It was only a matter of time. The epic The Lord of the Rings is being adapted into a 3 hour stage musical. Well… why not I guess. It worked out pretty damn well for The Lion King.
The hard working folks over at The Globe and Mail let us in on this little bit of news:
A much-anticipated musical based on The Lord of the Rings will have its world premiere in Toronto next year, the show’s producers announced Tuesday. Wallace had hoped to open the show in London in the fall, but no theater large enough to accommodate the technically complex production was available. The musical is now slated to open in London in autumn 2006.
The three-hour stage adaptation will feature book and lyrics by Shaun McKenna (Lautrec, Maddie) and Matthew Warchus (Tony nominated director of Art and True West), and music by A.R. Rahman (Bombay Dreams) and Finnish group Varttina with Christopher Nightingale. “We have not attempted to pull the novel towards the standard conventions of musical theater, but rather to expand those conventions so that they will accommodate Tolkien’s material,” he said.
And it’s opening in Toronto!! That’s only about a 435 minute drive from my place. Yay! I have to admit I’m a closet fan of the stage (although I don’t see nearly enough of it). It was also interesting to see that they’re adapting the production from the books instead of the movies. We’ll see if that really holds up.
