On Monday 11th April, me and my dad went to see The War of the Worlds at The Dominion Theatre in London. I mainly wanted to see it because I knew that he was into sci-fi and 'alternative' sounds (plus it's a trip to the west end so the opportunity had to be taken). I listened to the recording and read several reviews before going. A lot of the reviews were very positive but I did stumble across a few bad ones but that didn't put me off since I was expecting to see a spectacle more than anything. We booked our tickets from LoveTheatre which had lots of deals on for loads of shows and I would really recommend booking through them. Our seats were 39-40 in Row N of the stalls which we got for £35 each (we were right on the aisle).
The Theatre itself is beautiful and has been set up really nicely for the show. When you walk in, there is strange extra-terrestrial noises playing and the stage is lit up with TWOTW logo. The arch of the stage is covered in cogs and interesting shapes aswell.
The production itself was indeed a spectacle, It focused on the music and special effects. The 22 piece orchestra was on the stage and conducted by Jeff Wayne. I loved the fire effects, projections and lighting. What the technical team have done is incredible and I totally recommend it for that reason. The Cast were very good aswell, W had only one understudy which was Simon Shorten playing The Artilleryman who I think was vocally the strongest in the show.
There was one part of the show I didn't understand though...
The Voice of Humanity played by David Essex was possibly one of the most awful and pointless roles I've seen in a show. There was no real need for the role. It contributed nothing to the show plus Essex couldn't actually hit the notes required to sing the songs which made listening rather painful. It was a shame because when he was on stage, it was almost like a joke. He was originally The Artilleryman in the original cast but at least he didn't sing as much!
Overall I would give it a 4 Star rating
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