LONDON (Reuters) – The Lord of the Rings went 21st century on Tuesday — theatregoers can now purchase tickets for the London musical by mobile phone. Mobile phone company 02 set up a service for customers to buy up to 10 cut-price tickets at Tuesday performances of the West End musical. 02 hailed the technological breakthrough as a way to combat ticket touts, reduce administration costs and provide a more environmentally friendly solution to paper tickets.

“It is rather fitting that Middle Earth should be the first place to use this kind of technology,” said Kevin Wallace, producer of the musical based on the J.R.R. Tolkien cult classic.

Hailing an innovation that might appeal to the show’s wizard star, he said “It is a trick I think even Gandalf himself would be proud of.”

(Reporting by Paul Majendie; editing by Paul Casciato)