Toronto Turns to Gandalf, Singing Hobbits to Lure Back Tourists
March 15 (Bloomberg) -- Now that the Hobbits have saved Middle Earth in the Academy Award-winning ``The Lord of the Rings'' film trilogy, Canadians are looking to the Little Folk with pointed ears to help revive Toronto's C$4 billion ($3.5 billion) tourism industry.
A 3 1/2-hour musical based on J.R.R. Tolkien's novels about the journeys of Gandalf the wizard and Hobbit Frodo Baggins has its gala opening March 23. The show, in previews since last month, is Toronto's first Broadway-scale world premiere, a C$27 million extravaganza with actors on stilts and machines that blow smoke and confetti to the upper balconies.
Tourism officials expect ``The Lord of the Rings,'' with advance ticket sales of C$15 million, to lure visitors to Canada's biggest city. Business dwindled as the Canadian dollar rose by almost a third against the U.S. currency in the past four years.
``This is a big opportunity,'' says Tourism Toronto Chief Executive Officer Bruce MacMillan, whose group will spend C$3 million over two years advertising the musical in Canada, the U.S., Europe and Japan. ``It really is positioning Toronto as one of North America's great cultural and artistic destinations.''
The number of U.S. visitors to Toronto has dropped to 17 million during the past five years from about 21 million. Beyond the Canadian dollar's rise, an outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome that killed 44 people in 2003 also hurt tourism, MacMillan says.
The films based on Tolkien's novels, directed by Peter Jackson and starring British actor Ian McKellen as Gandalf, rank among the 20 highest-grossing movies in the U.S., according to trade publication Variety.
Fellowship
Fans already are making plans for the stage performance at the Princess of Wales theater.
Jessica Burke, 31, will travel from her home in Staten Island, New York, to attend in July. She'll be joined by about 1,000 other Tolkien enthusiasts at the Gathering of the Fellowship convention, which was moved to Toronto from Denver because of the play.
To succeed, the musical will need a wider audience, says Jerry Wasserman, a critic for the Province newspaper in Vancouver.
``You can launch a show like `The Lord of the Rings' with the fact that there are all those Tolkien fans out there,'' says Wasserman, who also is a theater professor at the University of British Columbia. ``But a stage show with a C$30 million budget is obviously going to have to attract a lot more people than just the fans of the book.''
Revolving Stage
Among the show's attractions is a circular revolving stage that breaks off into 17 lifting pieces to carry the cast of about 65 to different levels. There also are rope ladders and curtains that descend from the ceilings. Tickets are C$78 to C$125, in line with New York prices.
English director Matthew Warchus, whose credits include New York productions of Sam Shepard's ``True West'' and Yasmina Reza's ``Art,'' co-wrote the play with Shaun McKenna to go with music by Indian composer A.R. Rahman and Finnish folk group Varttina. The cast includes Brent Carver, a Tony Award winner for his 1993 lead role in Broadway's ``Kiss of the Spider Woman,'' as Gandalf.
Irish producer Kevin Wallace first planned to take the musical to the U.K. Toronto was selected when he couldn't secure the Dominion Theatre in London's West End, where ``We Will Rock You,'' based on the music of Queen, is booked into October.
Wallace, 48, is working with Canadian producer David Mirvish, 61, the son of a Toronto retailer. Mirvish brought ``Mamma Mia!'' to Toronto, while Wallace produced ``Cats'' and ``Jesus Christ Superstar'' in the U.S. and the U.K.
Nine-Month Guarantee
``If `The Lord of The Rings' really does put Toronto back on the map internationally, there's a spinoff and benefit for all the other theaters,'' Wallace says.
The musical is guaranteed to run at least nine months before going to another city, and may last five to 10 years, he says. The longest-running production in Toronto was ``The Phantom of the Opera'' at about 10 years.
MacMillan projects that the play will bring in as much as C$100 million in revenue in its first year.
One problem may be the show's length: three hours and 40 minutes, including two intermissions. The performance already has been scaled back from four hours.
``I thought it was tremendous, but was just way too long,''
said Kim Beck, 47, after a March 8 preview. ``I have to get up
for work tomorrow.''
Regards,
Shah Navas
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