The show is musically flawless, but hokey on stage. Photo / Paul Estcourt
Before we start, an important distinction needs to be made. Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of War of the Worlds is not a musical.
Yes, it is a live stage show. Yes, there are some singers in costume who occasionally fall down melodramatically. But it is definitely not a
musical.
This is a distinction it seems many in the audience were not aware of, judging by the confused faces that stared at the barren, black stage.
Behind the two bandstands - one for the 40-piece string orchestra, the other for a 10-piece band - hung a giant screen, which was soon to be filled by heat-ray shooting tripods and slimy brown Martians.
It is only right that Wayne should conduct the live event based on his 1978 concept album himself. Looking like a slim Tom Jones, he performed his role with gusto, revelling in his masterpiece.
And so he should. Musically, the show was flawless. The score was even more captivating when supported by the power of 50 live musicians.
Visually, the hokey graphics and excessive use of smoke machines were better suited to a cheap karaoke bar than a world-class stage show.
As Moody Blues frontman Justin Hayward sang the 70s hit Forever Autumn, his image was projected on to a backdrop of fluttering orange leaves that could have been downloaded straight from a Japanese sticker photo booth.
Vector Arena also let the show down, garbling the lyrics of Hayward, Chris Thompson, Michael Falzon and Shannon Noll (who proved there is life after Australian Idol).
Trying to make out what on earth they were all singing about was tiresome.
Fortunately, the posthumous narration by Richard Burton, whose role as the journalist was projected on to a separate screen to the left, kept everyone up to speed on the classic H.G. Wells story.
The night ended with an exceptionally drawn-out curtain call, which saw every musician and actor individually acknowledged and proved the most theatrical moment of the night.
Definitely not a musical.
