I went to see a theatre production of the Lord of the Rings in Tampere1 this weekend. As far as theatre versions of the book go, this was probably my favourite (since my partner is a huge nerd, this wasn't the first stage version of the book I've seen); the script did a decent job in hurrying through a 1000 page book in about 3½ hours, plus they had a full live symphony orchestra doing original music, rather than pastiches of the Peter Jackson films.
I do wish that stage productions of the book could be a little more original in their approach to the costumes and overall stage design. However, it turns out this can't be: Middle Earth Enterprises, who own the licensing rights for the stage and film productions of Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit, relatively heavily restrict what a stage version of the books can be like. Thus, alas, we won't see a return of the likes of the pseudo-samurai Boromir from the early-90s Finnish stage and TV adaptation.
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A Finnish city different from where I live, for those not in the know.