The musical-extravaganza Lord of the Rings is being pushed out of London’s West End to make way for a revival of Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist.
With a budget of £12.5 million, it is one of the most expensive musicals ever produced
LONDON: The musical-extravaganza Lord of the Rings is being pushed out of London’s West End to make way for a revival of Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist.
Director Matthew Warchus has transformed J R Tolkien’s trilogy into a visual treat and the fantastic musical score has been co-written by AR Rahman and Chris Nightingale.
Costing millions of pounds to put together an awesome stage, special effects and costumes to create Middle Earth, The Lord of the Rings has been running at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in Convent Garden since May last year.
On Thursday night the shocked actors and back-stage staff were told of the musical’s sudden closure. Executives for both Lord of the Rings and the theatre have been finalising an exit strategy for withdrawing the £12 million production – which will lose almost that entire amount – from the heritage theatre.
The huge production needs to take at least £350,000 a week at the box office to pay the rent, salaries for 226 staff members, plus marketing and other costs. The top-price for the show at £60 are higher than the average West End show, but during school holidays the show does well.
The fact that the show is being pulled out in July just as the school summer holidays begin has galled the producers even more. “I want everyone to come and see it, because they are not going to see anything like it again,” said Kevin Wallace, producer. The last performance is on 19 July and the spectacle is well worth seeing!
The £12-million losses are being seen as an investment in the hope that the money can clawed back from sales of the musical album just released and sponsored by Jet Airways. A scaled down version of the production will go to Germany, New Zealand and Australia.
The Lord of Rings will take ten weeks to take down the spectacular sets and reinstate the Victorian-era levers and gear that were removed to make way for the production.
Lord of the Rings is being kicked out of Theatre Royal for another Andrew Lloyd Webber production – Oliver!
Ironically the search for the lead roles of Oliver and Nancy is being conducted through a reality talent show to be aired on BBC TV. The show I’ll Do Anything starts on TV from tonight.
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