'Lord of the Rings' May Be Stage Musical

[Khephra]

LONDON -- Indian composer A.R. Rahman and a Finnish folk troupe have been commissioned to write songs for a musical stage version of "The Lord of the Rings," the show's producer announced Tuesday.

Rahman, a veteran Bollywood songwriter who scored the Andrew Lloyd Webber-produced musical "Bombay Dreams," will collaborate with the group Varttina on the adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkein's fantasy trilogy, which has spawned a hit film series.

"We are recreating Middle-earth and we needed the music that goes with it to be unique," said Kevin Wallace, who's producing the West End show.

"A.R. Rahman writes brilliant melodies with an exotic quality and we know he will write something which audiences will adore."

MORE..........

http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/news/wire/sns-ap-lord-of-the-rings-musical,0,1607718.story?coll=sns-ap-entertainment-headlines

[fknobbit]

1. Why not use Tolkien's own?

[Kenneth ken]

2. A musical in 87 acts?

that would either be reeaally long, or really crappy due to skipping over most of the story.

either way, count me out, thanks.

[Khephra]

3. It could be done

I'm not an expert on Opera, but I know there are shows that are done over a period of days when they're done in complete form.

There was also an 11 hour adapation of the Illuminatus Trilogy in the UK at one point.

It's possible, but I think I'll wait for the DVD.

[HEyHEY]

4. Good now I have a chance to wreck it - live on stage!

stupid fucking movie...why won't it go away?

[BigDaddyLove]

6. 'Stupid fucking movie'.........

Wow. How come?

[HEyHEY]

10. Just tired of it being shoved down my throat is all

:-)

[0rganism]

5. Why not just see Wagner's Ring Cycle instead?

Just what we needed: another 5-day opera about little people and their jewelry and the heroic man with a large sword who saves the world...

[Shawnmmcc]

7. What next?

I can't get the thought out of my head - Singing Balrogs.
What will be the bad guy's theme song?

Springtime for Sauron in Mor-r-dor. :)

[0rganism]

8. IIRC, the awful network TV adaptation had some equally awful songs

Not quite singing balrogs, but the singing Uruk Hai were nearly as silly.

On the other hand, the actual Tolkien books did have their fair share of song lyrics, mostly in Elvish. Now an opera done entirely in Elvish might be damn cool. Take something semi-obscure from the Silmarillion, like the saga of Barin Halfhand, and turn it into an Elvish opera. That would have some redeeming qualities, no? So hard to come up with original ideas these days.

Welcome to DU, by the way.

[Aristus]

11. "Where there's a whip!"

<whip-CRACK!>

"There's a way!

Where there's a whip!"

<whip-CRACK!>

"There's a way!"

Bring back memories? :evilgrin:

[newyawker99]

9. Hi Shawnmmcc!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast: