The War of the Worlds

Life Begins Again: The War of the Worlds

Alive on Stage!

Interview by Martin Hutchinson Photography by Simon Lowery.

“There’s always ways to evolve it.” - Jeff Wayne.

One of the most trailblazing arena tours of all time, Jeff Wayne’s musical version of ‘The War of The Worlds’, ‘Alive on Stage!’ returns to arenas throughout the UK in 2022. Based on HG Wells’ dark Victorian tale, it remains a firm favourite to millions around the world. In 2006, the first ‘The War of the Worlds’ tour was considered a cutting edge production with six trucks filled to the brim. 2022 marks a momentous sixteen years of touring and these days, there are up to twelve trucks carrying a host of ingredients and special effects that will challenge and excite the senses for audiences of all ages, all set to Wayne’s iconic score.

‘Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of War of the Worlds’ was originally released as a double album by CBS Records in 1978 and featured Richard Burton, The Moody Blues’ Justin Hayward, David Essex and Julie Covington. It has enjoyed huge success and critical acclaim across the globe with over sixteen million records sold. To date, it has spent over 330 weeks on the UK Album Charts and has spawned two international hit singles, ‘Forever Autumn’ (1978, UK#5) and ‘The Eve of the War’ (1978, UK#36 and 1989, UK#3 when remixed by Ben Liebrand). It has been top ten in 22 countries and Number one in eleven of them. In 2012, ‘The New Generation’ double album was released and featured an expanded storyline with a new cast including Liam Neeson, Take That’s Gary Barlow, Joss Stone and Kaiser Chief’s Ricky Wilson. Wayne’s musical version has also won two prestigious UK Ivor Novello Awards, the US Best Recording in Science Fiction and Fantasy (the judges included Alfred Hitchcock, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg), as well as winning for Wayne, Classic Rock magazine’s ‘Showman of the Year’ award following the debut arena tour in 2006. ‘Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of The War of the Worlds’ has grown into a true classic, acquiring new generations of devoted followers since its original release. It has now been seen in London’s West End and released as a chart-topping five-hour Audible audiobook featuring Michael Sheen, Taron Egerton and Theo James, and in 2019, ‘Jeff Wayne’s The War of the

Worlds: The Immersive Experience’ opened at London’s Old Metal Exchange and won the THEA Award, the ‘Oscar’ of the interactive world. Now COVID compliant, it is re-opening again from May 2022. The 2006 DVD topped the UK Music DVD Charts for seven consecutive weeks and was seen for a year on Sky Arts TV, whilst the 2012 DVD also enjoyed similar success.

For the latest tour, Wayne has combined elements of both the original stage version and the ‘New Generation’ shows, as well as adding new sections. He tells me, “The show has been

developed for this tour, there are new things added and there is a balance of ingredients that make it fresh”.

The show contains the iconic three-ton, thirty-foot tall Martian Fighting Machine firing real-flame heat rays at the audience; the eight-piece Black Smoke Band and symphonic ULLAdubULLA strings; Surround Sound; three panoramic screens featuring two hours of cutting edge CGI and video content. And if you are

Martian flying machine firing a three flumed heat ray.

not content with that, on this tour, there is the incineration of a cast member in full view of the audience, which has been dubbed ‘The Flaming Man’. Wayne explains, “The Flaming Man is

a segment of the ‘Immersive Experience’ where Ogilvy the Astronomer greets the visitors and gets zapped and turns into ‘The Flaming Man’ and disintegrates into ashes. It’s very believable and a further extension to the show. I think for a live audience, it’ll be another ingredient that will engulf them. I’m always looking for new stuff for the show.”

Among the stars taking part in this tour are Steps’ Claire Richards as Beth, the Parson’s wife; and BBC ‘Strictly Come Dancing’s Kevin Clifton as the Artilleryman. Richards says, “I am so

thrilled to be joining the cast of ‘Jeff Wayne’s The War of the Worlds’ for their 2022 Arena tour. To be a part of such an iconic production is so exciting and I’m really looking forward to getting back out on the road.”

Jeff conducting

Liam Neeson will be returning in 3D holographic form as The Journalist and the new tour heralds the return of Justin Hayward as ‘the sung thoughts of the journalist’ for his entrancing rendition of ‘Forever Autumn’. Also in the cast are Blue’s Duncan James as Parson Nathaniel, Inglorious’ Nathan James as The Voice of Humanity and Wayne’s daughter, Anna-Marie Wayne as Carrie, the journalist’s fiancé.

Wayne likes to keep many of the original musicians in the ensemble and as well as the return of Justin Hayward, Chris Spedding, who played guitar on the original album as well as every tour to date, also returns. “Me and Jeff go back to about 1970”, Chris tells me.

“He used to be the ‘Jingle King’, one was for Gordon’s Gin, and I worked with him as Advision Studios, where we eventually recorded ‘The War of

the Worlds’”. Chris goes on to explain how his parts for the original album were recorded: “It was all pretty

organic, he [Jeff Wayne] always worked like that. It was all very casual, it was me, Barry De Souza,

The Artilleryman (Adam Garcia) standing on the bridge

Barry Morgan, Herbie Flowers, Ray Cooper and sometimes Jo Partridge. We didn’t work to a click-track like they do now. All the chord symbols were written out and we just jammed along. Jeff would know how a certain musician would play. We worked two or three times a week for about three weeks. There were three or four studios at Advision and Jeff had them all booked for ‘War of the Worlds.”

And he used a number of guitars: “Yes,

mainly, I used a Gibson SG Junior, a Flying V and a Gibson J200 Acoustic.”

Spedding wasn’t aware of the initial success of the album, as he explains: “I

was agreeably surprised by it’s success. I actually left the UK to live in New York in 1978 and it didn’t really take off in America as it did in Britain. It was nearly thirty years later, when I came back, that I

realised how big it was.” He was the obvious choice to recreate his guitar parts for the tours, and he enjoys it: “I

do, yeah. If someone’s got to go out and do my parts, then I want to do

Jeff Wayne with Liam Neeson

it.” But there was a problem to be surmounted: “Yes, I had to learn all

my parts as it was all recorded in bits and we never played the record as it was heard. I was impressed by the production and happy to be involved in it.”

This tour is called the ‘Life Begins Again’ tour and I wondered if, even though there is a section of the album entitled that, whether Wayne might be commenting on current affairs. “Yes,

it’s deliberately titled because of the

events in the world,” says Wayne.

“When I first composed ‘The War of the Worlds’, there was a secondary theme originally called ‘Life Begins Again’. It’s where we discover that the Martians wouldn’t survive due to human bacteria. The tune always stayed with me and it went in the 2014 West End run and it’s now in the new show ... twice! It’s ironic that it’s relevant to today. Let’s hope that we are starting to see life beginning

again.” Wayne, now 78, will still be there conducting the show: “I’m

fighting fit, thankfully. I get a workout jumping around on the podium and I still play tennis two or three times a week. It’s a case of ‘Do

the public want us to tour?’” And there may be yet more changes in the future, as he tells us: “There’s always

ways to evolve it. And I’m glad I’ve evolved the music without harming it.”

Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of ‘The War of the Worlds’ - the ‘Life Begins Again’ tour will be heading around the UK during March and April. Tickets are available from box offices and all the usual agencies.

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