Big Picture
Kim & Kourt Take Bev Hills Plus, Daniel Radcliffe works his magic and Bruce Jenner blasts to the past. Get the latest pics!
MORE PHOTOS +Most Commented
- TV's Top Couples Tournament: Vote in the Final Round! (2036)
- TV's Top Couples Tournament: This Round Is Closed, Please Stand By (698)
- Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart Photos Galore! New Pics From Their Post-Twilight Flicks! (603)
- Afternoon Mail! Are Gleeks Having More Sex Than Vamps? (586)
- TV's Top Couple Tournament: And the Winner Is... (504)
- Beyoncé and Jay-Z Share First Photos of Baby Blue Ivy! (398)
- Whitney Houston Dead at 48 (396)
- Life After Breaking Dawn?! Maybe, Says Studio Head! (226)
- Morning Mail! Céline Dion Talks Whitney Houston's Tragic Death (222)
- Blind Vice! Nevis Divine's Sad Past (214)
Top 10 Stories
- Royal Feud Shocker! Sean Penn Slams Prince William's "Unthinkable" Deployment
- Real Housewives' Michaele Salahi & Journey's Neal Schon: Tareq Salahi Is the One Tormenting Us!
- Angelina Jolie Tears Up—Watch Her Get Emotional
- Josh Duhamel Not Coming Back for Transformers 4: Is Anyone?!
- Spoiler Chat Daily: A New Girl Baby on the Way?! Plus, Scoop on Vampire Diaries, Glee and More
- Jersey Shore Sneak Peek: Pauly D Pulls a Fast (and Dirty) One on Deena
- American Idol: Did Tent Girl Get Better? Who Passed Out Onstage? And Who's Headed to Vegas?!
- Survivor: One World Insider: Chivalry Is Dead, Y'All
- Seal Takes Off His Wedding Ring
- Kim Kardashian, Movie Star? It's "Very Much Possible," Says Tyler Perry
Fashion Police
Leighton's Valentine's Look Plus, Ashlee Simpson and Cate Blanchett. Rate the highs and lows!
MORE PHOTOS +
Our Partners
"Rings" Sings in Toronto
Middle Earth is relocating from London from Toronto--and taking Frodo and the singing Orcs along for the ride.
Producers of the musical adaptation of The Lord of the Rings announced Tuesday that they would premiere the stage spectacle in Toronto after being unable to find a suitable theater to house the production in London.
The extravaganza, replete with elaborate battle scenes, a cast of circus-trained performers and all sorts of tuneful J.R.R. Tolkein creatures, will open in March 2006 in the Princess of Wales Theatre with a budget of $22 million--the biggest ever for a theatrical production.
The show's British-born producer, Kevin Wallace, says Toronto fought hard to land the world premiere, and producers settled on the Canadian city because a large enough space wasn't available in London's West End district. The show had been aiming for a December debut in London.
"I know there will be a lot of disappointed British Tolkien fans who hoped to see the show in London, but we couldn?t get a London theater in time," Wallace told BBC News.
He says the earliest it could reach the West End is autumn 2006. No word yet on where or when the show will play in the U.S.
Wallace says the LOTR musical is certainly "worth waiting for."
"It will be like nothing [fans] have ever seen before...the production will be a hybrid of text, physical theater, music and spectacle never previously seen on this scale."
Casting will begin soon, and Wallace says the initial ensemble will likely feature mostly Canadian performers. Rehearsals begin in October. Tickets will be available on May 15.
The show, first conceived in 2001, features a book and lyrics by Matthew Warchus and Shaun McKenna, with music being composed by A.R. Rahman and Vtinith Christopher Nightingale. The production will be directed by Warchus and choreographed by Peter Darling. The source material will adhere closely to Tolkein's original trilogy, published 50 years ago, as opposed to Peter Jackson's film adaptations.
Still, producers of the musical hope to bask in Jackson's reflected box office. The director's three LOTR films have grossed $3 billion worldwide, and if the stage producers follow suit, their show would indeed be bigger than Cats.
Speaking of Jackson, the filmmaker, who spent the better part of a decade converting Tolkein to the screen, recently sued New Line Cinema, claiming the studio has stiffed him on potentially millions of dollars in profits from the first Rings installment, 2001's The Fellowship of the Ring.
0 Comments
Now loading...