High Culture Goes Geek With LOTR Symphony

Ten years ago, Metallica released the live double album "S&M," which had the band playing their hits while accompanied by an orchestra. The effort went six times platinum, and suddenly guys in black T-shirts and mullets could tell you how the roots of heavy metal are in classical music.

Could geek culture be in for a similar symphonic upgrade? "Video Games Live," a concert series featuring "the best video game music performed by top orchestras and choirs," has been playing to larger and larger audiences around the world since its debut in 2005.

And, perhaps buoyed by this success, next month Radio City Music Hall will be presenting the film "The Fellowship of the Ring" on a 60-foot screen with the complete score performed live by a full orchestra.

But venturing into high culture has a price. Tickets to the LOTR event run up to $150. For that much moolah, a Middle Earth fan could buy the kind of perfect, gold-plated replica of Aragorn's sword that would make him the envy of any Tolkien convention.