Thriller Live began life as a celebration of Michael Jackson‘s music back in the early nineties and has morphed into the twentieth longest running musical in the West End‘s history. Now celebrating its sixth birthday at the Lyric Theatre, it remains a thrilling (sorry, couldn‘t resist) celebration of the King of Pop‘s body of work. It is now entering that magical time where it could keep going on-and-on for a long long time.
The show does away with the annoying pretension of a plot of some jukebox musical. Instead the six singers narrate Jackson‘s life between the tunes. The first half takes us up to Thriller, and the second half focuses on Thriller, Bad and Dangerous, especially the former two.
The show is exactly what you want from a celebration of Jackson‘s work. The talking is at a minumum, music comes first. Dancing is almost as important to the show as the music, with the dance troupe leaving the audience breathless at points. Both the styles and aestethic of the company changes throughout the show, from disco to suits, to the futurism of Dirty Diana.
The singers do their best to imitate the King, and their best is very good indeed. Cleopatra Higgins shines brightest on the vocal while David Jordan is physically the closest to Jackson. Throughout the show each singer does little things with the face and voice that are dead impressions of Jackson. These become slightly eeire at points.
It‘s great pop music performed by a great band and vocalist, supported by a class dance company. If you like that, you should see this show. If you like Michael in particular this is a must see. It‘s going to be on for while yet, but this current cast feels a little bit special. 4/5
Review written by Ingimar Sverrisson.
Thriller Live celebrates 6 years on the west end and is currently showing at the Lyric Theatre. For more information on the production, visit here…
For tickets to Thriller Live, visit here…
Leave a Comment