TORONTO — Move over, The Lion King. Another epic adaptation is nipping at your heels — one even longer and more commercially extravagant. The Oscar-winning Lord of the Rings franchise is now moving to the stage. It opens Thursday in Toronto. In fact, when the new stage version of The Lord of the Rings opens Thursday at the Princess of Wales Theatre, it will become the most expensive theater project on record, having cost $23.2 million. But veteran producer Kevin Wallace would rather you not focus on the price tag. “I’m skeptical of people being impressed by the money,” Wallace says. “It is The Lord of the Rings, which meant that there would have to be a great deal of research and development before we even went into a rehearsal room.” [More]
Category: Events
When Middle Earth comes to a stage in Toronto this week for the world premiere of a musical version of The Lord of the Rings, diehard fans of the trilogy by J. R. R. Tolkien could be forgiven for feeling sceptical. It’s one thing to turn one of the most popular stories of our time into an epic film. It’s quite another to bring it to the stage as a musical – with actors on three storey-tall stilts, an Elvish chorus, a set that morphs from woods to battlements to a volcano and a Gollum who sings. [More]
Sean Astin was a guest on ‘The Tonight Show with Jay Leno’ on Thursday, March 16th. He was there to talk mainly about “24”, but they also spoke a bit about his children acting, death scenes and more. Follow the link for a clip! (27.2 MOV) [More]
Billy’s Loons Charities is happy to announce our latest auction, of a large Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers Poster. The poster is signed by Billy Boyd, Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, and a rare signature of Miranda Otto! All of the proceeds from the auction will go to the Scottish Youth Theatre, www.scottishyouththeatre.org, of which Billy Boyd is a Patron and supporter, and Billys Loons Charities is a sponsor. [More]
Michelle writes: I’ve been a long time reader of TORn, and I’m currently working with the filmmakers of Sean Astin’s latest film, “Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dancing and Charm School”. The website for the movie is www.marilynhotchkissmovie.com. This provides all sorts of information about the film, including the theaters where it will be released in the U.S. on March 31 — and new theaters keep being added! Also, if you could let people know the correct date of the movie’s opening — it’s March 31. Secondly, an L.A. radio station – K-mozart- is running a contest to win tickets to an exclusive screening with the film’s composer, Mark Adler. [More]
The Starland Sci fi/Fantasy convention has just added Karl Urban to the list of stars lated to attend. [More]