# Lord of the Rings: The Musical! (for real) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 14, 2004, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-the-musical-for-real/234312 "2004-03-14T22:53:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Murcielago](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@Murcielago](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Murcielago)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-the-musical-for-real/234312/1 "2004-03-14T22:53:26Z")
[This story](http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-13014271,00.html) outlines plans to bring the entire trilogy to the London stage in a three and a half hour production. Rather ambitious, to say the least. I have a sense this could lead to an epic adventure in bad taste, but then I’m one of those uncultured philistines who cannot abide musicals. A bit suprised the Tolkien guardians gave this the go-ahead, thought they might be concerned about over exposure and potential backlash at this point. Trying to imagine _Frodo of the Nine Fingers_ live, I believe I would be in my seat looking like MacDowell in _Clockwork Orange_. ---
**Author:** ![audreyayn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@audreyayn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audreyayn)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2004, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-the-musical-for-real/234312/2 "2004-03-17T07:40:35Z")
Eh, [it’s been done](http://www.omwh.com/). ---
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2004, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-the-musical-for-real/234312/3 "2004-03-17T08:46:37Z")
And I think Mad Magazine did it once too. All I remember was a song about how easy it is to kill orcs. ---
**Author:** ![Felonious\_Mink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Felonious\_Mink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Felonious_Mink)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2004, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-the-musical-for-real/234312/4 "2004-03-17T10:47:49Z")
Please god, nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! mups ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Ellis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2004, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-the-musical-for-real/234312/5 "2004-03-17T11:27:43Z")
[Humming the “Dennis Moore Theme”] Aragorn, Aragorn, riding through Fangorn, Aragorn, Aragorn, never quite forelorn, He killed fifty orcs, and then fifty more, Aragorn, Aragorn, Aragorn! ---
**Author:** ![Windwalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/5e9695/32.png) [@Windwalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Windwalker)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2004, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-the-musical-for-real/234312/6 "2004-03-17T15:19:20Z")
We may be laughing now, but it seems that some stories in a new medium displace much of the popularity of the original version. I mean, Les Miserables the musical has pretty much pushed Les Miserables the novel from the top of the Les Mis food chain, no? Maybe 50 years from now, the name “Lord of the Rings” will be best known for Gandalf’s rousing duet with the Balrog 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Archergal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Archergal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archergal)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2004, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-the-musical-for-real/234312/7 "2004-03-17T16:31:20Z")
> [@Michael Ellis](#): > > [Humming the “Dennis Moore Theme”] > > Aragorn, Aragorn, riding through Fangorn, > Aragorn, Aragorn, never quite forelorn, > He killed fifty orcs, > and then fifty more, > Aragorn, Aragorn, > Aragorn! Oh thanks – now I’ll be singing this ALL DAY!!! ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2004, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-the-musical-for-real/234312/8 "2004-03-17T16:54:23Z")
I’ll reprise here my contribution from a similar thread last year: Four little men from the Shire are we Fat as a hobbit well can be Filled to the brim with beer from Bree Four little men from the Shire! Four little men who, all unwary Stray into forests dark and scary Hiding from all the Ring we carry Four little men from the Shire! ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2004, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-the-musical-for-real/234312/9 "2004-03-17T17:00:52Z")
> [@Murcielago](#): > > …A bit suprised the Tolkien guardians gave this the go-ahead, thought they might be concerned about over exposure and potential backlash at this point… [Saul Zaentz](http://www.tolkien-ent.com/) licenses many of the rights and has not demonstrated much concern for the integrity of the work. (Video games? Tarot cards? Ralph Bakshi?) I suspect Christopher Tolkien, J.R.R. Tolkien’s son and literary executor, is displeased by the idea of a stage musical but has no say over the matter. > [@Windwalker](#): > > Maybe 50 years from now, the name “Lord of the Rings” will be best known for Gandalf’s rousing duet with the Balrog. Mightily displeased. I’m not thrilled about the idea, but I won’t pass final judgment without hearing a single note of the score. It’s certainly not going to use any of the songs from the animated TV program. A few years ago, I thought the movies would be big piles of stinky cheese but I went to the first one anyway in hopes that I would be wrong. I was. [http://www.thelordoftheringsmusical.com/](http://www.thelordoftheringsmusical.com/) ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2004, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-the-musical-for-real/234312/10 "2004-03-17T17:39:19Z")
Everybody all together now: “Where there’s a whip, there’s a way.”