Jeff Wayne's Musical Version Of The War Of The Worlds: The New Generation (2013)-
I expected this to be more of a stage show and less of a concert, but didn't mind at all as the music always blows me away. 'Forever Autumn' for instance, is a beautiful song that I have listened to hundreds of times.
There really is no denying what a fantastic composition Jeff Wayne has created here. I don't know any of Jeff's other works, although I can't find many, but if they're any thing like this, they must be superb. I have actually enjoyed this beautiful collections of sounds since I was very young and still play the CD frequently and at high volume. Some of the moments, both musically and narratively, are really quite emotive and can easily take me back in time to when I heard them first.
Therefore I could not fail to enjoy this rendition, despite a few elements that were a bit distracting.
Firstly, there was a moment where I thought that Liam Neeson was going to threaten to "Hunt them down, find them and kill them". He seemed a bit miscast and I couldn't understand why he was only a hologram? It didn't add anything to the experience for me and I felt it looked as if he just couldn't commit to all of the tour dates, in which case, I would have chosen someone who would not only be available, but who could also sing the part of the journalist. I understand that Richard Burton didn't sing on the original, but I think that there are enough actors out there now that can also sing, that it would make more sense in the execution of this fantastic tale.
I say this, because I also wouldn't have chosen Marti Pellow to perform the journalists singing. Sadly his voice just isn't as strong as it used to be.
I wasn't sure about Ricky Wilson either? He just didn't seem to fit for me, although his song was at least better.
What did surprise me was Jason Donovan's performance. Where I haven't always been overly impressed with him, especially as a singer, I thought that he was excellent as Nathaniel. Kerry Ellis also had a great vocal too.
It's slightly different to my recollection of the story. The Martians showed themselves too soon I think in this one, but it didn't take away from my enjoyment.
I've also never found it easy to picture the story as set in the Victorian era and instead usually think of it as early to mid 20th century. This may be because of the film version with Gene Barry (1953) or where my thoughts went upon my first listening, but again it didn't diminish the pleasure.
It's evident from its success and continued replication on film, TV, theatre and Radio, that the story is worthwhile, but Jeff's music really compliments it brilliantly.
