Nasty Reviews and Poor Sales Shut Down The Lord of the Rings Early

Digital Journal — The quest for a successful musical in Toronto continues. Despite raking in seven Dora Awards this week, the mammoth musical, The Lord of the Rings, will be kaput after only seven months on stage. The curtain will drop on Gollum, Frodo and gang for the final time September 3. Producer Kevin Wallace, alongside theatre guru David Mirvish, made the announcement at the Princess of Wales Theatre. Although they were unable to confirm theatre attendance, Wallace admitted box office sales were not as expected. “We're doing respectable but were not sold out. The scale of this show needs that," Wallace said at the conference. It doesn’t help that the tickets cost an upwards of $200 a pop. Even so, that’s the going rate on Broadway. So what’s the issue in the T-Dot? Toronto’s been in a theatre slump ever since SARS hit. Wallace attributes the poor sales on harsh criticism from media when the production opened. From ticket price to length, many journalists slammed the staged production of one of Hollywood’s most successful movies. The Associated Press said it was "lavish yet disappointing ... a case of imagination overwhelmed by complexity,” while the New York Times said, "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." It was announced last week that the $28 million production — believed to be the most expensive show ever mounted — will open in London next year. Only this time it’ll be trimmed, tightened and reworked from the original three-and-a-half-hour marathon. Hallelujah.