The Stage

Rings move blocked by We Will Rock You extension

Published Tuesday 2 May 2006 at 18:40 by Alistair Smith

The West End transfer of multi-million pound musical The Lord of the Rings looks set to be delayed, after We Will Rock You - the current resident at its venue of choice the Dominion Theatre - announced it was extending its run by five months.

It has been widely reported that the show, which is based on JRR Tolkien’s trilogy and received broadly negative reviews when it opened in Toronto, would begin its London run in March 2007 at the Dominion, while producer Kevin Wallace has also said that it could come to the UK as early as January.

It now looks unlikely that it will reach the West End until May of next year at the very earliest, after Queen musical We Will Rock You, which had been due to vacate the venue in October, announced it was postponing its planned regional tour and would remain at the theatre until April 2007.

Producer Phil McIntyre commented: “The fact is, the show has proved such a continuing draw with both the home market and visitors to London, that it became obvious that a move this year would be premature. Besides which, the theatre owners very much wanted us to stay. In the end, they, and the public, made the decision for us.”

A spokesperson for the Lord of the Rings musical said that a date for its London transfer had yet to be finalised.