Matthew Warchus, director of the stage version, said:
“We have not attempted to pull the novel towards the standard conventions of musical theatre, but rather to expand those conventions so that they will accommodate Tolkien’s material.
“As a result, we will be presenting a hybrid of text, physical theatre, music and spectacle never previously seen on this scale.
“To read the novel is to experience the events of Middle Earth in the mind’s eye. Only in the theatre are we actually plunged into the events as they happen.”
