The Lord of the Rings: A Musical Tale - Chicago

www.chicagoshakes.com/productions/the-lord-of-the-rings/

Had a look on the Chicago Shakespeare Theater's website and it says the run time is 2 hours and 30 minutes, compared the the Watermill's 3 hours and 20 minutes.

Reckon they cut it down for the American audience?

Yeah, I'm not getting great vibes about this. Mind you, I didn't see the Watermill production, so I don't know if there's anything that could be cut down. 

Not to mention, if this is what they're planning to tour across the world after this ends it's run, will this be the new run time from now on? 

Frankly that's going to be tough order to cut this down further, speaking as someone who saw the watermill version

I could see them doing the majority of the cuts in the first act, which was practically Fellowship of the Ring. How on earth they can slimline Two Towers/Return of the King further, which is already cut and crammed together in the second act, is beyond me

On the other hand because first half was he sparknotes version of Fellowship it was pretty much the best part of the show. Cutting it it will make it less coherent and what character depth there was in this musical will be severely reduced as well

Is it possible it's a temp runtime on the page?

3h30.

Maybe, or it could be that they start all the outdoor stuff at 7pm, which lasts for however long it does, before the show officially begins? Just speculating on my end. 

I hope the 2h 30m runtime is a placeholder and not final, because if they really have cut it down to that length, then that could do more damage than good.

Ooooohhhhh - Lauren Zarkin is going to sing the sh*t out of Galadriel’s songs!!!

Looks like they updated the run time. Now going 2h 45m: www.chicagoshakes.com/productions/the-lord-of-the-rings/

I suppose that's better than the initial 2h 30m, but still seems a bit short. I imagine the two ten-minute breaks to get the audience inside and out at the beginning and end in the Watermill production have been cut, which would've made that production technically 3 hours. Not sure what material they'd thought it best to trim 15 mins off.

Will the Watermill benefit financially from either subsequent staging? I don’t know how things like this work, but would hope so as it was a big risk for them to take and I’m glad it’s paying off

Paul Hart, who directed it at the Watermill, is also directing it in Chicago, and I assume in Auckland too, so I imagine it will be financially beneficial. 

With the recent annoucnement of the Auckland production, does anyone reckon we'll see it make a comeback to the UK? If so, which of these three ways could it do so;

1). A return to the Watermill?
2). A West End run?
3). An off-West End run?

If the venue is how you've described it, I imagine it would be scaled up to a degree. I've seen some photos of rehearsals in The Yard and it does look like the set is slightly bigger, but still has that same feel as it did at the Watermill, so hopefully the same will apply for The Civic.