LoTR, The Musical

No, it's not a joke. Although reviewers say it's not a standard musical, it does have musical numbers in it. At three and three-quarter hours long critics claim that it is at once, not long enough, and too long. Not long enough to tell the story (Peter Jackson barely got it done in nine hours) and far too long to sit through unless you are a diehard Tolkein fan. The London-based production is so large that only a select few theatres can handle it - in fact only one venue in London (the Dominion on Tottenham Court Road) is large enough and technologically advanced enough to handle it, but it was already booked with the Queen musical, We Will Rock You. Instead, the producers took it to Toronto's Princess of Wales theatre, originally designed to stage Miss Saigon in which a helicopter lands on stage. Even that space had to be adapted to accommodate the 40-ton computer-controlled floor that is the base of the show.


Merry and Pippin meet the Ents

The price tag for the show is ridiculous - reports vary between 23 and 25 million, making it the most expensive stage show in history - and reviewers are hammering it. The harshest I found called it, "expensively, lengthily, and unspectacularly dull, dull and dull" (Tony Brown, Cleveland Plain Dealer). Ben Brantley of the New York Times called it "largely incomprehensible" and "an arcane religious pageant that can be fully appreciated only by the initiated."

Despite this, there is little doubt that it will sell tickets - fans of the trilogy aren't being given much credit for taste. One report listed 16 million in pre-sale tickets several weeks ago. If you are truly one of the faithful, you can order yours from the box office link on the show's offical website.