LOTR Musical drops into Mount Doom

Jon sent along a link to this Toronto Star story on the closing down of the Lord of the Rings musical:

Just three months after it opened to largely negative reviews, producers of the $28-million Lord of the Rings stage show have announced it is closing.

"If the critics think they don't have power, believe me they do," Rings producer Kevin Wallace told a news conference today.

The show will close Sept. 3. A revamped version will reopen next May 9 in London.

Wallace levelled much of the blame for the show's abbreviated Toronto run at critics, saying the show had had a "rough ride" on this side of the Atlantic.

Nothing I can say will express things better than Jon's summary:

Producer blames bad reviews.

Mayor blames 9/11.

680 blamed the high Canadian dollar.

I blame the 63 or however many movies it was; endless History Channel, TLC, and Bravo! mockumentaries on the topic; countless books exploring the tedium of everything Tolkien (Entomolodor! Towards Understanding The Role of Insects in J.R.R. Tolkien's Endless Blathering About Homoerotic Dwarves); and a whole bunch of spotty-complexioned dead-eyed sunken-chested D'n'D-playing never-kissed-by-a-girl freakjobs lurching around hissing "My precious! My precious!" for the public's over saturation in the damn franchise.