Dress Rehearsal BIC Bournemouth, UK Wednesday, 12 April 2006 On the Road with MaggieMay... Good things come to those who wait, it’s true. Great things come to those who run out and grab them. Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of The War of the Worlds was set to premiere Thursday in Bournemouth, England. But why wait? An email note from the official WotW website (www.thewaroftheworlds.com) offered members an enticing package: entrance to the dress rehearsal on Wednesday, a program signed by Jeff Wayne and a small greet afterward. It was irresistible! The dress rehearsal thrust me one day closer to the answer to the burning question: “Would I like it?” I LOVED it! THE VENUE  The
Bournemouth International Centre or BIC is an attractive and substantial
brick building a stones throw from the English Channel, neighbored by a
retirement home for Welsh miners. I’ve been there a few times to
see my favorite Band. Windsor Hall at the BIC Pavilion is a 3000+
venue with a flat floor, tiered back and a small balcony that lines the
back and the sides of the room. Unlike Brighton’s venue, there are
no tiered sections on the side. Sections B and C offer the prize
seats with sections A and D running woefully past the stage and into No-man’s
Land.
This wasn’t the first time the BIC has been graced with a performance of Wayne’s masterpiece and the biggest hit single from The War of the Worlds. Justin Hayward performed Forever Autumn there in October 2004 as a delightful addition to The Moody Blues performances of their tour of the United Kingdom. At that time Justin sang accompanied by Paul Bliss and Gordon Marshall on keyboards and himself on acoustic guitar. THE STAGE The free-standing stage wasn’t crowded, but it certainly was FULL. Center stage was reserved for the singers, stage left was the ULLAdubULLA Strings with violins holding the chairs nearest the audience. Stage right held the Black Smoke Band (Gordon Marshall on drums). Jeff Wayne held it all together as The Conductor, with the podium placed slightly stage left next to the strings. At all times a minimum of 50 music makers were on stage. The light bar was behind the front row as were the curved speakers flying on either side of the stage. The flying set was supplemented by front fill speakers that efficiently utilized the production’s touring crates. Behind the stage was a huge video screen. I had to force myself to mentally note the various aspects of the stage because the focal point was the Martian Fighting Machine, appearing rather like a menacing Egyptian scarab dangling from the ceiling, full of the potential to squash any errant singers. I’m relieved to say that the rigging held and none met an untimely death at the hands of the Martians. I’m even MORE relieved to state for the record that none *needed* squashing. GETTING THERE  Was
there even going to BE a dress rehearsal? We moseyed out of our hotel,
into the sunshine and down to the BIC box office around 1pm and were treated
to an impromptu performance of Swan Lake provided by a pirouetting passerby.
Her open-air performance had all the pain and pathos of the stage.
The BIC had a fair number of vacationers going in and out, Bournemouth
proving to be a favored destination for the school break. The young
fellow manning the box office knew nothing about the dress rehearsal and
waved me over to reception. Reception was taking a late lunch, but
had helpfully put out a sign and a phone, but alas! The BIC operator
only knew that she was getting a number of calls inquiring about the WotW
dress rehearsal. Come back an undefined later she suggested.
Shrug Eventually, the word came down that tickets would be available
at 6pm for the 7pm performance. We arrived at 6:15 and were told
that the dress rehearsal would now be at 8, not 7pm. One expects
to be patient and indulgent when dealing with a new production, hoping
that it will be worth it in the end. Was it worth the wait?
YES! YES! YES! The small number of fortunate attendees (tickets were limited to 250) were sprinkled on the floor and in the tiered seats directly back from the stage. In addition to the Ulla passes sold thru the official website, a small number of performance-only tickets were sold thru Ticketmaster. The multitude of musicians took their places on stage, the lights were lowered, and Richard Burton intoned that famous opening line: “No one would have believed”. The animated prologue lit up the screen with a solitary Martian purposefully crossing the Martian landscape. The Martian council proclaimed Invasion and the first live notes were struck, thrilling all devotee’s of Wayne’s terse, yet insightful adaptation of H.G. Wells book. It’s an opening reminiscent of Beethoven’s 5th, simply brilliant, notes that burrow into your brain and replay themselves at will. I didn’t check the sound mix anywhere else in the theatre; there was no need. It was perfectly balanced at my seat 6 off-center on the front row and must have been spectacular at the professional’s pick, the seats in the second tier. Moody fans will despair to know that the front row was virtually EMPTY. Both venue and WotW staff discouraged attendees from sitting “too close” suggesting that both the sound and the shows pyrotechnics would be better viewed from farther back. The volume was more *rock* than symphony. It only took 30 seconds for me to reach into my jacket pocket for ear plugs and I was very unhappy to discover I had come out without any. Be warned and be prepared! 
THE FASHION REPORT Strings – men in tuxedos, women in various black gowns, some sequined Band – white ruffled shirts with vests Jeff – Gray and black striped long-slvd shirt (sleeves rolled up), metallic stripes, black slacks Justin – tan/cream suit with subtle horizontal stripes, waistcoat (bottom most button unbuttoned), matching ascot. Straw hat donned during walk-thru in 2nd half Chris – White shirt, sleeves rolled up, no jacket, dark ascot, dark slacks Alexis – Blue artillery uniform Tara – Blue long full skirt, fitted blue complimentary blouse Daniel – casual religious attire, long black jacket, collar The period attire, entirely appropriate to the setting, wasn’t overdone. Nicely subtle! THE DRESS REHEARSAL It is difficult to assess a large work on first viewing, particularly a multi-dimensional production that has such a number of attractive and varied aspects. Fans intimate with the music have no doubt spent some time pondering how it would be translated to the stage and wondering if the attempt would be effective. The foremost aspect for me is the music. The musical performance IS the cd or something very, very close. I *sensed* some minor cutting in parts, but wouldn’t be able to prove it without the score in one hand and my iPod in the other. If you’re coming to hear the music live, you should be spectacularly pleased, for spectacular it is: a FULL string sound that well-fills the BIC with the layers and nuances that only real strings can provide (synths are inventions of the devil). It’s a very lush and powerful sound, and for strings, that’s saying something. The band is top-notch, grounded by Gordon Marshall on drums and fronted, literally and figuratively, by a set of guitarists that are the stars of the show. What incredible good fortune to have Chris Spedding recreating the original lead guitar work. It’s one of the highlights of the performance for me. Simply dazzling! Herbie Flowers is brilliant on bass guitar (and really *in* to it, too). Hugh Burns on acoustic guitar and Laurie Wisefield on guitar complete the guitar fantasy.  Their
combined guitar work in the production is no less than fantastic.
I was extremely impressed with the balance between the strings and the
band, at no time did the band overwhelm or drown out the strings, an incredible
feat in and of itself. The orchestra/band aspect of the production
is absolutely top-notch and well-worth triple the price of a ticket.
One needs no other reason to attend.
The second element of the production is the video. I liked it! A lot. I think the video “fills in the cracks” and helps carry the story line; it provides continuity in addition to adding visual interest. The show begins with the video setting up the invasion premise in a prequel. It’s a mix of the classic WotW artwork, anime and real-life actors, including Wayne’s daughter, Anna-Marie Wayne as Carrie, The Journalist’s love interest. Parts are extremely well done, of note are the scenes including the Martian fighting machines moving across a burning landscape. The video also assists parts that um...”lag”, particularly The Red Weed early in the 2nd half. It’s the weakest part of the cd and the weakest part of the live show, and while the video helps that section immensely, it doesn’t rescue it. There’s just so much red weed taking over the world that you can watch, even if it’s arty. Be prepared too that some video scenes are moderately graphic and a few might inspire vertigo. I actually had the feeling the stage was RISING at one point due to a video sequence. Whoa! Freaky.  There
are only five live vocalists: Justin Hayward, Alexis James, and Chris Thompson
perform their respective features as solo parts, while Tara Blaise and
Russell Watson (Daniel Boys ably performed the injured Watson’s role as
Parson Nathaniel at the dress rehearsal, Watson performed at the premiere)
perform as a duo. Thompson and Hayward are the only members of the
group from the original musical cast. Performers enter primarily
from the back of the stage, moving between the strings and the band toward
the front of the stage, at times moving half-way back to wait until their
performance is continued.
The set...well...I think it’s pretty much solely the fighting machine suspended over the stage. It’s pretty cool-looking, but it doesn’t DO very much – it wiggles a bit near the end, has some light effects and some pyrotechnic sparks that wouldn’t knock anybody’s socks off. Darling Hubby suggested that it would be nice if it walked off the stage into the audience. (What a fruitcake!) I’m for a WORKING heat ray, but that’s just me. Bottom line: it needs to do something MORE or appear/disappear. It’s not menacing enough. Perhaps some dripping blood.  Finally,
one MUST address the role of Richard Burton. His narration is a pivotal
part of the piece. The promotion for WotW touts “Richard Burton –
in Sight and Sound”. It’s accomplished through a large 10 foot head
suspended from the ceiling stage right. Without the holographic lighting,
the head with its large forehead looks alien. The fairly young version
of Burton mouths the words effectively, raising an occasional eyebrow for
emphasis and blinking so rarely that insanity springs to mind. DH
thinks the Big Giant Head is “all right” and Angel didn’t mind it, but
I think it’s probably best not to watch it too closely. It’s a little
creepy at times. The head may come off better with distance from
the stage.
I thought the dress rehearsal went rather smoothly! I didn’t even notice the incident that caused the Jeff Wayne the greatest distress: the bridge didn’t come down from the ceiling. Bridge? What bridge? I hadn’t noticed anything amiss. I thought the artilleryman’s performance of “Brave New World” was fantastic, in fact, my favorite performance of the evening. Jeff protested that the bridge was essential to Alexis James' spot. The only other aspect of the dress rehearsal that I might have complained about were the interminably and agonizingly LONG bows. Thankfully, Wayne and his staff felt the same way and the bows (or recognition of the individual vocalists) were greatly shortened for the premiere. How was the performance as a whole? Oh, FANTASTIC! I highly recommend it and I don’t think any fan of the cd will be disappointed. Moody Blues fans might be startled at the sight of Justin Hayward WITHOUT a guitar and using a Madonna-style mike. It was unknown prior if he would be playing or not. It’s a different side of Justin Hayward! He gave a fine performance, very different from anything I’ve seen him do before. MaggieMay No one would have believed... 
Photos courtesy of MaggieMay |
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