The aliens are coming: Jeff Wayne brings his War of the Worlds to NEC.
JEFF WAYNE HAS BEEN BATTLING ALIEN INVADERS FOR 40 YEARS. HE TELLS MARION McMULLEN WHAT IT TAKES TO SAVE THE WORLD...AGAIN AND AGAIN
Does it feel like 40 years since the release of your double album musical version of The War Of The Worlds?
(LAUGHS) The only thing that makes me believe it was 40 years is when I look in the mirror and I think ‘yep, it’s 40 years.’
It takes a lot to put an arena tour of this size together and there are a lot of surprises. In 2006 we had six giant trucks to transport the show... now we are up to 12 trucks and 120 cast and crew. It’s a real travelling show. I conduct and have the best seat in the house. The 35ft alien Martian fighting machine comes down in front of me and fires a heat ray over my head into the audience. I always hope that they angle the ray right on the night.
It’s a great effect. (Jokes) We only lose 10 or 12 members of the audience a show.
You’re 75 now. Where do you find the energy for such a major tour?
I HAVE never missed a performance and there is no break in the show apart from the interval. I think the mental energy and excitement of performing keep you going, but you have to be fit as well and I do come off soaking wet.
I have been a tennis player since the age of five and I competed up to international level representing Great Britain. I play tennis most days.
The double album spent more than 330 weeks in the UK charts when it came out in 1978 and led to international hit singles like Forever Autumn and The Eve Of The War. Where do you keep all your awards?
I’VE always felt the gold and platinum records were like my medals. Up until four or five years ago they were all in a cellar, but then my wife Geraldine put them in a downstairs studio.
I have my Ivor Novello awards on display in my studio. I’m very proud of them. All the other trophies in there are for tennis. (Laughs) I don’t mind displaying my tennis trophies.
Film star Richard Burton was the narrator on the original recording. How did you get him on board?
WE didn’t have a long list of actors and Richard Burton’s voice was a musical instrument in its own right.
I was with some friends at dinner who had seen him in New York playing Equus so I wrote a letter introducing myself, enclosing the first draft of the script, asking if he would consider taking the role.
I sent it to the stage door in the hopes the little care package it would be handed to him. Three or four days later his manager phoned and said Richard had read it and would love to do it.
He said: “Count him in dear boy.” It was as easy as that.
Taken star Liam Neeson is the narrator for the arena shows and appears in 3D holography. Was it a perfect match?
LIAM had done voice recording for films like The Chronicles Of Narnia and was immediately interested in what we were doing in re-recording the album for a new generation. He said he had bought the album when it first came out and even sang me some lines from the song Forever Autumn when we met.
One of the main reasons for him doing it was because one of his first big acting opportunities was a 1980s TV mini series called Ellis Islands that also starred Richard Burton. They never had any scenes together, but he would watch him work. (Laughs) I now have Liam on hard drive and bring him out every night for the tour. I do not have to feed or house him.
Jason Donovan, Adam Garcia, West End actress Carrie Hope, singer Newton Faulkner and your daughter Anne-Marie are among the cast in the new arena shows. What can audiences expect?
ANNE-MARIE was born the week the album entered the charts and has been very much part of the show growing up. (Grins) It’s probably nepotism, but she is terrific in it. The main ingredients this time are some giant screens that reside in the audience. We have a back screen about 100ft x 25ft which has an animated film which runs in sync with the live performance. These screens can now connect into one giant image or they can show five different things at the same time – the dimensions change substantially and the audience will be surrounded by these screens. We also have a bridge for a sequence called Brave New World. It’s increased in size substantially and instead of coming down on the stage, it lands and turns like an arch. If you’re anywhere in the audience you get a different experience than at a traditional show where you’re looking at the stage. We hope to set some new exciting standards. (Laughs) The whole production team has been calling me crazy since 2006, which is great.