has already agreed a theatre for the production, but said he could not disclose which because the producers of the show running there now had not yet been told.

"There are only five theatres in London big enough to stage this show - the Palladium, the Dominion Theatre, the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, the Apollo, and the Lyceum. It is one of those," he said.

Last year, Mr Wallace was given permission to produce the musical by Saul Zaentz, the producer of such films as The English Patient and One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, who owns the stage rights.

Tolkien's heirs and literary estate have no artistic control over the musical and will get no money from it. In 1969, Tolkien sold his film and stage rights for £500,000.

Music for the show is being written by A R Rahman, the Indian composer who wrote the score for Bombay Dreams, the Lloyd-Webber musical inspired by Bollywood. He said that he was collaborating with a Finnish folk music group called Varttina.

"The project is a huge challenge," he said. "The music evades all possible definitions as it cannot be Eastern or Western; it has to be somewhere in Middle Earth."

The show is to be directed by Matthew Warchus, whose recent credits include Tell Me on a Sunday; Laurie Battle, a Tolkien scholar, will be a paid consultant.

Some of the songs will be performed in Elvish, the mythical language invented by Tolkien, but most will be sung in English. The musical will not, however, be using any of the lyrics written in poems and verse in the books.

A number of actors have already been put forward for roles in the musical but most are not household names. Mr Wallace said that this had been done on purpose because the show should not be eclipsed by its performers. "The actors do not necessarily have to be big names, but we are looking for ones with some stage and classical theatre experience. It will be a text-driven show," he said. Rehearsals will start in January and the show will open in May.

The musical follows the success of the films, that have taken more than £700 million at box offices across the world. At the Academy Awards last month, Lord of The Rings: Return of the Kings, the last in the trilogy, won best picture and Peter Jackson won best director.

Sir Ian McKellen, the Oscar-nominated actor who played the wizard Gandalf in the films, said that he was looking forward to seeing the musical on stage.

"Who would have thought that a wonderful play such as Pygmalion could be turned into a musical, and then we saw My Fair Lady and realised that it could be done. It is all down to the score and the book," he said.

Comments

[dandycat.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking that the working end of a .45 would taste pretty good around now.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

OK, admittedly, when I first heard about the movies being planned I cringed, and I went rather skeptically to see them.

That said, eeeeyow.

Maybe we'll set my author friend who hates the movies on them. I can see her cracking heads with her cane.

[playingpossum.livejournal.com]

it sounds like with all that money they're pumping into it, they're just trying to recreate a film experience onstage. something that i don't like theater becoming. it's different for me, at least.

[plaid-dragon.livejournal.com]

Don't forget this is the same reality that bought you "Jerry Springer: The Opera".

I guess it was only a matter of time before someone spotted this area of revenue had not yet been attempted with LoTR. I can't imagine that this could possibly begin to capture the stories. They had to lose a lot to get it on film with over 9 hours and a full special effects budget. How they are going to try to make this work on a stage in only 3 1/2 hours is beyond me.

Who knows - maybe it will be a rip-roaring success, and you will have sing-a-long-a-Lord-of-the-Rings in true Rocky Horror style!