Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of The War of the Worlds: The New Generation – Alive on Stage!

Back in 1978, if your mum still bought your clothes, odds-on you also had a copy of Jeff Wayne’s million-selling prog-pop double-album of the HG Wells novel, ‘The War of the Worlds’. Cut to 2012 and maestro Wayne is still delighting a not-inconsiderable audience, as seen on the video from the O2 leg of the latest tour. Essentially, here’s a fan souvenir getting a theatrical release, and newcomers may well ponder its appeal. A new cast of singers (including a spirited Jason Donovan) belt out the tunes, but this is neither straight-up concert version nor fully realised stage musical. Instead it’s an awkward hybrid involving costumed performers, a live band, filmed CGI inserts on giant screens and a holographic Liam Neeson as the narrator. For this special event, couldn’t they have had a live Liam Neeson? And was Marti Pellow’s awful version of the big hit ‘Forever Autumn’ really the best take? Most people who want to see this were surely at the gig already.