TORONTO -- For the highly anticipated musical "The Lord of the Rings," currently halfway through its preview period in Toronto, it's all about time.
The first issue is whether 6½ weeks of preview performances are enough to fine-tune the largest and most expensive stage production ever mounted in North America. The second concern is whether the creative team will succeed in carving the epic down to the 3½-hour running time demanded by contractual arrangements with the various unions involved.
Things got off to a rocky start when the initial Feb. 2 perf was delayed for 48 hours, causing consternation for the 4,000 ticket buyers around the world who had made plans to attend what was billed as the "premiere" of the work, although the official opening isn't until March 23.
"I know we made the right choice," says Kevin Wallace of the postponement. "We had gotten behind technically, and the delay allowed the actors and the crew time to take a full run at the show before presenting it to the public. Generally, the people who had to move from those two nights were understanding and their travel needs were accommodated."
But when the show finally played its first perf Feb. 4, it was plagued by more problems. A major technical foul-up with one of the 17 elevators in Rob Howell's elaborate sets brought the climactic Battle of Helms Deep sequence to an unexpected halt, and the stage manager had to come out and explain what was supposed to have happened.
Combined with a late start and protracted intermissions, this meant the curtain came down more than 4½ hours after it went up.
Initial audience buzz, as reported in all the Toronto media, seemed mostly enthusiastic, despite the problems.
"You never know if a show is going to work until you put it in front of an audience," admits Wallace, who shares producing credit with Saul Zaentz, David and Ed Mirvish and Michael Cohl. "But the underlying faith that I have in the material was consolidated by our experience at the first performance."
Widespread complaints about the extended running time became Wallace's chief concern.
"We had to bring the show down to length, but not at the expense of damaging the narrative line, compromising our production values or upsetting the actors," he explains.
The creative team (Shaun McKenna pens book and lyrics; music is by Indian composer A.R. Rahman and Finnish group Varttina) has been tackling it so far through a combination of tightening the show's intermissions -- which run long because of technical setups that have to take place during them -- and carefully "filleting" material from the script.
"We have to nurture the story and make sure all the dramatic and emotional buttons are being pushed," Wallace says.
Most of the scenic problems reportedly are now in hand, and the show is running at 3¾ hours, with another 15 minutes still to be lopped. But Wallace is confident he will have it down to size by opening night.
Although Toronto is not the center of as much theater-community Internet buzz as other cities, a certain pattern has been emerging. Many of the happiest audience members are die-hard J.R.R. Tolkien fans, since they have no trouble following the speeded-up narrative and can also admire the production's respectful tone.
But there have been severe criticisms from average theatergoers and industry professionals who are unimpressed with the tentative quality of much of the acting. Wallace acknowledges that, but claims not to be worried.
"We have a group of brilliant actors who are determined to work through their characters with the audience before settling on a final performance," he says. "(Director) Matthew (Warchus) has based this whole production on not looking for easy answers, and he's told the cast to continue examining their roles.
"The courage with which this exploration is taking place is fearless. I always feel it takes six weeks in front of the audience to understand how to play a piece, and we've given them that time."
Wallace claims the show is no further over budget than the 5% contingency he always had counted on, which currently brings the cost to C$28.1 million ($24.5 million).
The advance sale is holding at $13 million, which is where it has been since previews started. But Wallace says that figure is remaining firm despite the roughly $175,000 each performance should be subtracting from the total.
Critics from New York and around the world are planning to attend, a prospect about which Wallace is enthusiastic: "You can't hide with a project like this, and we never wanted to."
He admits a combination of reviews and word of mouth will decide the mammoth-scale show's future, and he feels the answer will come "within three months of the opening. People are going to want a quick definition as to whether it's a hit or not."
For now, the producer remains anxious but philosophical. "We've generated an enormous degree of curiosity. We're breaking a lot of new ground here.."
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