THE LORD OF THE RINGS - LORD OF THE RINGS MUSICAL HEADS TO LONDON

A musical version of JRR TOLKIEN's trilogy THE LORD OF THE RINGS, set open in London next year (07), has been billed the most expensive production ever staged in the UK. The show had its world premiere at Toronto, Canada's Princess of Wales Theatre in March (06). It will open at London's historic Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, replacing current smash hit THE PRODUCERS. The $25 million (GBP14 million) production will open on 19 June (07). Director MATTHEW WARCHUS says, "We have not attempted to pull the novel towards the standard conventions of musical theatre, but rather to expand those conventions so that they will accommodate Tolkien's material. "As a result, we will be presenting a hybrid of text, physical theatre, music and spectacle never previously seen on this scale. "To read the novel is to experience the events of Middle Earth in the mind's eye; only in the theatre are we actually plunged into the events as they happen. "The environment surrounds us. We participate. We are in Middle Earth."