Reviewed by Richard Jinman
September 10, 2007

Jeff Wayne's musical version of The War of the Worlds, Burswood Dome, Perth, September 8

Let's call it dead man talking. The disembodied head of a young, unlined Richard Burton materialises above the stage, blinks once and begins to roll his vowels. "No one would have believed in the last year of the 19th century that human affairs were being watched from the timeless worlds of space ... "

The miraculous sight of Virtual Burton, version 1.0 - the actor has been resurrected as a giant hologram - is not the only surprise awaiting the audience at the first Australian performance of this eye-popping show. The nine-metre Martian fighting machine that is lowered in a miasma of smoke and retina-scorching lighting effects is nothing compared with the sight of Shannon Noll, in a cassock and dog-collar, playing the deranged preacher Parson Nathaniel.

Noll's stage acting debut - in a part immortalised by Thin Lizzy's Phil Lynott on the 1978 concept album that inspired this two-hour show - is a success, even if there are moments when he waves his crucifix at his uncaring God and you expect him to scream "What about me?"

The show's other surprise is not that the Moody Blues singer Justin Hayward still has a great voice (and great hair), or that Wayne's symphonic score is influenced as much by Giorgio Moroder-style disco as the baroque prog rock of Yes and Emerson, Lake & Palmer.

It's that this telling of H.G.Wells's 1898 story is genuinely scary. As Burton's sonorous voice describes the Martians' grotesque appearance - their skin glistens like "wet leather", their mouths "quivered and slavered" - they appear as animations on the 30-metre wide screen above the stage; giant slugs with tentacles and teeth.

I suspect this is the key to the album's success (15 million copies) and that of the stage show. Wayne, who conducts from a gold-railed podium, takes it seriously. When Burton, as the narrator, describes "bodies scattered on the Euston Road", we see grainy black-and-white images of corpses. People are incinerated by heat rays and in one toe-curling moment we watch the invaders "draining the fresh, living blood of men and women" and injecting it into their own veins.

The score hasn't dated because it was always a guilty, atavistic pleasure. Even in 1978, it was cut adrift from musical trends, a slab of prog in a sea of post-punk. Hayward's performance of the bucolic ballad Forever Autumn reminds you it's one of the prettiest melodies in pop. And guitarist Chris Spedding - he and venerable bassist Herbie Flowers are the only members of the stage band who also played on the album - cuts through the strings and keyboards with shards of aggressive guitar.

Michael Falzon and Rachael Beck bring secure voices and genuine acting chops to their roles as the Artilleryman and the Parson's Wife, and former Manfred Mann's Earth Band member Chris Thompson gives an appropriately melodramatic rendition of the big oh-drat-they've-sunk-our-last-warship number Thunder Child.

Unlike the dire movie starring Tom Cruise, this War of the Worlds takes you on a wild ride. The multimedia and special effects are not meretricious and combine with the visceral intensity of a live performance to create something that, at its best, is out of this world.

War of the Worlds comes to the Acer Arena on September 18 and 19.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/arts/theyve-lan...9276539917.html

War of the Worlds the musical at Burswood Dome
By Sandra Bahbah

September 10, 2007 10:39am

JEFF Wayne's musical version of War of the Worlds was quite simply - a visual feast.
Based on the H.G. Wells classic novel, Jeff Wayne’s musical version of War of the Worlds tells the fictional tale of an alien invasion in the late 1800s and how it turns the world upside down. An eager crowd scurried into the Dome with high hopes for this musical adaptation that has been so talked about in recent years.

As the lights dimmed the stage shone with laser lights and smoke with Jeff Wayne, the 10-piece Black Smoke Band and the 40-piece String orchestra making its way onto the stage. Richard Burton, who narrated the tale, was spectacularly represented as a holographic image on the left of the stage with another 30 metres of screen showing outstanding CGI-animation propped behind the performers.

The colours were mesmerising with lasers, advanced lighting, pyrotechnics and digital effects which I cannot recall seeing in a musical in recent memory. I really felt like I was in a 80s sci-fi video game with the music a blend of Electronica and orchestra, the beats in unison with the actions onscreen. Moody Blues singer Justin Hayward added to this nostalgic atmosphere with his vocal arrangements reminding me of generic 70s British artists with their strong vocals and vivacity onstage.

Other guest artists included Rachel Beck, Chris Thompson, Shannon Noll and Michael Falzon. My major qualm about the show was these performers were not showcased enough. While the drawings and effects on screen were amazing and the orchestra played beautifully, as a musical I wanted a great deal more singing.

Of the performers, Justin Hayward was enchanting as his sang “Forever Autumn” and Michael Falzon can be credited for keeping the energy from falling throughout the piece. As for Shannon Noll, he did surprisingly well but I was unable to decipher his accent. Rachael Beck was in fine form adding to the drama of the narrative.

While War of the Worlds the Musical was supposed to be a serious tale it was hard to get past the alien prop with its green bug eyes staring back at me. Rather than be amazed by the technology I found myself chuckling at its presence onstage. The second half was definitely more engrossing than the first and while I enjoyed myself I never felt I was completely immersed in the tale. I felt the constant special effects and narration took away from the fear and desperation the book envisaged.

Despite these points, War of the Worlds the Musical has to be seen to be believed as the past meets the future in this dynamic musical. What it ultimately does is serve a reminder of how small and fragile we really are.

http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21...5005364,00.html
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