LOTR News??

[Kevinoes]

Posted: 2/25/06 at 3:23pm

I live an hour out of Toronto and I'm surprised I've yet to hear much other than reports of the opening performance. Any other news on how the show is selling/being received?

And, probably not, but are there any production photos yet?

[EponineThenardier]

Posted: 2/25/06 at 4:06pm

I really want to hear more about this too. I'm really surprised actually that it isn't getting more publicity.

The only production photo I have seen was one off Playbill.com when it opened for previews. I don't know if it's just from the TV ad or if it's an actual pro photo.

[erinrebecca]

Posted: 2/25/06 at 4:23pm

I have a few friends who have seen the show. It's not surprising that no one's heard much since the official opening isn't for almost another month. They've certainly been working out some kinks and technical problems but my friends all enjoyed seeing it. They said that it's really a different type of show. Not a lot of music, or not as much as you might expect. The visuals were interesting, and the casting seems a little uneven. All agreed that Michael Therriault (no surprise) steals the show. I'm not seeing it til April and am looking forward to it!
Updated On: 2/25/06 at 04:23 PM

[Kevinoes]

Posted: 2/25/06 at 4:31pm

Well, they might not be advertising because a) they're still sorting some things out or b) they don't need too much. When WICKED was getting ready to open the box office, Mirvish advertised like mad. Then, when it opened, they only advertised a tiny thing in the corner of the page of the Toronto Star. The tix sold so quickly they didn't need too much.

[sabrelady]

Posted: 2/25/06 at 6:08pm

Well, it is still in previews. I believe they also had something like a 10 million advance sale so they may not feel like heavy advertising yet until they have some reviews to quote. Also I wonder if there isn't more promo being done thru travel agents since this will req a LARGE group of non locals to support it.

[ally_kay_on_broadway]

Posted: 2/25/06 at 7:16pm

eponine, i saw the show and that picture is on the poster with the logo- the puppet is also used in the show, its a 'dark rider'

[Link Larkin Wanabe]

Posted: 2/25/06 at 9:11pm

I was at a party on Thursday night and some girl was talking about how she saw it this week and was very impressed. She was a big fan of the books and felt that the story stayed as true as it could in the alloted time.

Akiva

[rowers unite]

Posted: 2/25/06 at 9:42pm

I saw last Saturday's matinee, it was, for a lack of a better word an event. Although there is not much of a soundtrack, only four to six songs were actually sung, the entire show does have a score to it. The entire show was AMAZINGLY choreographed,and the effects were spectacular ( I haven't seen such a show since Cirque's "O"). However I did have a quam with it: firstly Brent Carver, Gandalf, unfortunatley did a very poor job.

If anyone has any questions about it please fell free to PM me, I am a horrible reviewer but I am be able to give some insight

[Tag]

Posted: 2/25/06 at 10:50pm

There was just an article linked from this site yesterday to an article in Variety about how it is doing.
The advance is $13 million and the budget was up to around $28.1 million.
The article mainly talked about the tech and time issues surrounding the previews so far.

[MissElphie]

Posted: 2/25/06 at 11:25pm

I saw the first show, and although there were some tech problems, the show was impressive. I don't think we will hear much however until after the official opening night in March. I myself am anxious to read the reviews.

[JRTO]

Posted: 2/27/06 at 7:47am

keep in mind that $5 million of that advance is from the Mirvish subscription base (50,000 subscribers x $100 a ticket avg.). That means then general public has bought $5 million in advance tickets (another 50,000).

This is not significant. That's just over 6 weeks capacity. If they are sold out for the first 6 weeks, that means there is nothing sold after that.

The fact that they are not advertizing and that this is not a publicity 'event' is mind-bogling! They are putting all their money on the reviews being fantastic and driving the ticket sales. That's really risky.

[SamIAm]

Posted: 2/27/06 at 11:19am

Great article in TN about the previews and opening

[firescape]

Posted: 2/27/06 at 7:54pm

I saw the show on Sat. I am a huge fan of theater and am very critical at times. I thoroughly enjoyed this show!!