"Unfinished Tolkien work to be published' (+ a LOTR stage production)

Everyone's buzzing about it:

NEW YORK - An unfinished tale by J.R.R. Tolkien has been edited by his son into a completed work and will be released next spring, the U.S. and British publishers announced Monday.

Christopher Tolkien has spent the past 30 years working on "The Children of Hurin," an epic tale his father began in 1918 and later abandoned. Excerpts of "The Children of Húrin," which includes the elves and dwarves of Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" and other works, have been published before.

"It has seemed to me for a long time that there was a good case for presenting my father's long version of the legend of the `Children of Húrin' as an independent work, between its own covers," Christopher Tolkien said in a statement.

The new book will be published by Houghton Mifflin in the United States and HarperCollins in England.

J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings Trilogy" has sold more than 50 million copies and was also adapted into a blockbuster, Academy Award-winning trio of films. A stage version is scheduled to open next year. [source.]

Call me a purist, but I've never been too interested in the unfinished works of Tolkien that his son Christopher has edited and completed ... probably because I haven't read any of them. I don't know, I guess I don't want my memory and enjoyment of The Hobbit & Trilogy to risk being tainted. Perhaps that's my loss.

Oh and one more thing, this article mentions a stage version of the Lord of the Rings. Gee, what a surprise. When is the mini-series coming out?

NPR did a report on the stage production earlier this year. With a $24 million dollar budget, the Lord of the Rings stage version is the most expensive play ever. [Update from reader Dave:] The 3 & 1/2 hour play opened in Toronto on March 23, 2006 and will open in London (Theatre Royal Drury Lane) on May 9, 2007.

... I wonder how they do the Balrog?