I work part time as a House Manager at Clowes Memorial Hall in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, and while we have all sorts of live shows there, we are also the primary performance facility for Butler University. Anyway, at the final performance of the Butler Ballet's season, they announced the new season's works, and much to my surprise, there is a Tolkien influenced piece next season. It's an original work, and it is based on Beren and Luthien and other parts of The Silmarillian. Here is the write up from the program:
The Silmaril
A new commissioned ballet in 4 acts with an original libretto based on J.R.R. Tolkien's magical world of Middle-Earth, to an original score by Butler composer-in-residence Frank Felice.
The Silmaril recounts the pre-history of The Lord of the Rings and explores the love of Beren, a mortal hero, and Luthien, the immortal elf-maiden, and their conquest of a stolen jewel from the grip of the Lord of Evil.
From what I hear, this has been in the works for a long time, and it's just a happy coincidence that it will premier in the middle of Tolkein mania. However, if any of you are in the Indianapolis area, the ballet will occur on April 25-28, 2003.