Due to unprecedented demand a Sunday matinee for BEN HUR LIVE© has been added at The O2. For this reason the date of the première will change from Tuesday 15 September to the new date of Thursday 17 September. (See full press release.)
The production, the vision of German producer, Franz Abraham has been developed over fifteen years and will include the famous chariot race. BEN HUR LIVE© coincides with the 50 year anniversary of the film and is a combination of light, sound, water, wind and pyrotechnic effects in a show performed in the round, like an ancient arena.
Huge projections on a water wall create a unique experience that appeals to all the senses.
The highlight of the show will be the famous chariot scene where five quadrigas will compete in a neck and neck race around the arena floor. The 'stars' of the show will be the thoroughbred horses, who together with a team of trainers and charioteers, will undergo 12 months of intensive training.
- Stewart Copeland (The Police) - live narrator and music. (See press release.)
- Shaun McKenna - book (Author of Lord of the Rings in London's West End)
- Philip Wm. McKinley - direction (Director of the The Boy from Oz, Hair)
- Mark Fisher - design (Design of Pink Floyd's The Wall tour, ceremonies at Beijing 2008)
- Patrick Woodroffe - light (Lighting design at Seebühne Bregenz and for the Rolling Stones)
- Mietta Corli - projections (Director at the opera La Scala in Milan)
After appearing at The O2, BEN HUR LIVE© will tour Europe with multiple shows across the continent.
Use Journey Planner to plan your route by public transport.
- The novel of Ben Hur was the best selling novel of the nineteenth century
- The story of Ben Hur was a global success, the movie won eleven Oscars
- The concept was developed by German Producers Franz Abraham and is being produced by his company ART CONCERTS
- The production has been 15 years in the making
- The symphonic soundtrack is composed by Klaus Badelt, one of Hollywood's most renowned film composers, who has worked on films such as Gladiator, Hannibal and Pirates of the Caribbean
- BEN HUR LIVE takes audiences back in time two thousand years to tell an unforgettable story, 50 years after the famous 1959 film version starring Charlton Heston
- The dialogue of the show is in the dialect of the country (partly enriched by Latin and Aramaic) supported by live narration
- Never before in history has an indoor show combined so many special effects
- Spectators will be a few yards away from the five chariots, as they swerve around the edges of the arena raising clouds of dust from the ground
- The horses within the production will undergo 12 months training
- With 400 participants and 100 animals BEN HUR LIVE will take the mystique of an ancient arena into the most modern venues in Europe
- BEN HUR LIVE will be showing in 17 European cities with more than 70 performances
- BEN HUR LIVE is based on the novel Ben Hur- A Tale of the Christ published in 1880 by Lew Wallace
- BEN HUR LIVE will celebrate its London premiere at The O2 on the 15 September 2009
- The performance will be a gripping 105 minutes
