War Of the Worlds At War With Itself

I will admit that I was attracted to the idea of Jeff Wayne's War of The Worlds for two reasons; the siren-like call of Daniel Bedingfield's formidable falsetto and H.G Wells' timeless masterpiece of a story. With regards to the former, I was not disappointed. Bedingfield's impressive range cleared the cobwebs at pivotal moments, but the clunky treatment of so classic a plot was mildly calamitous. I say mildly because not many of the evening's proceedings left an impression on me.

Perhaps it would have been better to enter the theatre with the contextual knowledge that composer Jeff Wayne bucked the punk trend in 1978 with the release of the War Of The Worlds concept album, a progressive rock symphony that remains one of the best-selling albums of all time. With the small orchestra and its master displayed prominently on stage it wasn't difficult to see that the music was meant to be the star of the show and this must be its primary drawcard. Yet for all its synth wizardry, I found it difficult to suspend my disbelief.

Wells’ war-torn world was literally and figuratively sliced, sanitized and arranged awkwardly around the music so that it became a paint-by-numbers disaster/romance plot of little substance. The constant running on and off stage by the cast was possibly meant to emulate the harrowing invasion of the malevolent Martians, but came off as an ineffective way of driving the action forward. Liam Neeson's spectral video-narration did little to help, but his voice was at least pleasant to listen to. It felt as if the show did not know if it wanted to be a concert or a West End blockbuster, sadly failing at both.

REVIEWED BY TEIA FREGONA

Tuesday 9th February 2016
Dominion Theatre, London
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View our show pages for more information about War Of The Worlds, Dominion Theatre.