Jeff Wayne’s The Musical Version of the War of the Worlds “under license” – Theatre production by CCADS, held at the Kings Theatre, Southsea 11th June 2011.
I have been a huge War of the Worlds fan for some time now. The films, the books, the musical version, I’ve read / seen / heard them all. I’ve also been raised in a musical family who were always part of a theatrical group of some kind and always grew up wanting to be part of the orchestra pit. So I couldn’t really miss the opportunity of going to see Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of the War of the Worlds “under license” as a theatre production.
A bit of background – as you probably know Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of War of the Worlds is a popular musical version of the 1898 novel by H G Wells (who, ironically lived just round the corner from the Kings Theatre in Elm Grove, Southsea). It was released in 1978 and became hugely popular. In 2006, Jeff Wayne took it live with an official UK tour. It was lavish, bright, loud and quite simply amazing. One of the best evenings I had out. In 2008, CCADS, a local theatre group applied for a license to perform it and now, in 2011, for the first time ever an amateur theatre group have taken it to the stage in the UK – and was performed here at the Kings Theatre in Southsea.
Having seen the official Jeff Waynes UK tour back in 2006, I simply didn’t know what to expect. Obviously, it wasn’t going to be as grand as the official tour, it wasn’t going to have all of the special effects. This was going to be done on an amateur theatre production budget.
Even before the start of the show the actors were walking around the theatre in their black, haunting, victorian dresses which set the scene nicely. Then the inevitable “No one would have believed..” was heard. Then my nerves kicked in as I eagerly waited for the orchestra to perform the infamous first three chords. The orchestra started, the music kicked in and the dancers came on.
It took me some time to warm up to the fact that this was a theatre production, not in any way how I interpreted the book, nor how the official tour told the story. An actor instead of a heat ray, the lack of lasers and explosions, a cardboard Thunder Child. It all took some getting used to, but throughout I enjoyed it. But then, how do you portray a martian invasion of tripod machines, in the middle of Victorian London, on a stage, with a limited budget? A tripod did eventually make it onto the stage, and I have to say they did a fine job recreating it, together with lighted hood.
The second act suited the theatrical element better – the dancers performed very well in “The Red Weed”. The singing was very good, and that infamous high pitched note in “Brave New World” was pulled off without a problem. The dramatical ending of “Dead London” was again performed ever so well. In fact, I’d go as far as to say the the second act was better than the first. Which is strange, because I always preferred the first CD of the album. I just felt that there was more to give in the theatrical sense in the second act than the first.
For me though, the orchestra was the best part of it all. They nailed the soundtrack brilliantly – the guitar playing was simply spot on to the original, and although there was some backing track going on, they performed well. The martian sound was slightly dissapointing (aplayed by a very simple square synth), and I think the samples didn’t work in the first act, but you got the idea. Hey, I’m a keyboard player, of course I’m going to be critical of the keys! The acting was also top notch.
What did put me off was the ‘modern’ theatre feel to it. To me modern theatre is an acquired taste and not always appreciated by all. No matter at what level, an actor cannot play the part of a Martian Heat Ray turning everyone into fire. A Martian Heat ray turns people into fire, not a human being. He didn’t even have “snake like tentacles”, as described by the narrator. Which was quite dissapointing.
So, was it all worth it? Yes, of course it was. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and without knowing what I was going to see I was pleasantly surprised. “Jeff Waynes Musical Version of The War of the Worlds on a budget” is what I’d describe it as, and it was no bad thing. And for it to be the first of its kind, that made it even more special. A congratulations to the production team for what must have seemed like an impossible task. It was pulled off well and the cast did an excellent job.
If the modern theatre element was taken out of it, they made use of some scenery (there was none, just some black boxes as you’d expect from modern theatre), and replaced the actor with an actual martian (a costume will do) and a heat ray that fired, er, a heat ray of some kind, then I would have been more comfortable. I’m sure other fans of the franchise would agree with me on this one.
Overall, great job CCADS. Jeff Waynes War of the Worlds still does sound amazing, no matter where it is, or how its performed.
Ps.
And hey Jeff, where’s this CGI film (and perhaps a new PC game? Please?) 
CIW Certified Web Design Professional and E-Commerce Specialist working in IT Support. Music Producter and Gamer, big Prog Rock fan. Proud father and Husband! 
