Burton voiced The Journalist who narrates the story on 1978 album Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of The War of the Worlds, a re-telling of H.G. Wells’ classic sci-fi story.
Australian actor Jason Donovan is set to take a starring role in a show based on the album later this month (Nov10) – and he’s revealed he will be sharing the stage with an image of Burton in homage to the original recording.
But Donovan is having to work hard on the timing of his lines, because he keeps speaking over Burton’s voice.
He tells U.K. TV show This Morning, “Richard Burton, who did the original recording, has been sort of preserved in an animated sort of way, so I work sort of in conjunction with his hologram.
“It goes back to this timing element. When you have got other actors on stage and can sort of converse – just like an interview – with what other people say, (it’s easy). If they are not with us any more and they are multi-tracked, you have to sort of predict your timing against his.”
