Ben writes: I noticed that you guys were reporting on the opening of LOTR in London, and I thought I’d get in touch with you about a related project of mine: “The Lord of the Rings: The Musical: The Musical!” For about 8 months now my writing partner and I have been working on this, and on July 4th the show is going to premiere at the Toronto Fringe Festival. The show tells the story of the LOTR musical’s run in Toronto: the massive hype leading up to opening night and the show’s very sudden failure. The main character is a naive, LOTR-loving writer who is trying to make his dream of an LOTR-musical come true, but he runs into trouble when he falls in love with the wife of the evil British producer. Our show is going to have seven performances for the duration of the festival, and we’re hoping to organize another run later in the Summer.

I’m trying to get the word out to as many LOTR/theatre fans as possible and I was wondering if you guys knew of any Toronto-based LOTR organizations/communities that might be interested, or if you had any ideas for sending the message out to Toronto’s LOTR fans. I also understand that your staff is located all around the continent, so if any of you happen to be in Toronto in July we would of course love to have you come to the show.

If you want more information about our show, check out www.lotrtmtm.com.

Turbine Entertainment is not ruling out a console version of its MMO The Lord of the Rings Online, exec producer Jeffrey Steefel has revealed. “I actually think Lord of the Rings is a platform we can build from. Our license is to build massively multiplayer online games based on the books on all platforms, all across the world, so we want to leverage that over time,” Steefel explained in a recent interview. [More]

Fans of the Lord of the Rings trilogy could literally live the life of a hobbit if they stump up the estimated £600,000 price tag for a fantasy property in Aberdeenshire. Tolkien’s mythical tribe of little people would find themselves very much at home near Insch, where one man has created his very own middle earth. Tolkien may have created the ultimate in mythical fantasy tales but Retired Gordon Highlander, Major Mike Taitt has brought a little bit of middle earth to life at Newmains near Oyne. [More]

Mark writes: Watch the AFI “100 Years, 100 Movies Tenth Anniversery Edition” tonight at 7:00 pm CST on CBS.They have been using tag lines such as “Will the greatest movie of all time be Citizen Kane, Casablanca, The Godfather, Titanic or Lord Of The Rings?” [More]

LONDON–It’s gotten better; it’s gotten worse. The revised production of The Lord of the Rings that opened at the Drury Lane Theatre last night is not unlike a friend who’s been hitting the Botox a bit too heavily. At first glance, they may seem sleek and lovely, but look closer and you’ll find that everything underneath is frozen and unmoving. What has the show gained since its run in Toronto? A more effective use of its sets and lighting, a clearer storyline in Act III and a smashing performance from Laura Michelle Kelly as Galadriel. [More]