Ontario government backs musical of "Lord of the Rings"

From the NY Times: Ontario Joins Investors in a Musical of the 'Rings' -- by Jesse McKinley

TORONTO - When the stage version of J. R. R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" opens here next spring, the show is expected to feature about 18 songs, a cast of 55 and about 12 million investors.

Literally. That's because, in an act of unprecedented governmental showmanship, Ontario's officials - on behalf of their 12 million citizens - have signed on as investors for the show, which is expected to be one of the most expensive ever. Taking on a role traditionally played by impresarios, idealists and other theatrical gamblers, the provincial government will contribute some $2.5 million of the show's $23 million budget, betting that the production's global appeal will justify a unique, and risky, public-private partnership.

"We've never done anything like this," said Sandra McInnis, the president and chief executive of the Ontario Tourism Marketing Partnership Corporation, which is the province's tourism agency. "But this is one of the largest productions ever to come to Toronto, and we have a vested interest in seeing it's successful."

They are not the only Canadians putting their money into the "Rings." Tourism Toronto, a private convention and tourism group primarily financed by the city's hoteliers, has also contributed $2.5 million to help market the show in places like Japan, Germany and England. Air Canada has donated more than $1 million worth of airline tickets to help the creative team - which includes a British director, Matthew Warchus; an Indian composer, A. R. Rahman; and a Finnish folk music group, Värttinä - commute back and forth to Toronto. The Canadian actors union, Canadian Actors' Equity, has also lengthened its standard contract to allow the producers a better chance to recoup their investment.

The hope is that "The Lord of the Rings," which has already been translated into a wildly successful film trilogy, will draw tens of thousands of tourists here - and only here - to see the production. Indeed, a critical part of the deal struck between Kevin Wallace, the show's lead producer, and the Ontario government gives Toronto an exclusive run of "The Lord of the Rings" in North America from its opening in March through the summer of 2007. Mr. Wallace said that the production's second company is expected to head to London, meaning that no Broadway opening is likely before 2008.

"Our estimation is that a 36-week run could bring in close to $40 million Canadian," said Bruce MacMillan, president and chief executive of Tourism Toronto, which calculated monies spent on hotels, restaurants and taxes before opting to invest. "Everything is a risk, but we did our due diligence."

Subsidies for art are nothing new, of course, and Toronto, in particular, has long been aggressive about luring American film companies by offering tax breaks. But in general most direct government artistic support - on both sides of the border - is given to nonprofit companies; "The Lord of the Rings," by contrast, is a commercial production.

Other significant investors in the show include Saul Zaentz, the California producer who holds the stage and film rights to the Tolkien trilogy, and Ed and David Mirvish, a father and son team that owns the Princess of Wales Theater in downtown Toronto where "The Lord of the Rings" will be performed.

But Mr. Wallace said that the involvement of the Ontario government was key to getting the show off the ground, because it cut the amount of money he needed to raise.

So far, advance sales for "The Lord of the Rings," which began rehearsals last week, are nearing $8.5 million - a respectable take for a new musical - with much of the sales coming from international groups, including American theatergoers unwilling to wait two or more years for a Broadway production, Mr. Wallace said. In May, Ms. McInnis's office paid for a print advertising campaign to woo potential ticket-buyers in Buffalo, Detroit, Cleveland and Rochester, all within striking distance of Toronto.

"It's within a stone's throw of the United States," Mr. Wallace said. "If we do a good job, the word is going to go out to the major markets" in the United States.

Not that they haven't already heard the title. "The Lord of the Rings," published in 1954 and 1955, is one of the most successful trilogies ever, with more than 100 million copies sold worldwide. An epic story involving men, elves, wizards and hobbits - those small, hairy-footed homebodies - battling dark forces and trying to destroy an all-powerful ring, the books were translated into films directed by Peter Jackson. Released by New Line Cinema in 2001, 2002 and 2003, that trilogy brought in nearly $3 billion in gross revenues worldwide, and collected a total of 17 Academy Awards, including one for Best Picture for the final chapter, "Return of the King."

The stage version's $23 million price tag would make it more expensive than any show on Broadway. "The Lion King," by comparison, cost Disney some $20 million.

Like Las Vegas - which has imported several major Broadway shows in recent years, including "Avenue Q" and "Mamma Mia" - Toronto seems to be angling for tourists with a taste for theater, a demographic that it hopes will also sample other of the city's cultural outposts, like the Royal Ontario Museum.

"We'd like to be second behind New York," said Bill Allen, the deputy minister for tourism for the province of Ontario. "Frankly, we lost a lot of our place in the theater scene, and we see 'Lord of the Rings' as a way to bring that back." (The province's monies, technically a loan, would be repaid if the show makes its investment back.)

As Mr. Allen suggests, Toronto, Canada's largest city, was considered a robust theatrical outpost during much of the 1990's, with high-profile productions of musicals like "Ragtime," "Show Boat," and "Kiss of the Spider Woman," all of which subsequently moved to Broadway. But all of those shows were produced by Garth H. Drabinsky, a Canadian impresario whose company, Livent, collapsed after accounting irregularities were discovered in 1998.

Since then, Toronto has mainly been known as a reliable, but creatively unremarkable, showplace for touring Broadway shows. It's clear that "The Lord of the Rings" is aiming much higher. Press materials circulated for the show call it "the biggest and most ambitious theatrical production ever staged," promising a three-and-a-half-hour event that starts even before the curtain rises. (Hobbits are to prowl the aisles as the audience enters.) A promotional DVD shows elaborate puppets used to create the villainous Black Riders and offers short samples of the songs written by its composing team.

Early reports about the show - which has been in the works since 2003 - conjured images of hobbits singing and dancing their way through show tunes, an impression Mr. Wallace has been ardently trying to correct. "It's in tune with the books," he said of the show's tone. "It has the gravitas of Tolkien."

Mr. Warchus, the director, said he imagined the show as having a "mix of Shakespearean history play, the magic of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream,' and Cirque du Soleil," Quebec's famed circus troupe.

"From the very beginning we've said we're not going to try to do anything the way the film does it," Mr. Warchus said. "The battle sequences will be much shorter on stage, for example. I think our finest hour will be in the emotional territory."

Plans originally called for the show to be staged in London's West End, but a lack of an appropriate theater forced Mr. Wallace to think outside the country. One of the first people he called was David Mirvish, the son of Ed, whose family owns three theaters in Toronto.

David Mirvish said he was initially skeptical. "I thought it was undoable," he said, citing the scope of the books' and the films' emphasis on battle scenes. "I had planned to say politely no, and sent a representative to London to do just that.

"But he came back and said, 'I want to play you something,' " Mr. Mirvish recalled. "And when I heard the music, I knew exactly where I was in the story."

Mr. Mirvish sold governmental leaders on the show last fall. "The reason that the government bought in has to do with the reputation of the Mirvishes," Mr. Allen said. While 8 of every 10 Broadway shows fail to earn back their money, Toronto tourism officials argued that the cost of not investing might be higher.

"We realized in the last couple of years that if you don't have new and exciting things to do, people go somewhere else," Mr. Allen said. "They want an experience they can't find anywhere else."