David Bowie's musical is getting the VR treatment

We’re not sure if anyone ever asked David Bowie for his take on the emergence of virtual reality, but he was always a technological visionary, so would probably be quite happy to learn that the musical he left behind is getting the VR treatment.

Bowie co-wrote Lazarus with Enda Walsh, and it features songs that span the Starman’s entire back catalog, including his final album Blackstar. The show’s limited run actually wrapped up in January (it sold out in record time in New York), but anyone who missed out will get another chance at London’s V&A 2017 Performance Festival, this time in 360 degree VR.

The performance viewable in the headset was recorded at King’s Cross Theatre in January, according to Pitchfork, and attendees will be told exactly how they filmed it.

The show, which was directed by Ivo van Hove, starred Michael C. Hall, Michael Esper, and Sophia Anne Caruso. It was inspired by Walter Tevis’s novel The Man Who Fell To Earth. Bowie famously starred in the 1976 movie adaptation of the same book, his first starring role.

The exhibition featuring Lazarus’ VR screening is called From VHS to VR, which takes place on Sunday 30 April at The Lydia & Manfred Gorvy Lecture Theatre.

(Main image: Rex)

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Matt Tate is a freelance journalist and contributor at for Shortlist. Formerly Stuff Magazine’s news editor and based in the UK, he’s been writing about consumer tech for around eight years, with a particular focus on gaming.

For his sins, Matt is a huge Tottenham Hotspur fan and unfortunately spends a lot of his time scanning his published work for Spurs-related digs that may have been slyly inserted by editors. Otherwise, he’s often buying Lego sets he can no longer accommodate and trying to perfect his carbonara recipe. He can be found tweeting (mostly about football and video games) at @MattWTate.