THE BEST THING about this one-man performance of Jeff Wayne's The War of the Worlds was the announcement at the end that Wayne will be bringing his stadium extravaganza to Scotland in 2009.  Other than that, it was relentlessly disappointing, from a concept that sounded so promising.

I hadn't realized until Pip Utton bounded onto the stage to the opening bars of The Eve of the War that I had seen him last year, in his better-known one-man effort, Adolf.  Publicity for ...Worlds sells him as a master of the one-man play, and while his Hitler routine was uncomfortably challenging, this was just uncomfortably tedious.

The sense of a missed opportunity is compounded by the knowledge that Wayne didn't simply endorse the project – he collaborated in it, editing the music and dialogue to fit the one-hour, one-man format.  Utton frequently faltered, missing musical cues and stumbling over the rapid-fire delivery of his lines.  The stage was sparse, with only a single platform for him to bound upon; and he struggled to maintain the audience's attention, or to take them with him during character changes.

Most of the best numbers from the full-length version featured, albeit in an abridged format, further constrained by the performer's limited range.  Almost like Geri Halliwell's godawful rendition of It's Raining Men, high notes were not even attempted, leaving Brave New World in particular curiously flat.

If this had been an amateur production, or tickets had been cheap or free, I would have been more forgiving.  As it is, despite good intentions and my genuine desire to like it, I'm not sure there is anyone to recommend this to.  If you are familiar with the work, you will be as crushingly disappointed as I was.  And if you don't know it, but think the idea sounds cool – well, you're right, but this is not the way to become acquainted with it.  Save your money for next year's 30th anniversary tour... or just buy the album.