The Lord of the Rings Musical
The Lord of the Rings Musical has been the largest, and most expensive, effort to adapt J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings into a musical. It was first shown in Toronto but to mixed reviews, it closed early and re-opened in London with a new script although reviews were still far from perfect.
Toronto
The Toronto musical was three-and-a-half hours long, had 65 actors, and was located at the Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto, Canada. The show cost approximately $26.9 million and ran from March 23rd (press opening), 2006 to September 3rd, 2006, closing at a loss.
Cast
London
After the musical moved to London, the stage was rebuilt, the script rewritten, and shortened to three hours. Previews began at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane on May 9th, 2007 and the premiere was on June 19, 2007. The musical had the same creative team but had minor changes in the cast, with only 50 actors in this version. The reported total cost was approximately $49 million, making it one fo the most expensive musicals outside of Las Vegas.
Cast
- Gandalf - Malcolm Storry
- Frodo - James Loye
- Gollum - Michael Therriault
- Aragorn - Jérôme Pradon
- Galadriel - Laura Michelle Kelly
- Sam - Peter Howe
- Merry - Richard Henders
- Pippin - Owen Sharpe
- Legolas - Michael Rouse
- Gimli - Sévan Stephan
- Boromir - Steven Miller
- Arwen - Rosalie Craig
- Saruman - Brian Protheroe
- Elrond - Andrew Jarvis
- Bilbo Baggins - Terence Frisch