The $24 million musical adaptation of The Lord of the Rings staged in Toronto was the great hope for Canadian theater and tourism, but Michael Riedel reports in his NYPost column, the show will soon close. Riedel writes:
“‘The Lord of the Rings’ will lose nearly all of that $24 million, $3 million of which came from the province of Ontario, which hoped the show would boost Toronto tourism.
(Note to Canadian taxpayers: NEVER PUT YOUR OWN MONEY IN THE SHOW.)”
No doubt. Leave that to the professionals, like Rosie “Taboo” O’Donnell. I would have thought Lord of the Rings would have been reasonably critic-proof, given the legions of Tolkien fans, but evidently not. Regardless, the government of Ontario should have known better than to try to play the angel role in the high stakes commercial theater game.
