Jason Donovan to star in Jeff Wayne’s The War of the Worlds Arena Tour

Jason Donovan (currently appearing in Priscilla Queen of the Desert) and ex Atomic Kitten's Liz McLarnon will head the cast of a new European stadium tour of the musical version of HG Wells' classic in Jeff Wayne's The War of The Worlds which is scheduled to start up in November 2010.

Jason Donovan will play the role of The Artilleryman who is a fantasist with dreams of producing a new race of humans under the ground after the aliens attack.  This part only calls for a 15 minute stage appearance which I am sure Donovan is looking forward to after Priscilla which is a two hour marathon with numerous costume changes.

Liz McLarnon will play Beth, the Parson's wife, and Justin Hayward from the Moody Blues' returns to the role of The Sung Thoughts of the Journalist.

Jeff Wayne's The War of The Worlds will feature  an eleven foot high 3D hologram of Richard Burton (who voiced The Journalist on the original album), a three-tonne, 35 ft high  'Martian Fighting Machine' which fires “heat rays at the audience”, and a new levitation effect, which is described by Jeff Wayne as “groundbreaking” in scale.

The tour begins in London in November 2010, before visiting Antwerp, Dublin, Belfast, Newcastle, Glasgow, Sheffield, Manchester, Liverpool, Nottingham, Birmingham, Bournemouth, London (O2), Cardiff, Brighton and Wembley. It will finish in Germany in January 2011.  Find out more about dates and book tickets for Jeff Wayne's The War of The Worlds here.