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April 04, 2001 - April 12, 2001

4-12-01 Latest News

Oooh Creepy...ish
Xoanon @ 2:43 pm EST

Ok, so these aren't creepy facts about the LOTR cast and crew, more like coincidences. But after all, Friday the 13th isn't supposed to be creepy...just kinda semi-creepy.

3 LOTR Stars in James Bond films

Christopher Lee (Scramanga in 'The Man With the Golden Gun')
John Rhys Davies (General Leonid Pushkin in 'The Living Daylights')
Sean Bean (006 in 'Goldeneye')

Ian Holm/ Ian McKellen

Both named Ian
Both knighted
Both born in England

Total Number of movies from the cast: 954 ( Christopher Lee [Saruman] has been in 22% of them)

Most films by a star: Christopher Lee 215
Least films by a star: Orlando Bloom 1

Ian Holm and John-Rhys Davies have the exact same number of movies under thier belts (92)

Ian Holm was in 'S.O.S Titanic' as J. Bruce Ismay, Bernard Hill was in 'Titanic' as Captain Smith. Jonathan Hyde was in 'Titanic' playing J. Bruce Ismay, he was also in 'Hamlet, Prince of Denmark', Ian Holm was also in a production of 'Hamlet'

An inordinate amount of LOTR Stars have been in 'Shortland Street':

Marton Csokas
John Leigh
Robyn Malcolm
Craig Parker
Mark Ferguson

LOTR Stars in the same movie:

John Noble, Marton Csokas: The Monkey's Mask
Christopher Lee, Marton Csokas: Star Wars: Episode II
Miranda Otto, Viggo Mortensen: The Thin Red Line
John Rhys-Davies, Christopher Lee: Journey of Honor

Movies in Which Jim Rygiel (SFX) worked on:

Last Action Hero ( Ian McKellen)

Movies in Which Howard Shore (Composer) worked on:

That Thing You Do! ( Liv Tyler)
Esther Kahn ( Ian Holm)
eXistenZ ( Ian Holm)

Different Native Countries of LOTR Stars:

United States of America
England
Scotland
New Zealand
Germany
Australia

4-10-01 Latest News

PRESS RELEASE: 'The Lord of the Rings' Generates More Than 350 Million Hits On Website as New Line Prepares to Unveil Footage in Cannes
Xoanon @ 10:51 am EST

LOS ANGELES, April 10 /PRNewswire/ -- New Line Cinema's award-winning website for "The Lord of the Rings" has generated more than 350 million hits worldwide since re-launching on January 12, 2001 it was announced today by Rolf Mittweg, President of Distribution and Marketing for the studio.

The traffic to the site was confirmed by an independent Internet tracking firm hired by New Line Cinema to audit the number of hits at http://www.lordoftherings.net. Data tabulated by ABC Interactive confirmed that more than 275,463,832 hits were registered on the site in January and February of this year. Since the auditing process takes several weeks to complete, the studio has not requested an audit of site traffic for March, although internal estimates add another 82 million hits to the tally, bringing the three-month total to 357,463,832 million.

"The success of this re-launch is truly staggering," Mittweg said. "Those who are discovering this project online are being treated to an extraordinary Internet experience, and we are very proud of the site and the team that developed it. lordoftherings.net serves as an information clearinghouse on our film and the Internet remains a key component in our overall strategy of launching this epic adventure trilogy worldwide."

The site, which has been overseen and implemented by Gordon Paddison, New Line's Senior Vice President of Interactive Marketing, was launched in 10 languages. And while some countries have not yet unveiled the material, New Line plans on debuting the first installment of the trilogy -- "The Fellowship of the Ring" on December 19, 2001 worldwide with the exception of a few territories.

Global distribution partners will preview selected footage from the trilogy this May, when New Line hosts a series of events themed around "The Lord of the Rings" at the Cannes International Film Festival.

"Cannes will serve as our official worldwide media launch for 'The Lord of the Rings,'" Mittweg said, explaining the festival is another important cornerstone of the studio's launch campaign. "As the global press converge on the Croissette, New Line will pull out all the stops to ensure that movie fans everywhere discover the first installment of this epic cinematic event."

"The Lord of the Rings" collectively tell the story of Frodo Baggins, who battles against the Dark Lord, Sauron to save Middle-earth from the grip of evil. In the films, Frodo and The Fellowship embarks on a desperate journey to rid the earth of the source of Sauron's greatest strength, the One Ring -- a ring of such power that it cannot be destroyed. His extraordinary adventures across the treacherous landscape of Middle-earth reveal how the power of friendship and courage can hold the forces of darkness at bay.

Tolkien's mythic vision will come to life through cutting-edge cinema technology and artistry. Never before has such a monumental undertaking been contemplated or executed. The commitment of time, resources and manpower are unheard of as all three films and more than 1,000 effects shots are being produced concurrently with the same director and core cast.

Helmer Peter Jackson, whose visionary style of filmmaking and emotional acuity won accolades for his "Heavenly Creatures" and "The Frighteners," brings his deep love for the source material to the project. Produced by Barrie M. Osborne, the films feature a strong international cast that includes (in alphabetical order) Sean Astin, Sean Bean, Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, Billy Boyd, Brad Dourif, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, Ian McKellen, Dominic Monaghan, Viggo Mortensen, John Rhys-Davis, Andy Serkis, Liv Tyler, and Elijah Wood. But the real star of the films is the story itself -- a classic hero's quest in which the smallest of beings changes the course of the future with the vastness of his courage.

CANNES: New Line Finally Speaks
Xoanon @ 8:58 am EST

New Line is letting a little out of the box with some news regarding LOTR and Cannes 2001. Read the following report, via Cinescape.com.

'Rings' Footage at Cannes

While at the Cannes International Film Festival, New Line Cinema is looking to strongly promote their coming Lord of the Rings production. As part of this plan, the studio has announced that they will be previewing selected footage from all three of the coming films for those in attendance. Previous rumors have suggested that a full trailer for Fellowship of the Ring may also be in the offing.

Regarding this big push, in an official press release from the studio Rolf Mittweg, President of Distribution and Marketing, is quoted as saying, "Cannes will serve as our official worldwide media launch for The Lord of the Rings. As the global press converge on the Croissette, New Line will pull out all the stops to ensure that movie fans everywhere discover the first installment of this epic cinematic event."

4-09-01 Latest News

Fantasy Fair 2001
leo @ 7:25 am EST

The Elf Fantasy Fair 2001, the biggest fantasy-related event in western-Europe, took place this weekend, I got the chance to go there on both days, meet up with John Howe and take a look at some awesome new pictures from the upcoming movies! Read on for a full report, which might include several spoilers!

Wow...were to start, the entire event was amazing. The setting, a historical themeparc filled with rpg'ers pretending to be trolls, orcs, goblins, knights of the round table, etc. etc., really added to the atmosphere. The event covered a whole ranges of fantasy-streams and had lots of guests of honour for signings, lectures and to answer questions from the public, for instance people like Terry Pratchett, Robert Jordan, John Howe, John Avon, Brian & Wendy Froud and much, much more.

But the most interesting for us of course was the 'Tolkien-temple', a small building devoted to the upcoming movies. It contained a tv which played the most recent trailer non-stop (I can imagine the people at the stand really hating those lines now...), and inside were some really awesome blown up pictures with scenes on them from the movie, and a slide-show with even more new pictures! I have tried to remember them all, so I'll try to give you an idea of what was there:

The blow up pictures to begin with, there was one of a Hobbit with some kind of torch in his hands standing outside looking at a Black Rider speeding up or down a lane I'm not sure, we've seen this picture before I must add, there was a close-up picture of Arwen when she's carrying Frodo over the fords to Rivendell, there was a new picture of Frodo holding the Ring looking kinda scared, there was a picture from the Orcs from the internet preview, there was a picture from the entire Felowship walking, we've seen this one before as well. There was a picture which kinda reminded me of a scene from the trailer, it showed Gandalf walking through the snow, but it didn't have any other members of the Fellowship on it, it was really beautiful, I think the scenery in this movie will blow everyone away this christmas. Let's see, there was a picture of Legolas while he was aiming an arrow at ..errr.. well, you if you were standing before the picture, it looked really convincing and was in my opinion one of the better pictures of Orlando Bloom as Legolas I have seen so far. There was a really awesome new picture of Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn which blew me away! The pic must have been taken shortly after Aragorn got out of some kind of fight, because his sword (which looked really good too) was covered in blood, and his armoury looked battered. For the record, the blood one his sword was deffinitly not red (for those who are wondering aout the pg-rating), it could have been because of the color of the entire pcture, but the blood seemed more black to me. The last picture contained some real spoilers, because it was a scene from the battle of Helms Deep. It looked like a huge chaos with a furious Gandalf the White in the midst of all this wielding his staff. The diffirence between Ian McKellen as Gandalf the Grey and as Gandalf the White is really amazing, I hardly recognised him on this picture, his hair and clothes were all snowwhite, and he kinda reminded me of Saruman. A bit further back you could also see Aragorn, Eomer, Legolas and Arwen (!) fighting off some Orcs. they were all on horses (which might explain why Gimli wasn't in the picture), and you could see the road behind them running to the Gates covered with bodies of dead Orcs. The picture was really, really cool, the battle scenes are really gonna blow people away...

The slide show also contained a lot of new pictures. It had 33 slides, a few of them to promote new books that are coming out (the ones of which we have seen the covers a few days ago). Also all the pictures from the official New Line calendar were in it, so nothing new and exciting there. However, there were some slides from Hobbitton that reminded me of pictures we have seen before on Scoop.co.nz, one picture from the watermill, one from some kind of marketplace which looked really convincing, it had a cow in the background so it really looked like everything on the foreground was hobbit-sized. There was a slide from the outside of Bag-End and one inside the house, the interiour looked kinda messy to me, the ground was covered with books and stuff, kinda like you would expect a Hobbit-hole to be. There was a slide of Gandalf arriving in Hobbitton on a waggon, there was also a slide with a close up on Gandalf of this picture, Ian McKellen looked really great, but I'm sure you all knew that. There was a slide which showed some houses in Bree, nothing new and exciting there. There was a slide which showed a line of soldiers from what I think was Gondor, with all kinds of colored banners on the background. It looked as if they were waiting for something so I'm guessing it's a scene from 'The Black Gate opens' The only diffirence was that on a previous picture we have seen from this chapter it really looked like the soldiers from Rohan and Gondor were standing on a hill, but on this picture there only was a straight line of men and the only thing you could see behind them were the banners. The banners were very vague, I remember some yellow and blue ones, I could see no recognisable design on any of them. And last but not least there were two new slides from Rivendell that were really amazing! One of them showed Frodo lying in a bed, I presume before he regains conciousness although I couldn't see Gandalf anywhere. Most people will remember a painting by I believe John Howe that showed Frodo waking up with Gandalf sitting next to a window, well, that won't happen:) In this scene there was room, and I'm getting the idea that the Rivendell-set isn't really like a house, but more like a big garden with all kinds of spaces in it, if you catch my drift. You could also see this in the pictures we have seen from the council of Elrond, it took place partly outside (like in the books) but looking at that picture and at the ones I've seen this weekend I'm starting to wonder as to how much of Rivendell really is like a 'house'. Anyway, Frodo was lying in a huge bed, and there was a statue of a woman towering over him, in the background you could see some gardens which looked really beautiful, lots of light colors and 'flowerish' shapes. The other slide showed the four Hobbits standing in one of those gardens, probably talking about something. They all looked fresh and cleaned up, and again the forced perspective made it look really good. I think I just about covered all the new pictures that were shown...

As said before I got the chance to meet John Howe and ask him some questions. I'll have a full interview online anytime before wednesday so keep your eyes out for that. I'll just say here that Howe is really one of the nicest people I have met, he was very intelligent and gave some interesting answers. He also gave away some signing sessions which lasted up to an hour longer then planned because he didn't go anyweher untill everyone had a signature or drawing in their books, posters, maps, cards and whatever the hundreds of fans carried with them to get signed. Where other signing session usually lasted untill one minute after the time set for it, and people got send away after standing in line for about an hour, John Howe worked his way down the line even if it took him an hour, which I thought was really cool.

Well, that just about covered all I was gonna say about this, I'm sorry if it turned out to be a bit long it's just that there was so much new material, I hope I gave a good description. Keep your eyes out for more on John Howe in the next few days!

Weekly Cast Watch
Xoanon @ 12:23 am EST

Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn)

A Walk on the Moon (1999)
A Perfect Murder (1998) UK
The Thin Red Line (1998) UK
The Portrait of a Lady (1996)
Crimson Tide (1995) UK
The Passion of Darkly Noon (1995)
The Prophecy (1995)
American Yakuza (1994)
The Crew (1994)
Ruby Cairo (1993)
The Young Americans (1993)
Two Small Bodies (1993)
The Indian Runner (1991)
Young Guns II (1990)
Witness (1985)

Liv Tyler (Arwen)

Dr. T and the Women (2000)
Plunkett & Macleane (1999) UK
Onegin (1999)
Can't Hardly Wait (1998) UK
U Turn (1997) UK
Empire Records (1995) UK
Heavy (1995) UK
Silent Fall (1994)

Ian Holm (Bilbo)

Bless the Child (2000)
eXistenZ (1999)
The Madness of King George (1994) UK
Hamlet (1990)
Dance with a Stranger (1985)
Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984)
Time Bandits (1981)
Shout at the Devil (1976)
Robin and Marian (1976) UK
Juggernaut (1974) UK
Nicholas and Alexandra (1971)
Mary, Queen of Scots (1971) UK

Sean Bean (Boromir)

Airborne (1998)
When Saturday Comes (1996) UK
Shopping (1994) UK
Jacob: A TNT Bible Story (1994) (TV)
How to Get Ahead in Advertising (1989) UK
Stormy Monday (1988)

Hugo Weaving (Elrond)

The Matrix (1999) UK
Babe: Pig in the City (1998) UK

Karl Urban (Eomer)

Heaven (1998)

Miranda Otto (Eowyn)

What Lies Beneath (2000)
The Jack Bull (1999) (TV) UK
The Thin Red Line (1998) UK

David Wenham (Faramir)

Molokai: The Story of Father Damien (1999)

Elijah Wood (Frodo)

Black and White (1999)
The Faculty (1998) UK
North (1994)
Forever Young (1992) UK
Internal Affairs (1990)
Child in the Night (1990) (TV)
Avalon (1990) UK

Cate Blanchett (Galadriel)

Pushing Tin (1999)
The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
An Ideal Husband (1999) UK
Elizabeth (1998)

Ian McKellen (Gandalf)

X-Men (2000)
Apt Pupil (1998) UK
I'll Do Anything (1994)
Six Degrees of Separation (1993)
Windmills of the Gods (1988) (TV)
Walter and June (1986) UK
Alfred the Great (1969)
A Touch of Love (1969) UK

John Rhys-Davies (Gimli)

Au Pair (1999) (TV) UK
Secret of the Andes (1998) UK
Bloodsport 3 (1996)
Sunset Grill (1993)
The Seventh Coin (1992)
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
Perry Mason: The Case of the Murdered Madam (1987) (TV)
Firewalker (1986) UK
Nairobi Affair (1984) (TV) UK
Victor/Victoria (1982)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

Andy Serkis (Gollum)

Topsy-Turvy (1999)
Among Giants (1998) UK
Mojo (1997) UK

Bruce Spence (Mouth of Sauron)

Sweet Talker (1991)
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985)
Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)

Sean Astin (Sam)

Kimberly (1999)
Dish Dogs (1998)
Bulworth (1998) UK
The Long Way Home (1997) UK
The Low Life (1994/I)
Teresa's Tattoo (1994)
Rudy (1993)
Encino Man (1992) UK
Toy Soldiers (1991) UK
The War of the Roses (1989)
Staying Together (1989)
White Water Summer (1987) UK
The Goonies (1985)

Christopher Lee (Saruman)

Jinnah (1998) UK
Tale of the Mummy (1998) UK
Moses (1996) (TV)
Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)
Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady (1990) (TV)
Mio min Mio (1987) UK
Howling II (1985) UK
Safari 3000 (1982)
An Eye for an Eye (1981) UK
1941 (1979) UK
Return from Witch Mountain (1978) UK
The Three Musketeers (1973) UK
The Wicker Man (1973) UK
Nothing But the Night (1972)
Horror Express (1972) UK
Julius Caesar (1970)
Scream and Scream Again (1969)
Curse of the Crimson Altar (1968)
Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965) UK
Amère victoire (1957)
The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)
Private's Progress (1956) UK
The Battle of the River Plate (1956) UK
The Cockleshell Heroes (1955)
Scott of the Antarctic (1948)

Bernard Hill (Theoden)

True Crime (1999) UK
A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999) UK
Mountains of the Moon (1990)
Gandhi (1982) UK

Brad Dourif (Wormtongue)

Interceptors (1999)
Bride of Chucky (1998) UK
Urban Legend (1998) UK
Best Men (1997)
Death Machine (1995)
Amos & Andrew (1993)
Hidden Agenda (1990)
Blue Velvet (1986)
Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones (1980) (TV)

Jim Rygiel (SFX)

Anna and the King (1999)
Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) UK
Cliffhanger (1993)
Batman Returns (1992)
The Last of the Mohicans (1992)
Alien³ (1992) UK
Solar Crisis (1990) UK
Ghost (1990)

Howard Shore (Composer)

High Fidelity (2000)
The Cell (2000)
Analyze This (1999) UK
eXistenZ (1999)
The Game (1997) UK
Cop Land (1997)
The Truth About Cats & Dogs (1996) UK
Crash (1996) UK
Ed Wood (1994)
Guilty as Sin (1993)
Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) UK
Single White Female (1992) UK
Prelude to a Kiss (1992) UK
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Postcards from the Edge (1990)
She-Devil (1989)
Big (1988)
Moving (1988)
After Hours (1985) UK
Places in the Heart (1984) UK

To get more information, use the sites I use like:

mydigiguide.com, tv-now.com and IMDB.com

4-08-01 Latest News

More on Screen and Theatre Numbers
Xoanon @ 1:27 pm EST

Ringer Spy jon peeps in with his knowledge on screen numbers versus theatre numbers. Check it out, and try not to tie your fingers into a pretzel counting on them :)

It appears the author has confused screens with theaters. The numbers quoted for other feature films were their theater numbers. Screens counts for blockbusters generally are 1.5 times greater than the theater count.

That said, the 10,000 print launch of LotR would by far still be a record but I think coming in Dec this is HIGHLY unlikely. Not only are screens at a premium but it would amount to 40% of the entire North American screen total.

I think it more likely could be that NL is planning a 10,000 print world wide launch day-and-date with North America. This could involve 5-6,000 screens in the U.S. (about 25% better than SW Ep1, MI:2, The Grinch and so on. With 4-5,000 screens in foreign markets that could embrace just about every major market. This is also kinda backed up by the NZ release date that has been quoted.

Screen counts are rarely quoted by movie studios for the simple reason that a theater-average looks far better on paper than a screen average these days. The last time I saw a screen count confirmed by a studio was "Twister" in 1996 and its 4,000 screens. That year MI:1 opened in 4,400 screens. Think in the days of Star Wars hogging 5 screens at many sites (even here in the UK) shows just how many prints studios can release.

Hope I have geeked myself out with all those stats.

Keep up the FAB work

Jon

4-07-01 Latest News

Tolkien Gathering in Texas
Tehanu @ 6:37 am EST

As time goes on we're going to see a lot of these; all credit to Josephina for getting the ball rolling sooner than most. Here's her invitation:

"Dear Tolkien fans all over the world,

We have started to work out the details for the Fan Fellowship Gathering in Dallas, Texas to celebrate the release of the first LOTR movie "The Fellowship of the Ring," together as fans from all over the world.

If you are already on the attending list please send me your email address so I can contact you and keep you personally posted. If you are not yet on our list and wish to join us please send me an email. And please send me your true name also - it will look better on the list we send to the contact people . Your email address will not pass me. Only your names for attendance information. Thanks .

I will arrange a Motel for fans to stay at the night before and the night after the movie. ( you will have to provide the costs yourself but I will see if I can make this as cheap as possible for you )

As far as we know the date is SET for the 19th of December 2001. Let us have a tad more confirmation on that, hopefully within the next week or so, then we can start ordering our flight tickets.

We have wonderful contacts and it looks like this is going to be a promising event.

Information so far.

Tolkien Fan Fellowship Gathering
To Celebrate the release of The Fellowship of the Ring
Fans from all over the Globe
Dallas, Texas
19 December 2001

Thank you Deanna and Peta, and the sites helping us out, for your support, and to our Contact people also many, many thanks .

Josephina
miruvin@srv.net

( please use this address as directed only )


4-06-01 Latest News

MediaWatch: Yahoo! Internet Life
Calisuri @ 6:47 pm EST

The May 2001 print edition of Yahoo! Internet Life has a small article on page 51 about LOTR. The title of the article? "Lord of the Rings Hype. So much buzz, so little to watch - so far." Ouch!

Yahoo! Internet Life
Josh Robertson

"The three-year Lord of the Rings flog fest promises to be the most fully realized online publicity campaign to date. The first trailer for the first film, this December's The Fellowship of the Ring, appeared online at The Lord of the Rings Trilogy [lordoftherings.net] in January, with some brief impressions of what we can expect as far as scenery -- including a particularly stunning tableau of a vast army swarming over a plain -- but little about characters or plot. The site, which works in tandem with a RealPlayer channel, stores a lot of interviews with director Peter Jackson and his special-effects staff. However, the clips here leave something to be desired -- you might as well be reading a transcript. Far more satisfying to Tolkien lovers is the short Lord of the Rings preview, available on the official site and as a QuickTime movie at the Apple site since last year. With interviews alongside shots of stuntment on stilts, images from the production, and other teasers, this is the two minutes that has all Middle Earthlings drooling."

- JOSH ROBERSTON

Cate Blanchett talks LOTR!
leo @ 8:09 am EST

In a recent interview with one of the biggest Dutch newspapers Cate Blanchett (Galadriel) talks a bit about her part in Lord of the Rings...

"..but the part in which Cate Blanchett will no doubt draw the most attention in the coming year is the part of Elvenqueen Galadriel in the upcoming Lord of the Rings-trilogy, of which the first installment (Fellowship of the Ring) will hit theatres this christmas.

"I'm done shooting my scenes" explains Blanchett in London, where she is currently finishing her part as Galadriel in a studio. "I'm working on 'looping' which basically means I have to redo all my lines because they didn't get them right the first time around".

And those are no ordinary lines. Those who are familiar with Tolkiens work know that Elvenqueen Galadriel speaks her own language. Blanchett surprises us with some lines in Elvish. "I have been told it sounds like the sound Klingons make in the Star Trek-series".

Blanchett will not be seen long in the movie. Her part took up one month of filming, which, on a total of 18, doesn't seem much. "The entire trilogy has been shot back-to-back, I only appear in the first part. Based on what I have seen so far this is going to be one of the most magical filmexperiences so far. I know some people consider Lord of the Rings to be their Bible, but Peter Jackson, the director, has allowed himself some liberties which hopefully fall in good taste. A book like this needs to be adjusted, otherwise it would have no use to turn it into a movie."

Well, I'd say that offers some good food for discussion (what kind of sound do Klingons make anyway?), thanks to communitysite LordoftheRings.nl for the translation!

4-04-01 Latest News

Fundraiser for FOTR Play
Xoanon @ 10:02 am EST

Fundraiser Planning Underway for The Fellowship of the Ring: A Journey Begins

Fundraising efforts are underway for Ovation's premier production of The Fellowship of the Ring: A Journey Begins, an original stage adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's first book of the trilogy The Lord of the Rings. The book was conceptualized for the stage by Ovation's own Blake Bowden. Plans for production would incorporate The Fellowship of the Ring: A Journey Begins into Ovation's fourth season, marking Ovation's debut in the Jarson-Kaplan Theater, a proscenium stage at the Aronoff Center capable of seating far more patrons than the Fifth Third Bank Theater.

Karen Schulte is heading up Ovation's fundraising efforts. It is estimated that this production will cost over $68,000. Ovation is appealing to corporate and individual sponsors to help bring this momentous arts collaboration alive.

The Fellowship of the Ring was first published in 1954. It has been widely recognized as one of the most influential works of fiction, spawning and entire genre of fantasy literature. Ovation has secured rights from Tolkien Enterprises to produce this unique show just three months prior to the international screening of the first-ever live action movie of the story. Cincinnati playwright Blake Bowden's original adaptation has already been previewed at the Cincinnati Playwrights' Initiative and will be a featured play for analysis and interpretation at Miami University's Department of Theatre. Dr. Bowden is collaborating on this project with a number of local and national artists, including director Mary Lenning, fight/dance choreographer Gina Cerimele-Mechley, puppeteers Aretta Baumgartner, Carus Wagoner, and Rick Couch, and composer Joel Underwood. Renee Alper will serve as dramaturg. This project has been endorsed by the American Hobbit Association, over which Ms. Alper presides.

Ovation Theatre Company is a non-profit organization. In order to bring this amazing new work to Cincinnati audiences, we need your support. Please contact Ovation if you wish to make a donation, or if you'd like to be added to our mailing list to receive information about this exciting production as it develops.

www.cincinnatiovation.com


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