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“I've been a fan of Jeff Waynes musical version of War...”

written by reviewkitten on 21/09/2009

I've been a fan of Jeff Waynes musical version of War of the Worlds for years now and have always wanted to go and see a live stage version. So when tickets went on sale for the 30th anniversary live version I was excited. The cast still boasts members from the original disc recording, Chris Thompson and Justin Hayward and is still conducted by Jeff Wayne himself. Additional cats members included Jennifer Ellison as Beth, the parson's wife and Alexis James as the artillery man plus a holographic version of Richard Burton. The stage was impressive with a huge martian loaming large over the stage. Before the show started and at the interval the martian's eyes were projected on a screen and a camera scanned the audience, the effect to make it look like the martian was watching us. A nice touch that kept us entertained whilst we waited. There was a classical side of the stage and a contempary band side with guitarists, drummers, a harpist and the unique sounding zither creating a magical sound. The performances by the cast were great. Passionate and in keeping with the original, I'm surprised Chris Thompson didn't lose his voice! Alexis James was probably the best performance taking over from David Essex and he really added life to what normally is the weaker 2nd side to the musical. A brilliant night and I'd recommend to all War of the World fans to see it whilst you still can.