A £5m production of Ben Hur planned for London’s O2 stadium next September.

It will involve not only 400 human performers but also donkeys, camels, falcons,vultures, eagles – and a chariot race with five teams of four horses hurtling round
a 250m track. People in the front row “will feel the sand on them”, says the producer.

The World premire of Ben Hur Live! is to take place at London’s O2 Arena in September 2009.

Based on the book Ben Hur – A Tale of Christ by Lew Wallace and the 1959 classic film, the show tells the life-story of the Jewish prince Judah Ben Hur at the beginning of the 1st century.

Directed by Philip McKinley and produced by Franz Abraham, the show has been fifteen years in the making and will feature a soundtrack by Hollywood composer Klaus Badelt and production design by Mark Fisher, famous for the opening and closing ceremonies at the Beijing Olympics.