If they gave out Olivier Awards for bravery, the producer Kevin Wallace would win hands-down. It’s not just because of the insane task he set himself: taking a 1,200-page epic with mighty battles, ungodly creatures and a core cast of a dozen characters that on the big screen took ten hours and three films to tell, and compressing it into just three hours on a single stage. With songs. It’s because when his multimillion-dollar The Lord of the Ringsextravaganza opened in Toronto last year to, let us diplomatically say, less than universal rapture, he remained cool under fire.

I was there, at what was meant to be a celebratory trip for ticket agents to see what marvels would be in store for British theatre-goers when the production finally transferred to London. Over a four-hour dinner after the show, he didn’t duck or dive. “Tell me what’s wrong,” Wallace said to each guest in turn, “and we’ll fix it.” My own impertinent letter of suggestions and complaints covered two pages. Yet he’s more than happy to address all these points now.

“When we had that session with the ticket agents,” says Wallace, sitting with the choreographer Peter “Billy Elliot” Darling in a bolt hole at the Drury Lane Theatre, “the primary messages coming out of it were: cut it to three hours to make it more commercial; put more music in; and give it greater emotional impact in Act 3.”

With £12.5 million invested, and another £12.5m to spend on taking it to London, Wallace couldn’t afford anything short of perfection the second time round. They went right back to the drawing board, and the play/show/musical/specta-cle (no one is quite sure what to call it) that officially opens in ten days is a radically different beast. So how do you go about turning a semi-hit into a show that can take its place, as Wallace intends, in the West End’s top three alongside Billy Elliot and The Lion King? One by one, we go through the problems, and their solutions:

Who cares wins

Frodo and Sam’s intimate relationship was in Toronto dwarfed by the spectacle, so you never quite cared what happened to any of the Fellowship of the Ring. Now, says Wallace, “the writers have gone right back to the beginning and looked for wherever they could write in moments of friendship and companionship, particularly between Sam and Frodo – there are points now along the way where they acknowledge the challenge of the journey to each other in a way that they did not in Toronto.”

Casting

Toronto’s finest did not quite cut the mustard. London’s Gandalf, as played by the RSC stalwart Malcolm Storry, is reputedly terrific; the elf queen is a top-notch performer, too – the former Mary Poppins, Laura Michelle Kelly. One Canadian, however, shone. My letter singled out Gollum as “beyond brilliant, should win every theatrical award going” (he did indeed win Canada’s top drama award), so well done Wallace for persuading Equity and the Home Office to let the Canadian actor Michael Therriault reprise the role.

Music

Sceptics may have had crass visions of tap-danc-ing orcs, but, instead, the songs were complex and intelligent – dauntingly so at times. The music has been extensively reorchestrated, with Galadriel’s song moved to the climax of Act 3 and a new one written for her in Act 2.

Staging

This, at least, was always superb, with a good half-dozen jaw-dropping set-pieces, from the giant spider Shelob to Deagol swimming fluidly down from the theatre ceiling to pluck the Ring from a riverbed. There was one dud – Mount Doom at the climax didn’t seem fiery enough – and that has been reimagined at great expense for London.

Choreography

Mostly superb, in particular a dance in Bree Tavern that is a brilliant take on more traditional musical routines, but the battle scenes weren’t quite right. Darling has reworked those completely: “I interpret the Orc movement this time

round as that sort of militaristic, North Korean kind of immaculate working in unison. It’s more frightening.”

He also restaged the woodland scene of Lothlórien. “I felt it was too operatic in Toronto. There are not that many moments in the book where there is light, and lightness, so you have to take advantage of these moments of brilliance, and I felt we were missing a trick. So, for better or for worse, I decided we should do it . . . in the air.” Sorry – what? Literally? “Yes! There’s bungee flying, people climbing ropes . . . it’s a big sequence.” The mind boggles.

Timing

A lot of bums went numb in Toronto. This production is 20 minutes shorter and, thinks Wallace, all the better for it. Instead of the rival states of Rohan and Gondor, there are now just the Lands of Men; instead of two leaders, Theoden and Denethor, there is now just Boromir’s father. “So there’s an emotional connection there, and it’s easier for the audience to hold on to.”

The attention to detail is impressive: they literally have an assistant director timing performances with a stopwatch. The book’s ending back in the ravaged Shire, which Peter Jackson also chose to discard in his movies, has now mostly disappeared: “One of the clear messages we got,” says Wallace, “is that the story has been leading up to Mount Doom, and it’s important to wrap it up as soon as possible after that. And we’ve been shaving minutes off throughout the previews.”

The result has been going down so well with preview audiences that Wallace is already planning other countries.I wish him luck – though not “break a leg”, since one poor actor did just that on the hydraulic stage.

And finally, I wonder, if Wallace or Darling was a Lord of the Rings character, which would they be? “Boromir,” says Darling, “because I’d selfishly want the Ring, even though I knew it was bad for me!”

“Some people think I’m Sauron,” Wallace reflects ruefully, “but people usually tell me it’s Gandalf.” Why, because of his white hair? Or his goodness? He laughs. “Or because I come back from the dead!”

The Lord of the Rings, Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London WC2 (www.lotr.com 0870 8906002), previewing now and opening on June 20

A jolly good fellowship

The Knowledge catches up with the stars

You were in Toronto, and now London – this is seriously hobbit-forming.
Peter Howe (Sam, above left): And we started with workshops back in 2005. But the great thing is that it has changed so much since Toronto, it’s like a new play.

Your on-stage closeness is vital. Do you really get on? If you took a holiday, would you give each other a Ring? James Loye (Frodo): You can’t go through all this without getting close. It’s such an ambitious show, and it needs such endurance – it’s quite a journey we’ve gone on ourselves.

How hard did you find the choreography to learn, and all the changes for London? You must be brilliant now, you must be Mordor on the dancefloor.

Peter: I enjoy the routines, though I can’t compete with these West End dancers. But yeah, I do like a boogie.
James: I’m not a natural mover, but Peter [Darling, the choreographer] is very patient. It’s a matter of doing it again and again.

And a three-hour show – how do you keep it up? At least all the exercise must be good for your elf.
Peter: You have to keep fit: eight performances a week is pretty intense! You have to eat your greens.
James: I lost a stone in Canada. I wasn’t eating properly. I got pale and my mother was concerned. But my uncle came out to see the show, and I was complaining – he runs a transport caff and gets up at 5am. “What are you complaining for?” he said. “It’s work.” That puts it into perspective.

I hear the music has changed a lot. How so?
James: It’s getting more ebb and flow, working more smoothly. The Road Goes On, which Sam, Frodo, Merry and Pippin sing at the start, has been changed to make it more like four-part harmony. The music begins innocently, with a simple song, and gets more complicated as the show goes on.

And if The Lord of the Rings was done as pop, who would you prefer: Tolkien Heads, Moria Carey, or, drum roll please, Elvish Presley?
Peter [cracking up]: Tolkien Heads!
James: Tolkien Heads, definitely.

You really are on the same wavelength. Good luck, and thanks for Tolkien with me. DOMINIC WELLS

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