Been there, done that...

This is an autographed programme.......

This is a Martian Fighting Machine............







This is one very contented old Cat..

As you may have guessed, I have just gotten home from the New Zealand premier of the stage show of Jeff Waynes War of the Worlds, courtesy of some birthday subterfuge between Herself & Tish. I thought that I would try to put down some impressions while the show was fresh in my mind, but where do you start ? The show was such a visual & audio feast, that one would just about have to see it twice to take in everything. It was utterly monumental. Jeff is like the Energiser Bunny with his conducting. He doesn't stop. Justin Hayward showed us that he still has the testosterone levels needed to sing his part, & Chris Thompson, though his actual involvement was fairly small, still managed to get tears flowing unashamedly down my cheeks with his from the heart rendition of " Thunderchild." I will admit to getting a touch moist round the lachrymals even when I hear it on vinyl, but that was awesome.

The new artists had big boots to fill. I mean the names David Essex, Phil Lynnott & Julie Covington surely are names to fill any up & coming young artists heart with fear, but The three young Australians, Rachel Beck, ( Nathaniel the Persons wife, Beck,) Michael Falzon,( The Artillery Man,) & Shannon Noll, ( Nathaniel) Did so with impressive ease, Giving their roles the power & the passion needed.

A plug for local muso's here now. We talked afterwards to a couple of the orchestra after the show & they are all local artists. They did us proud they did. Very accomplished. Integrated effortlessly & well with the band "Black Smoke" that came out with the show. Speaking of Black Smoke, I have just been reading the bio's on them in the programme. What an impressive lineup. It even includes the original bass player from the album. A who's who on the band would be worthy of a second, & fairly lengthy post on its own, but I won't.

The only slight negative I found was that I thought that Richard Burton's animated head appearing to one side of the stage a little distracting. I gave up looking at in the end because One tends to miss whats happening elsewhere . And there was a lot. Maybe just the voice over with no visuals would have worked better.

The Fighting Machine ? Even though we were close enough to see the ropes & chains that operated it & to hear the winches working, it was still stunning. Full marks to the build team. Oh & a huge plug to the sound & light boys at the back. What an amazing job, & no hiccups in the system at all. Once again, a top show at a top venue...

Now I can genuinely say, " Been there, done that, read the book , seen the movie, got the teeshirt AND the coffee cup to prove it... See?