Got some free time before a few high school friends come over, so I'm listening to this musical:
I had the fortune of seeing this musical (front row, too!) in 2006 while in Toronto. It didn't do especially well - I had heard it was supposed to move to Broadway, but it still hasn't, and I'm pretty sure it hasn't made back its initial budget at all. Yet - it's a pretty incredible piece of theatre. They managed to fit everything into about three and a half hours, and gave every major character great development. The music, by A.R. Rahman (who won an Oscar for
Slumdog Millionaire!) is superb, with a great mix of operatic Elf songs and very fun Hobbit numbers. The best part, though? Seeing someone play Gollum/Sméagol on stage. Nowhere as legendary as Andy Serkis, but still, his musical number is really something.