Lord of the pins

The West End Lord Of The Rings musical was halted after half an hour last night when a hobbit broke his leg on stage.

The actor was heard screaming, "My leg, my leg!" when he became caught in the set machinery shortly after the £25million show began. Actors playing hobbits, elves and dwarfs rushed to help as the 2,300-strong audience looked on.

The curtain was hurriedly brought down and an ambulance and two paramedic cars were sent to the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. The audience was first told there had been a "technical problem" but were later informed an actor had broken his leg.

One audience member said: "The actors were exiting stage right when I heard a noise and somebody shouted, 'My leg, my leg!' At first nobody was sure if it was part of the story or not.

"It was quite dark and there were a lot of actors on stage so we couldn't see who it was but they were clearly in pain. Then there was an announcement saying there would be a break for 10 minutes because of a technical problem."

Twenty minutes later producer Kevin Wallace announced the evening's performance had been cancelled. "He told us that an actor called Adam had hurt his leg. He said they could not continue because they had to find out what had happened."

Theatregoers were offered a refund or a ticket to see another performance. A theatre spokesman said last night's performance had been cancelled because of "technical difficulties".

The musical - the costliest ever seen in London - has a cast of 50, believed to be the largest employed in any West End show for decades.

The £1 million, 45ft stage has three revolves and 17 lifts. Another audience member said: "There's so much machinery on stage, which is in semi-gloom for much of the time, that it's not altogether surprising that someone has been injured like this." After several glitches with the set in Toronto, where the show was first staged, actors in London were made to rehearse "flat-floor" versions of all the battles.

At the show's British first performance this month the stage jammed and the sound cut out with Aragorn, played by Jerome Pradon, in midbattlecry. The curtain was drawn and an apology issued before normal service was restored.