The Lord of the Rings is being turned into a musical stage show and will be performed in the English countryside this summer.

　　As reported by Deadline, The Lord of the Rings musical is set to take place at the Watermill Theatre located in Berkshire, England, a countryside near Oxfordshire, where original author J.R.R Tolkien spent his time writing the Great War of the Ring storyline. The musical will be "semi-immersive" and take advantage of the venue's setting on the banks of the River Lambourn, while also making the Watermill Theatre and its surrounding area reminiscent of the Shire.

　　Originally co-created in 2006 by Matthew Warchus--director of Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical--the musical will feature original songs inspired by The Lord of the Rings and is expected to take place on July 25 and will run for approximately 12 weeks.

　　Watermill Theatre's artistic director, Paul Hart, decided on recreating the Shire in the surrounding area two years ago before acquiring the license from Kevin Wallace, a business partner of William Bennett at their KWL production house.

　　Wallace was a producer on the original production, which first premiered in Toronto in 2006, before it was moved to the Theatre Royal, London the next year. However, it underperformed and was unable to recoup its production costs. Hart believes that Watermill Theatre is the best place to relaunch the musical, saying, "We’re going to give audiences a very visceral experience in that they’ll be arriving into ‘The Shire'” for Bilbo Baggins’ ‘eleventy first’ [111st] birthday “on our lawn."

　　Casting for the musical is set to start today and tickets are expected to go on sale on March 15.

　　WB/New Line recently announced that it will be making even more The Lord of the Rings movies and is hoping to create a "Star Wars-like franchise" out of the property.