Originally published by L.S. Media. June 15th 2009.

Cast;  The voice of Richard Burton, Shannon Noll, Justin Hayward, Chris Thompson,  Anna-Marie Wayne.

“No one would have believed…”

…that thirty years ago an album would come out that blew its initial budget within weeks of starting recording. An album that used some of the greatest musical talent ever and one of the most iconic and greatest of British actors to grace stage and screen. An album that was based upon the book by the “father of science fiction” H. G Wells!

That album still manages to sell shed loads of copies and is highly prized by fans and some music critics alike. The ensemble at the time looked like a who’s who of entertainment, with Justin Hayward of the Moody Blues, the phenomenal Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy, the ever graceful David Essex, the beautiful and talented Julie Covington, ace bassist Herbie Flowers, Manfred Mann’s Chris Thompson, the ever excellent Richard Burton and topped off by the dedication, hard work and sweat of originator Jeff Wayne all taking part in the project.

Fast forward thirty years and that album is now a musical feast for the all the senses. It of course benefits from the massive surge in popularity as newer fans have come across the album in it’s newer updated forms but also from the technology at the disposal to Jeff Wayne that brings this show to life.

From the very start of the show the packed audience at the Liverpool Echo Arena were treated to a sumptuous visual treat as the original story was extended by giving it a small prologue where it showed the Martians coming together and discussing the Earth and its future under their dominion.

Then as now the voice of Richard Burton came softly with the opening words, unlike then, this was a holographic reproduction of the great man’s face as he unfortunately passed away in 1984 aged only 58. This in no way took away from the original production as it would have been a crime to have someone else play the role of the journalist George Herbert. From that opening moment the stage was set, the orchestra were perfect and the Black Smoke Band including once more Herbie Flowers were incredible.

The actors/singers in this production differ greatly to those in the original album, but with Justin Hayward reprising his role as the sung thoughts of the Journalist and Chris Thompson once more playing the Voice of Humanity there was a sense of continuation to the creation. New members that have joined and replaced the original cast were Liverpool’s own Jennifer Ellison who took on the part of Beth, Parson Nathaniel’s wife and made it very much her own as her voice continues to impress both public and critic alike. She was backed up by a strong performance from Alexis James playing the Artilleryman, Australian sensation Shannon Noll who played the much missed Phil Lynott character of Parson Nathaniel and appearing on the huge screen and keeping the family tradition alive of being involved with the production Anna-Marie Wayne (Jeff’s daughter) as Carrie, the fiancée of the Journalist.

Even though every single song and instrumental piece that appears is considered, quite rightly, as monumental, it is worth praising Justin Hayward’s rendition of Forever Autumn and Alexis James’s version of Brave New World and of course Jeff Wayne by way of conducting of the orchestra and band.

To paraphrase and corrupt one of the lines from the musical, “The chances of any stage show being better than this, this year, are a million to one”.

Ian D. Hall