Overview
When David Bowie starred in 1976's The Man Who Fell to Earth, playing an alien who crash lands on our planet, it became one of the musician's iconic on-screen roles. It's also one that he returned to nearly four decades later, in a fashion — co-writing the musical Lazarus, as inspired by the Walter Tevis novel that the sci-fi film was based on.
Written with playwright Enda Walsh, and one of Bowie's final projects before his passing in January 2016, Lazarus opened off-Broadway in December 2015. The production made the jump to London in 2016, and brought its otherworldly story — and its soundtrack of 18 Bowie tracks — to Melbourne in 2019. But if you haven't seen it yet, you can now do so from your own couch.
When Friday, January 8, 2021 rolls around, it would've been Bowie's 74th birthday. When Sunday, January 10, 2021 hits, it'll mark five years since his death. In honour of those two occasions, a stream of the London production of Lazarus will be available to watch. It was captured live on stage during the show's run, and stars Dexter's Michael C Hall, who followed in Bowie's footsteps by taking on the part of Thomas Jerome Newton — and it's streaming at 7pm AEDT on Friday, January 8 and Saturday, January 9, and at 3pm AEDT on Sunday, January 10. Tickets cost $28.50.
Those eager for a date with this starman — and to start loving the alien, again — can expect a sequel of sorts to The Man Who Fell to Earth. The enigmatic Newton remains on earth, unable to die; however, the arrival of another lost soul might offer the solution that he's been looking for.
As for the familiar songs that this story plays out to, it's basically a best-of catalogue of Bowie's greatest hits. 'Heroes', 'Changes', 'Life on Mars?', 'The Man Who Sold the World' and 'Sound and Vision' all feature — as do four of the star's final recordings, including the title track 'Lazarus'.
