After five years of rumours and rumblings, the musical adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings finally has the green light. And it’ll only cost £25 million.
We’ve mentioned this before, you say. And you’d be right. It was expected to be packing them in last year, but delays (about five years worth), brought about by the vast amount of theatrical special effects - which in turn blew out the budget - set things back a little. Well, best to be sure about these things, eh? We don’t want another Saturday Night Fever on our hands. Besides which, there weren't any big theatres available this time last year, apparently.
The massive tug on the purse strings is a record for a stage production – Disney’s The Lion King with its budget of £10 million, previously held the honour, but the cost of the stage alone for LOTR the musical is quoted at £1 million. Then there’s the cast – upward of fifty of them, which makes it the biggest in living memory for the West End.
With great cost comes great risk, so care and caution at every stage has been paramount – as a result, the Theatre Royal (still currently used for Mel Brooks The Producers) will close for over four months for construction and 11 weeks of rehearsals.
We’ll keep you posted as to when tickets go on sale.