The world's biggest musical is now open.

The epic musical adaptation of J R R Tolkien's Lord Of The Rings saga opened in Canada on Thursday night, and this is one really massive production. Costing approximately $27 million, and featuring 55 actors, the show -- four years in the making -- is the most expensive stage production in history.

Directed by Matthew Warchus (second from right, waving), the music for the show -- purists couldn't be expected to sit through "singing-dancing hobbits" -- is by composers A R Rahman (second from left), Finnish folk group Värttinä, and Britain's Christopher Nightingale.

Critical response for the opening night has been severly underwhelming, with most critics calling the over-three-hour play confused and tiresome. The show ambitiously attempts to cover all three books in Tolkien's Rings trilogy.

But then, critics might not be the important folk here, what with advance bookings already having generated an estimated $16m. The show is scheduled to complete its run in Toronto before moving to London's West End and New York's Broadway.

Inset: Rebecca Jackson Mendoza as Galadriel

Photographs: Getty Images

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