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Lord of the Rings Movies Media Music

LOTR to Become a London Musical 205

Posted by CmdrTaco from the can't-wait-for-gollum's-solo dept.
PenguinRadio writes "Sky is reporting that Lord of the Rings will become 'the most expensive musical ever seen in London', sporting a price tag of 8 million pounds and a running time of nearly 3 and 1/2 hours."
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LOTR to Become a London Musical More

LOTR to Become a London Musical

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  • what (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 14, 2004 @11:42AM (#8561322)
    seriously, what? this is as dumb as 'Doonsbury on Ice'. All they need is a Rick Wakeman score to ensure that noone will want to remember this existed 5 years from now.
    • they do it every year at the Bayreuth festival, don't they.

      Oh wait - that's Wagner's Ring cycle.

      • Re:hasn't this been done already? (Score:2, Funny)

        by Anonymous Coward
        Elmer: Be vewy quiet. I'm hunting wabbits. (spoken) WABBIT TWACKS!! WABBIT HOLE!! (thrusting spear) KILL THE WABBIT! KILL THE WABBIT! KILL THE WABBIT!

        Bugs: (spoken): Kill the wabbit?

        Elmer: YO HO HO! YO HO HO! YO HO...

        Bugs: Oh mighty warrior of great fighting stock Might I inquire to ask eh... what's up doc?

        Elmer: I'm going to kill the wabbit!

        Bugs: O mighty warrior, 'twill be quite a task How will you do it, might I inquire to ask?

        E: I will do it with my spear and magic hewmet.

        B: Spear and magic hewme

    • Re:what (Score:5, Funny)

      by aastanna ( 689180 ) on Sunday March 14, 2004 @01:48PM (#8562113)
      [Mark Hamill] Luke be a Jedi tonight! Just be a Jedi tonight!
      [Mark Hamill & Backing Chorus] Do it for Yoda while we serve our guests a soda!
      [Mark Hamill] And do it for Chewie and the Ewoks, and all the other puppets
      [Mark Hamill & Backing Chorus] Luke, be a Jedi tonight!

    • Re:what (Score:2, Funny)

      by moviepig.com ( 745183 )
      Right. Seems more sensible to wait for...

      . . . the theme park
      . . . the self-help seminar
      . . . the fragrance and cosmetic line
      . . . The Passion of Frodo
      . . . the Time-Life series

  • Like 'His Dark Materials' (Score:4, Informative)

    by sheriff_p ( 138609 ) on Sunday March 14, 2004 @11:43AM (#8561332)
    Rather surprisingly, they managed to turn the almost-as-complex His Dark Materials trilogy into what is, by all accounts, a fantastic stage show ... I'll certainly be getting tickets to see this...

  • Cant wait for some scenes... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by -kertrats- ( 718219 ) on Sunday March 14, 2004 @11:43AM (#8561333) Journal
    Gollum crooning to the ring in his cave...

  • I think we all know what is coming (Score:5, Funny)

    by smoondog ( 85133 ) on Sunday March 14, 2004 @11:44AM (#8561346)
    This. [mac.com]

    /Obvious

  • LOTR, the... musical? (Score:5, Funny)

    by LordK3nn3th ( 715352 ) on Sunday March 14, 2004 @11:44AM (#8561349)
    I can't imagine elves jumping around a stage singing about forest like or whatever...

  • Article text - not that anyone reads it anyway... (Score:3, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 14, 2004 @11:45AM (#8561352)
    LOTR RINGS TO BE MUSICAL
    Fresh from its runaway success at the Oscars, fantasy epic Lord of the Rings is set to hit the stage as a lavish musical, reports say.

    Producers are planning to turn the book series into the most expensive musical ever seen in London, according to the Sunday Telegraph.

    News of the musical version comes weeks after the final film installment of the trilogy, Return Of The King, won 11 Academy Awards.

    The 8m production will see dozens of actors portray hobbits, elves, wizards and orcs in complex battle scenes.

    "I have been in theatre for 25 years and I know the power of theatre in telling epic stories," said co-producer Kevin Wallace, a former collaborator of successful stage composer Andrew Lloyd Webber.

    "I believe that we will be able to make a version of The Lord of the Rings that will be a brilliant piece," he told the newspaper.

    The show, to open next year, would last a mammoth three and a half hours, Wallace said.

    "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.

    The three books in the Lord of the Rings series, chronicling the struggle between good and evil in Middle Earth, were written by

    British author JRR Tolkien from 1954-55 and have proved enduringly popular ever since.

  • Checks watch... (Score:5, Funny)

    by sdo1 ( 213835 ) on Sunday March 14, 2004 @11:45AM (#8561356) Journal
    Nope. April 1st isn't for another 18 days. Nice try though.

    -S
    • Nope. April 1st isn't for another 18 days. Nice try though.

      Ugh, thanks for reminding me though, I have to remember to NOT log in on April 1. It's good for a joke or two but when nearly ever frickin' site and forum has a big April Fools thing, it cuts the value of the Internet from minimal to nil for an entire day.
      • Longer than that on Slashdot. It takes nearly a week for all the clueless "that can't be true" posts, the complaints, the me-too jokes, and all the other content-free posts to stop dominating the discussion. I usually stop metamoderating for a couple weeks!

  • Ruined. (Score:2, Interesting)

    by hot_Karls_bad_cavern ( 759797 )
    i'm calling it already - they are going to ruin this. Wow, i am really amazed that something like this is allowed. i'm not trolling, but damn who's responsible for this?

    • Re:Ruined. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by dswensen ( 252552 ) on Sunday March 14, 2004 @12:30PM (#8561622) Homepage
      I once read an interview with comic book author Alan Moore in which the interviewer asked him how he felt about his comics being "ruined" by dismal, piece-of-crap movie adaptations (League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and the like).

      He responded. "Ruined my books? No, they're fine, they're right over there on the shelf."

      I feel the same way about this. Certainly it has every chance of being a dismal, laughable production, but the original source material has survived worse lambasting already at the hands of the Harvard Lampoon and a thousand poor imitators writing ten-book doorstop epics in homage to Tolkien. The original LOTR material is going to be just fine.

  • Ugh (Score:2, Funny)

    by Rick Zeman ( 15628 )
    "The Ballad of Shelob."

    I'll pass, thank you.

  • OOohhh... give it a rest... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Davak ( 526912 ) on Sunday March 14, 2004 @11:47AM (#8561366) Homepage
    How long before people start having a backlash against LOTRs?

    4000 recent awards, the actors are plastered on every talk show, multiple console games, 3 recent highly pushed movies --shouldn't they just take a breather?

    Wouldn't waiting a few years and then bringing the story back in a different format be refreshing for the story?

    Davak

    • Re:OOohhh... give it a rest... (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Wouldn't waiting a few years and then bringing the story back in a different format be refreshing for the story?

      NO! These days when content producers find a hit property on their hands they must cram it down the public's throat incessantly and milk it for every last cent they can, now, now, now! Who cares if people get sick of it more quickly that way, as long as short-term profit from it is maximized?

      Remember a few years ago when ABC discovered that for some reason people loved "Who Wants to be a Millio
    • Yeah, I mean... Slashdot even has a LOTR category!

    • Why do you think... (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Kjella ( 173770 )
      ...Jackson is doing King Kong instead of "The Hobbit" or whatnot (apart from some legal issue as well)? You can't really go "wrong" with it, the story is known, people don't expect a deep story into the magic Middle Earth, and there's no need to change the plot that much, as it's already a movie and not a huge book.

      It's basicly a breather - because no matter how it turns out, everybody will be concerned with what he has done and will be doing "Welcome to this press conference about King Kong" "When will we
    • Yup. It seems LOTR has cyclical rebirths in interest. It's like the Civil War that way. ... I heard an interesting comment that fascination with the Civil War tends to revive during prolonged periods of peace... I guess us Americans just need our blood fix now and then
  • Dear lord, this has to be a prank.
    Please let it be a prank.
    Please please let it be a prank.

    Some people will apparently have rather strong feelings about this, I suppose.

  • Sarah Brightman/Nathan Lane .... (Score:4, Informative)

    by adzoox ( 615327 ) * on Sunday March 14, 2004 @11:48AM (#8561381) Journal
    My vote for: Sarah Brightman as Arwen Nathan Lane as Sam Deborah Gibson as Galadriel Micheal Crawford as Gandalf Choosing Frodo would be difficult Are the actors going to have be on their kness the whole performance?

  • The Nazgul Chorus (Score:5, Funny)

    by andrewa ( 18630 ) on Sunday March 14, 2004 @11:48AM (#8561383)
    (Courtesy of Daily Telegraph)
    I met him down in Mordor, he gave me the eye -
    Da do Sauron-ron, da do Sauron,
    And then he nearly slayed me, what a wicked guy!
    Da do Sauron-ron, da do Sauron.

  • Dupe (Score:3, Informative)

    by hansonc ( 127888 ) on Sunday March 14, 2004 @11:49AM (#8561387) Homepage
    it's yet another dupe [slashdot.org]

    -CH

  • Sounds good (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Hogwash McFly ( 678207 ) on Sunday March 14, 2004 @11:50AM (#8561389)
    Now I'm no musical afficionado, having only been to one London musical - We Will Rock You [queenonline.com] - but there's a certain magic (no pun intended) I experienced that can not be acheived through film (that's not to say films are inferior, it's more of an apples and oranges comparison). With a big budget like that, I'm sure the stage props, effects and costumes will be fantastic and will portray the LOTR trilogy through yet another medium. Sure, the purists might complain that Bombadil's left foot was uncharacteristically two inches too far to the right, but for the fans that actually see natural light, then they'll be in for a treat.

    What's next, a ten part HBO miniseries?

    • Re:Sounds good (Score:2, Informative)

      by blowdart ( 31458 )
      Off topic, but you say the wrong thing. Next time go see Jerry Springer, The Opera [jerrysprin...eopera.com]. Worth it for the tap dancing KKK chorus line alone.
    • What's next, a ten part HBO miniseries?

      Yes, of course! - and then an animated series (a new one, in 3D and stuff), and a spinoff prime-time sitcom, and an LOTR-themed reality TV show, and a MMORPG game...

      That will be a great follow-up to the series of books, the first animated series, the current trilogy (with The Hobbit on its way), and about 14 different videogames on several platforms. Each accompanied with its own marketing blitz, so your kid can wear Aragorn tennis shoes and eat Gollum breakfast c

  • Pushing it... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by gloth ( 180149 ) on Sunday March 14, 2004 @11:53AM (#8561411)
    Adapting LotR to anything is a bold undertaking. Peter Jackson took the enormous risk to turn it into a movie trilogy, and succeeded, IMO, in the sense that apparently most avoid Tolkien fans seem to approve of his work, even though there are concerns about "streamlining" or "cutting corners" here and there. And I think Jackson deserves an enormous amount of credit for this.

    Now, 10 hours of movies are yet quite different from 3 hours of musical. To bring this to the stage in a successful manner, a lot of streamlining and cutting will have to be done, with a tremendous risk of falling short of the original. I will admit that I was sceptical about the movies, and Jackson proved me wrong. I am even more sceptical here.

    There are times where it's wise not to tempt fate, and pass on some challenges, instead of taking your shot at it and fail. Come up with your own original story and knockyourself out, no problem. But taint the work of Tolkien with a failed attempt of an adaptation, and people will remember you for a long time...

  • didn't the film come out? Won't the musical tell the same story?
    1. 1. Release film adaption of book.
    1. 2. Profit!
    1. 3. Release musical adaption of book while still popular
    1. 4. Profit!

  • Oh no (Score:5, Funny)

    by The_Shadows ( 255371 ) <thelureofshadows ... minus physicist> on Sunday March 14, 2004 @11:57AM (#8561434) Homepage
    I think I speak for everyone here when I say "That's the worst idea I've ever heard, and I don't want to play."

    Hobbit's scampering about on the stage in a chorus line?

    The deadly dance of the orcs?

    Sam's love ballad to Frodo?

    I can just envision Gandalf dancing, tossing away his hat and staff for a top hat and cane.

    There are so many reasons this needs to NOT happen.

    • Agreed. (Score:2, Insightful)

      by hot_Karls_bad_cavern ( 759797 )
      I think I speak for everyone here when I say "That's the worst idea I've ever heard, and I don't want to play."

      i hear you and agree. i mean, it was a large enough leap to turn such glorious stories loose with Peter Jackson (i'm not bashing him, hear me out) to make a movie. When i first heard about the movies being made, i was, honestly, afraid. Afraid of how bad they might fuck those wonderful stories up, ruining all the images i'd created of those worlds in my head.

      All in all, i must say Peter Jackson
    • I'm not so sure. Dark musicals can work nicely; Les Miserables never comes across as silly in its most serious moments; there was hardly a dry eye in the house when the students were killed one by one in the final battle of their revolution. One of the most memorable scenes in the film for me involved music, when Pippin sings a song and it is used for the background of Faramir and his men heading to their deaths. I'll admit I haven't seen the animated adaptation, but I've heard some of the music and I have
    • A pantomime cave troll. One guy standing on the other's shoulders, swinging a big club.

      (Groan).

    • Yeah, next thing you know, the Elves will be singing "tra la la lolly". Oh, wait a sec, that was in The Hobbit.
  • Maybe we should start a slashdot "Write your Own Song" contest for the new movie.

    "My name is Smeagol
    Got eyes like an eagle
    Like to eat fish
    but I don't like beagles"

    I don't know. Maybe you can do better.

    "A lion, is eating, my foot off, somebody call a cop". Oops, that's Mel Brooks.

  • Paging Joss Whedon... (Score:5, Funny)

    by joeszilagyi ( 635484 ) on Sunday March 14, 2004 @11:57AM (#8561437)
    (Gandalf)
    I've got a theory, that it's a Nazgul, A dancing Nazgul. No, something isn't right there.

    (Frodo)
    I've got a theory, that Bilbo is dreamin' And we're all stuck inside his wacky Broadway nightmare.

    (Aragorn)
    I've got a theory we should work this out.

    (The Fellowship except Gandalf)
    It's getting eerie, what's this cheery singing all about?

    (Gimli)
    It could be Elves, some evil Elves. Which is ridiculous 'cause Elves they were persecuted wicked good and loved Middle Earth and fairie power and I'll be over here.

    (Merry)
    I've got a theory, it could be lunchtime...
    [crickets chirping]


    • (Gollum)Hobbits arent as cute as everybody supposes!..
      whats with the hairy feet and tricksy riddle-poses*??

      (* sorry that's the best i could come up with)
    • in response to questions, I wrote these lyrics myself and they are copyrighted in their entirety to me. Except for the bits by Joss Whedon and JRR Tolkien.
    • Troy: [singing] I hate every ape I see From chimpan-a to chimpan-zee No, you'll never make a monkey out of me

      Oh my God, I was wrong It was Earth all along

      You've finally made a monkey

      Apes: Yes, we've finally made a monkey

      Troy: Yes, you've finally made a monkey out of me

      Apes: Yes, we've finally made a monkey out of you

      Troy: I love you, Dr. Zaius!

    • (Frodo:)
      I lived my life in Bagend
      Never an adventure to face
      I did not seem so bad though
      We figured that was our place

      Now I've got this ring
      What do I do with that thing?
      I am under its spell
      Gandalf can it be
      It's making me so hard to see
      Its power I can tell
      How it's keeping me
      From aging far less rapidly

      (Gandalf:)
      I see a world endangered
      Nazgul and Orcs everywhere
      I always took for granted
      The one ring would never be there
      But its power shone
      Brighter than I've ever known

      Now we know so well
      Nothing we can do
      We 've g
  • Howard Shore is apparently touring the US with a 6-movement symphony version of his soundtrack.

    One station will be Atlanta, [atlantasymphony.org] where he will conduct the ASO (Hi Larry...).

  • Yes but (Score:3, Funny)

    by nizo ( 81281 ) on Sunday March 14, 2004 @12:01PM (#8561461) Homepage Journal
    how are they going to dance and sing for 9 hours, and who is going to sit through a play that long???

    The best part will be when they are pretending to ride horses everywhere, should make any serious scene look totally absurd.
    • Ahh 3.5 hours, hey that is over 1 hour per book, should be plenty.

    • Re:Yes but (Score:3, Insightful)

      by WankersRevenge ( 452399 )
      Had I not seen the theatrical production of the Lion King, I might agree with you. That production really set the standard as far as creating imaginitive animals on stage. Granted, it was put together by Julie Taymor who is quite a talented artist. But let me tell you, watching the production - you could see both children and adults captivated by the sheer spectacle in front of them.

      But don't get me wrong. I have the same level of interest at viewing this play as any ordinary joe who is morbidly fasc

  • Too short (Score:3, Insightful)

    by leandrod ( 17766 ) <l@dutras . o rg> on Sunday March 14, 2004 @12:14PM (#8561538) Homepage Journal
    3.5h? Don't kid. The movies already suffered from six books (The Hobbit plus the five-books, usually three-volumes The Lord of The Rings) being too condensed.

    • Maybe if you are a Tolkien fan of some sort. I watched The Lord of the Rings as a theater play maybe a year before the first film came out, and I really liked it - actually much better than the three films.

      Good storytelling doesn't require you to repeat every small detail (or even the bigger ones). It is much more important to get the feeling of you being in that story. The films never gave me that feeling. The theater did. But I haven't read the books.

      • >

        Good storytelling doesn't require you to repeat every small detail

        Sure, Tolkien is not about details. But the books are so rich, not necessarily on details but in depth, that the movies came out as quite shallow.

        Perhaps the theatre has managed to get some depth. But then the story will be so changed it should really be called something else. Go read the books, just take your time and be sure to read The Hobbit first. In a few months come back and tell me your judgement.

        • But then the story will be so changed it should really be called something else.

          ...and nobody would be interested.

          I think it is wrong to expect exactly the image you have got after reading a book. It frustrates sometimes me too, but at least you could give one a chance. There's no way they could fit all those books into three and a half hour of theater as you pointed out.

          Go read the books, just take your time and be sure to read The Hobbit first.

          I'll do that. :-)

          • >
            nobody would be interested

            Then it is a marketing coup, not theatre.

            Sad, true.

            >
            no way they could fit all those books into three and a half hour of theater

            So they should not try, or give it another title.

  • Best number in the show is.... (Score:5, Funny)

    by K1-V116 ( 754806 ) on Sunday March 14, 2004 @12:17PM (#8561551)

    ...when the Fellowship sings "The Hills are Alive..." on the slopes of Carhadras?

  • Mr. frodo Mr. frodo
    *everyone*: MR. FRODO MR. FRODO

    Gollum: Can you get the ring?
    Sauron: you know, that little thing?
    Frodo: Im not sure, but i know I can sing!

    *everyone*: MR. FRODO MR. FRODO

    and so on..

  • Strongest little hobbit of them aaaaaaaall... (Score:5, Funny)

    by IntergalacticWalrus ( 720648 ) on Sunday March 14, 2004 @12:25PM (#8561596)
    If it doesn't have Leonard Nimoy singing the ballad of Bilbo Baggins, it will fail for sure.

  • Two links (Score:2, Informative)

    by WaterTroll ( 761727 )
    The whole singing thing really wouldn't be my kind of thing to enjoy. But the orchestra I would definitely buy a ticket for.
    You can actually find it out on a CD here [euronet.nl] and some Ogg and MP3 files in a another directory here [fenk.wau.nl]

  • a musical??? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Savatte ( 111615 ) on Sunday March 14, 2004 @12:36PM (#8561651) Homepage Journal
    what's next? turning it into a book?

  • The Inevitable Silmarillion Comment (Score:5, Funny)

    by dswensen ( 252552 ) on Sunday March 14, 2004 @12:36PM (#8561653) Homepage
    I think Mel Gibson ought to direct a musical of "The Silmarillion" done entirely in Elvish. Estimated running time: 13 hours!

    That ought to cure the general public of their love for Tolkien's material in a big hurry!

  • Can't be any worse... (Score:3, Funny)

    by CrazyTalk ( 662055 ) on Sunday March 14, 2004 @12:52PM (#8561736)
    than the Planet of the Apes [theforbidden-zone.com] musical.

    "I hate every ape I see From Chimpan-A to Chimpan-Z"

  • Scene One (Score:3, Interesting)

    by ElizabethP ( 761770 ) on Sunday March 14, 2004 @01:13PM (#8561838)
    [INTRO]:

    to be recited by a middle earthsman with a British accent

    There once was a hobbit named Smeegle
    This Hobbit sure turned rather evil
    He beheld that darned ring
    Yes, that horrid thing
    That made desparate humans to wheedle

    We must destroy that curse
    Nothing could be worse
    Than a crazy wizzard
    With eyes like a lizzard
    For evil, he has a thirst

    I'll take my axe and you your bow,
    And on this mission we'll go
    We'll cross distant lands
    And lend one another a hand
    So let's get on with the show!

  • Script Leaked (Score:4, Funny)

    by Flave ( 193808 ) on Sunday March 14, 2004 @01:14PM (#8561842)
    I hear Time Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber are doing the music. A snippet of the script has already leaked to the net:

    Setting: Stern of ship as it sails West into the sunset.

    Scene MCLXXXVIII
    (Frodo stands on stool so he can be seen over stern of ship.)

    FRODO SINGS:

    Mem'ry
    All alone in the Shire
    I can smile at the old days
    Life was beautiful then
    I remember
    The time I knew what happiness was
    Let the mem'ry live again

    (Gandalf, stage left)

    GANDALF SINGS:

    Don't cry for me, Middle Earth
    The truth is I never left you
    All through my wild days
    My mad existence
    I kept my promise
    Don't keep your distance

    (Chorus of elves, dwarves and men start dancing a-la Can-Can, stage right.)

    CHORUS SINGS:

    Frodo Baggins, Superstar
    How tall are you, what have you sacrificed?
    Frodo Baggins, Superstar
    Do you think you're gay as they say you are?

    • FRODO BAGGINS SINGS:

      In sleep he spoke to me, in dreams he came
      That voice which calls to me, and speaks my name
      And do I dream again, for now i find
      The master of the One Ring is there, inside my mind

  • Springtime for Sauron (Score:3, Funny)

    by saforrest ( 184929 ) on Sunday March 14, 2004 @01:22PM (#8561888) Journal
    (Adapted from the opening of The Producers, with apologies to Mel Brooks.)

    Middle-Earth was having trouble, what a sad sad story
    Needed a new leader to restore its former glory
    Where oh where was he
    Where could that lord be?

    We looked around, and then we found
    The Maia for you and me

    So, now its Springtime for Sauron, and Middle-Earth
    Mordor is happy and gay,
    We're marching to a faster pace
    Look out here comes the Orcish race

    Springtime for Sauron, and Middle-Earth
    Winter for Gondor and Rohan
    Springtime for Sauron, and Middle-Earth
    Come up Ringwraiths, go into your dance.

    Nazgul Lord: I did get a magic ring, and that is why I'm the Witch-King.
    Nazgul: Don't be stupid, be a braino, don't throw the ring in the volcano.

    Springtime for Sauron, and Middle-Earth
    (Clash of iron on iron)
    Goose-step's the new step today
    (Oliphant bellows)
    Fell Beasts in the skies again,
    (Fell Beast cries shrilly)
    Mordor is on the rise again

    Springtime for Sauron, and Middle-Earth
    Corsairs are sailing once more
    Springtime for Sauron, and Middle-Earth
    Means ... that ... soon we'll be going ...
    We've got to be going ...
    You know we'll be going to ... WAR!

  • Rankin-Bass adaptations were musicals (Score:4, Interesting)

    by brocktune ( 512373 ) on Sunday March 14, 2004 @01:28PM (#8561925) Homepage
    Rankin-Bass did "The Hobbit" and "Return of the King". Remember the toe-tappers "Where there's a whip, there's a way" and "Frodo of the Nine Fingers"? And that Godawful warbling singer?

    I actually think it could be decent if it's done right. Professional stage people know how to grab the audience. I've been to several Broadway shows that I just knew would be crap, and 30 minutes in, I was swinging my feet and humming along just like everybody else. Musicals have a different vocabulary than film, and they just might pull it off.

  • *Sarumon* (Sung to the tune of *Spiderman*)
    Sarumon, Sarumon.
    Does whatever Lord Sauron can.
    Casts a spell, any size.
    Breeding orcs, just like flies.
    Hey there, there goes Lord Sarumon.

    Is he strong? Listen, Dork,
    He's got armies of super orcs.
    Can he change Isengard?
    All night long, plotting hard.
    Look out! There goes Lord Sarumon.

    [more later]

    *Rohan* (Sung to the tune of *Roxanne*)
    [Lyrics open with Worntongue]
    Rohan
    You don't have to have to put up a good fight.
    Rohan
    You don't have to sell out your

  • Guess where the music is being outsourced (Score:3, Informative)

    by ajayvb ( 657479 ) on Sunday March 14, 2004 @01:42PM (#8562061) Homepage
    no, not Bangalore. But a place called Chennai (formerly Madras). One of India's foremost composers is doing the music [bbc.co.uk]

  • I smell trouble. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by WesternActor ( 300755 ) on Sunday March 14, 2004 @01:46PM (#8562100) Homepage
    I can only envision one of two possibilities for how this is going to turn out: (1) The most amazing thing ever, or (2) The biggest flop in the history of the musical theatre.

    The problem is that, for the most part, really epic stories are simply not endemic to the musical theatre art form. How many have there been? And, of those, how many have truly been successful? Even theatre epics, like Show Boat or Les Miserables are still pretty small in scope when compared to something The Lord of the Rings because they focus pretty pointedly on people, whereas LOTR is about big events, big stakes, and even larger plot points.

    Shrinking the story down to where it would it would on the musical stage, and still leave room for the things every play needs (exposition, characterization, and, probably most importantly, songs) would be almost impossible under the best circumstances, and most of the people involved simply aren't of the proven calibre necessary to pull all this off. Sure, A.R. Rahman had some kind of a success with Bombay Dreams, but what in Matthew Warchus's resume suggests he's even remotely qualified to handle something on this scale? He's talented, yes, but not with material of this size. His solution to staging one of Broadway's most traditionally opulent musicals--Follies--on Broadway in 2001 was to strip away everything that made it so oversized and, in its original production, so thrilling. If you do that with The Lord of the Rings, what's left?

    So, while I wish them the best of luck, they're really facing a difficult struggle, and I'm not sure they will be able to pull it off. Under most circumstances, I would suggest that they rework the idea as an opera, or perhaps a series of operas, but of course, Richard Wagner already did that with Der Ring des Nibeluengen, and the less comparison The Lord of the Rings has with that, the better, I think. It will be unavoidable in any case, but critics (and audiences) will have their knives sharpened going into this, and it will have to be even that much better to win them over. I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy the challenges facing the creators of this musical.

    • The preferred term for musical flops is "Worst since Carrie".

      Yes, there was a Stephen King musical. But it's bets not to mention it in polite company...

      • ...taken from Ken Mandelbaum's (fantastic) 1991 book, is "Not since Carrie..."

        Although, I must say that, despite the ridiculousness of its execution by director Terry Hands, who staged the entire thing as a Greek tragedy, there was some excellent music in it. "And Eve Was Weak" and "Evening Prayers" were ravishingly dramatic, "I Remember How Those Boys Could Dance" was heartbreaking, and "When There's No One" was very dramatically stirring, cutting right to the heart of what Margaret must be experiencing

    • most of the people involved simply aren't of the proven calibre necessary to pull all this off.

      And what proven calibre did Peter Jackson have before he started working on the LOTR trilogy?
      • And what proven calibre did Peter Jackson have before he started working on the LOTR trilogy?

        Nice try, but I don't think your analogy works. The problem is that epic stories lend themselves to film much better than stage. Sure, it would have been possible for Jackson to screw up the films--it's happened before with the same property, has it not?--but I maintain that it would have been harder than it will be for Matthew Warchus and company to botch a stage musical using the same subject matter. For one

  • Website (Score:3, Informative)

    by ctaylor ( 160829 ) on Sunday March 14, 2004 @01:56PM (#8562171) Homepage
    There is an official website: www.thelordoftheringsmusical.com [thelordoft...usical.com]

    That info aside, I know some of the people working on this and they are truly passionate fans of the book. I know nothing about the musical itself, but I'm more than willing to remain open-minded about it's quality until I learn more.

    ObDisclosure: I work on Tolkien licensed products.

  • Only 3 1/2 hours? (Score:3, Funny)

    by 0x0d0a ( 568518 ) on Sunday March 14, 2004 @02:02PM (#8562209) Journal
    a running time of nearly 3 and 1/2 hours.

    Only 3 1/2 hours?

    They're going to cut Tom Bombadil again!
    • I doubt it; if there's any kind of adaptation where Tom Bombadil is really gonna be at home, it's in a musical. That character was pretty much born for this!

      Now, Glorfindel, on the other hand... you know he's gonna get the shaft again.
  • 2003-10-29 07:22:05 Lord of the Rings live musical from Bollywood (articles,lotr) (rejected)
  • Sort of. At least in their animated "Return of the King" the orcs were singing "Where there's a Whip, there's a Way".

    It's actually a catchy tune, for dreck.

  • At least if it's going to be like Le Miz.

    These kind of mega-musicals are pretty much soulless, special effects driven money making machines. Le Miserables the book is passionate, insightful, and spiritual. Le Miz the musical is a sentimental melodrama. I'd hate to see LotR get the same treatment.

    LotR has a lot in common with Victor Hugo's book. On the surface it can be taken as an adventure tale, but there's much more to it. I've probably read the LotR trilogy once a year for the last thirty years.
  • ...with plans for sequels entitled "Die Walkure," "Siegfried," and "Gotterdammerung."
  • I saw "The Hobbit" stage play in London in December, 2000. It was the worst professionally-produced play I have ever seen.

    It wasn't really a musical, though there were a couple of songs in it. The play basically consisted of the actors chasing the scenery around the stage and wrestling with elaborate costumes while shouting their lines.

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