New Yorkers, be prepared to be sad that you don’t have more money. Non-New Yorkers, prepare to be sad you don’t live in New York. Lincoln Center is hosting what very well may be the best Lord of the Rings screenings of all time.

Like the title says, this LOTR screening will be accompanied by a live orchestra—the 21st Century Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, to be precise—performing Howard Shore’s now-classic score. There will be two screenings of each movie, with tickets starting at $59 each. (No, there’s no option to marathon the trilogy this way. Think of the poor musicians.) Via LOTRLincolnCenter.com, the schedule is:

For $240 you can get the “Hobbit Package” (I won’t be a pervert and make a dirty comment, I won’t), consisting of a “Premium Trilogy Ticket, Post-Concert Shire Reception, [and a] Commemorative Program Book Signed by Howard Shore.” If you’re truly rolling in the gold, $400 will get you the “Gondor Package,” which includes the reception, the program, “a VIP Trilogy Ticket” with better seats, and a ticket to the “LOTR at Lincoln Center Symposium Event.”

New York City has hosted The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers screenings this way before, but this will be the first time the entire trilogy gets the treatment as a series. Howard Shore, who’s not conducting the shows, said that “”he trilogy at Lincoln Center is unique and something powerful happens—a synergy is created—in bringing together the music, live on a massive scale, with the films, in a magnificent house, and not only for one night, but presented over the course of a week… We hope that everyone who travels from near or far will feel they’ve arrived at a kind of contemporary, cultural Middle-earth.”

BRB, gotta hunt through my couch cushions. Tickets will sell out, so get ’em while they last.

(via CinemaBlend)

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