06-29-2006, 05:14 AM
Curtain to close on Lord of the Rings in Toronto
CTV.ca News Staff
The mammoth stage incarnation of The Lord of the Rings, which opened in March to much fanfare but little critical acclaim, will end its run in Toronto just three months after its premiere.
Producer Kevin Wallace announced Wednesday the production will close Sept. 3 before it moves on to the prestigious Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London next year.
It seems audience numbers just weren't healthy enough to keep the show running past Labour Day -- and Wallace blamed negative messages from local critics for hurting ticket sales.
"If the critics think they don't have power, believe me they do," Wallace told a Toronto news conference.
"So when you're going to spend the $120 (the price of the best seat), you do need to have the affirmation, the message -- and there is no doubt that we have struggled with a mixed message."
Wallace said response from London critics was much more favourable, and he called the city the show's "spiritual home."
The news comes after the $29-million musical, based on J.R.R. Tolkien's famed fantasy trilogy, won seven Dora Mavor Moore awards honouring theatre productions on Monday.
Wallace said a revamped version of the show will open in London on May 9, 2007. More details will be announced in September, but Wallace revealed that some members of the Toronto company will join that production.
Believed to be the most expensive theatre production ever mounted, The Lord of the Rings seemed to impress with its big-budget staging, costumes and lighting.
But as a theatre piece, it was met with harsh critical reception.
According to New York Times critic Ben Brantley: "Everyone and everything winds up lost in this ... adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's cult-inspiring trilogy of fantasy novels. That includes plot, character and the patience of most ordinary theatregoers."
Kamal Al-Solaylee of The Globe and Mail complained: "The Lord of the Rings may boast of its record-breaking cost, but it still looks a lot like unfinished business."
The Associated Press wasn't any kinder: "Deciphering the story, adapted by Shaun McKenna and director Matthew Warchus, may be the hardest part of a theatregoer's job. . . . The nearly 60 actors on stage have trouble making much of an impression."
The Lord of the Rings clocks in at three hours and 30 minutes and features: 55 cast members, 500 costumes, fight scenes and acrobatics performed on top a 36-tonne, computer-controlled stage floor featuring 17 elevators capable of spinning.
City officials were hoping the musical would revive Toronto's entertainment and tourist industries, which were crippled by the SARS scare in 2003.
"It was supposed to be the be all and end all of theatre in Toronto, bringing back theatre after SARS had taken it away in Toronto, but it's not to be," said CTV Toronto's Austin Delaney.
Toronto Mayor David Miller blamed the show's closing on the reluctance of Americans to travel in large numbers in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
CTV.ca News Staff
The mammoth stage incarnation of The Lord of the Rings, which opened in March to much fanfare but little critical acclaim, will end its run in Toronto just three months after its premiere.
Producer Kevin Wallace announced Wednesday the production will close Sept. 3 before it moves on to the prestigious Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London next year.
It seems audience numbers just weren't healthy enough to keep the show running past Labour Day -- and Wallace blamed negative messages from local critics for hurting ticket sales.
"If the critics think they don't have power, believe me they do," Wallace told a Toronto news conference.
"So when you're going to spend the $120 (the price of the best seat), you do need to have the affirmation, the message -- and there is no doubt that we have struggled with a mixed message."
Wallace said response from London critics was much more favourable, and he called the city the show's "spiritual home."
The news comes after the $29-million musical, based on J.R.R. Tolkien's famed fantasy trilogy, won seven Dora Mavor Moore awards honouring theatre productions on Monday.
Wallace said a revamped version of the show will open in London on May 9, 2007. More details will be announced in September, but Wallace revealed that some members of the Toronto company will join that production.
Believed to be the most expensive theatre production ever mounted, The Lord of the Rings seemed to impress with its big-budget staging, costumes and lighting.
But as a theatre piece, it was met with harsh critical reception.
According to New York Times critic Ben Brantley: "Everyone and everything winds up lost in this ... adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's cult-inspiring trilogy of fantasy novels. That includes plot, character and the patience of most ordinary theatregoers."
Kamal Al-Solaylee of The Globe and Mail complained: "The Lord of the Rings may boast of its record-breaking cost, but it still looks a lot like unfinished business."
The Associated Press wasn't any kinder: "Deciphering the story, adapted by Shaun McKenna and director Matthew Warchus, may be the hardest part of a theatregoer's job. . . . The nearly 60 actors on stage have trouble making much of an impression."
The Lord of the Rings clocks in at three hours and 30 minutes and features: 55 cast members, 500 costumes, fight scenes and acrobatics performed on top a 36-tonne, computer-controlled stage floor featuring 17 elevators capable of spinning.
City officials were hoping the musical would revive Toronto's entertainment and tourist industries, which were crippled by the SARS scare in 2003.
"It was supposed to be the be all and end all of theatre in Toronto, bringing back theatre after SARS had taken it away in Toronto, but it's not to be," said CTV Toronto's Austin Delaney.
Toronto Mayor David Miller blamed the show's closing on the reluctance of Americans to travel in large numbers in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.