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Jeff Wayne's the War of the Worlds
Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds is a rock-opera adaptation of H. G. Wells's 1898 science-fiction novel The War of the Worlds, composed and produced by American-British musician Jeff Wayne. Wayne secured the adaptation rights from the Wells estate in 1975 and spent roughly three years developing the work, with a spoken narrative script written by his wife Doreen Wayne and lyrics by Gary Osborne and Paul Vigrass. The original concept album was released on 9 June 1978 by CBS Records.
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United Kingdom
- Oct 6BelfastWaterfront Hall AuditoriumView details
- Oct 7BelfastWaterfront Hall AuditoriumView details
- Oct 9GlasgowSEC ArmadilloView details
- Oct 10EdinburghEdinburgh PlayhouseView details
- Oct 11DundeeDundee Caird HallView details
- Oct 13Newcastle Upon TyneO2 City Hall NewcastleView details
- Oct 14YorkYork BarbicanView details
- Oct 15LeedsBradford LiveView details
- Oct 17OxfordNew Theatre OxfordView details
- Oct 18ManchesterO2 Apollo ManchesterView details
- Oct 19LiverpoolLiverpool Philharmonic HallView details
- Oct 21NottinghamRoyal Concert Hall NottinghamView details
- Oct 22WolverhamptonUniversity of Wolverhampton at The Civic HallView details
- Oct 23BathBath ForumView details
- Oct 24LondonEventim ApolloView details
- Oct 26PlymouthPlymouth ArenaView details
- Oct 27SwanseaSwansea Building Society ArenaView details
- Oct 29PlymouthPlymouth ArenaView details
- Nov 1DurhamStockton GlobeView details
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About Jeff Wayne's the War of the Worlds
The album combines a rock band with a full orchestra, a spoken narration voiced by actor Richard Burton, and lead vocal performances from guest artists including David Essex, Justin Hayward, Phil Lynott, Chris Thompson and Julie Covington, telling the story of a Martian invasion of Victorian-era England through recurring musical leitmotifs. It became one of the best-selling albums in UK chart history, debuting at number 24 and peaking at number 5, with sales exceeding 2.5 million copies by 2009, ranking it the 40th best-selling album ever in the UK.
The work's popularity led to a 1981 single-disc Highlights compilation aimed at listeners who wanted the music without the full spoken narrative, and to a series of elaborate live arena productions beginning in the 2000s that staged the story with a full orchestra, rock band, and large-scale visual effects including a mechanized 12-metre Martian fighting-machine.
The stage production has continued to tour the United Kingdom and other markets in the following decades, periodically updated with new guest vocalists and staging technology while retaining Wayne's original 1978 score and Burton's recorded narration as its core.