Newbury's The Watermill Theatre will present, in association with Kevin Wallace for KWL and Middle Earth Enterprises, a new production of the 2006 stage musical The Lord of the Rings. Adapted from the J.R.R. Tolkien trilogy, the musical will begin July 25 and run through October 15.
The immersive staging, taking place across Watermill's auditorium and gardens, will be directed by Paul Hart with design by Simon Kenny. Set on Bilbo Baggins' eleventy-first birthday when Bilbo gives Frodo a gold ring, the musical follows Frodo on the daunting and perilous task of journeying across Middle Earth to save them all from the Dark Lord Sauron. Audiences will join an ensemble cast and large-scale puppets on the story about the power of friendship and the common good.
The September 22 performance, the day of Bilbo Baggins’ fictional birthday, will kick off first with a celebration in the gardens before the show.
The musical adaptation features a book and lyrics by Shaun McKenna and Matthew Warchus. Music is by A.R. Rahman (Bombay Dreams, Slumdog Millionaire), Värttinä, and Tony winner and Grammy nominee Christopher Nightingale (Matilda the Musical).
The Lord of the Rings originally made its premiere in 2006 at Toronto's Princess of Wales Theatre. Conceived as a three-and-a-half-hour-long production, the three-act work was mounted with a cast of 65 actors. It subsequently transferred to the West End transfer the following year, and then closed in 2008 as one of the biggest commercial failures in West End history at the time. A revival was announced in 2015 for a world tour which ultimately never materialized.
Visit Watermill.org.uk.
