Thriller Live is a spectacular two hour tribute to Michael Jackson which celebrates the music, dancing and performance of the entertainer, via a whistle stop tour through his back catalogue. This highly polished and slick show brings to life some of Jackson’s most memorable routines, the iconic costumes and the classic hits.
By Paul Szabo | 23rd October 2013
★★★★★
This is a show which is so much more than just two hours of a Michael Jackson impersonator with a few backing dancers. This was a slick, professional and smooth piece of highly polished showmanship with dancing and choreography which was tightly put together, uniformly executed and simply breath-taking at times. The vocal performances were outstanding, the live band was note perfect and the whole thing as a package was immensely entertaining.
The 32 strong set list proved to be a very balanced mix of Michael Jackson’s career, from the start with the Jackson 5, through the days of Disco, his early solo career and his huge hits. The songs included “ABC”, “The Love You Save”, “Off The Wall”, “Wanna Be Starting Something”, “Beat It”, “Man In The Mirror” and “They Don’t Care About Us” but there were also a few of his lesser known numbers, with songs like “She’s Out Of My Life”, “Show You The Way To Go” and “Dangerous” - it was good to see some of the routines to the songs that you would not immediately associate with Jackson over his bigger hits.
Particular highlights of the show included music video recreations of both “Smooth Criminal” and “Thriller”, a spectacular dance routine to “Dangerous” and a perfect rendition of the Mowtown 25 performance of “Billie Jean”, but highlights are difficult to choose from a performance with so many show stopping moments.
The singers shared the limelight equally, with them providing a consistent string of performances. In particular, Cleopatra Higgins excelled with her naturally soulful voice and Tyrone Lee had excellent stage presence but there was very little to choose between any of the lead singers. Whilst they all carried a similar style and sound to Jackson, they never came across as poor impersonators.
The choreography and dancing were simply amazing. The choreography cleverly utilised many of the dance routines (or elements of them) from the original music videos or stage shows from Jackson along with an abundance of enthusiastic and energetic original routines. The dancers were outstanding – every one of them was spot on in terms of their timing and performance, with their acrobatic and exhilarating dance moves eliciting cheers and shouts of delight from the audience. Standing (literally) head and shoulders above the rest, Christian Sharrier stood out, but it seems incredibly unfair to single out any one of the dancers over the others. As a group, their energy and enthusiasm was as unstoppable as it was infectious and the quality, talent and skill of the incredibly attractive cast was undeniably clear.
The costumes were really well put together and suited the mood and era of each set piece, being from the flares and flower power styles of the 60’s and 70’s to the iconic costumes from Thriller, Bad and Billie Jean. The band were outstanding, to the point where most people seemed to be under the impression that the music was on a backing tape until the band were revealed a few songs into the show. The lighting and staging were good and the balance of the volume between the music and the performers was just perfect, with one not drowning out the other.
Towards the end of the show, the entire audience were quite literally dancing in the aisles and yelling for more long after the curtain call. Thriller Live amounted to a very entertaining evening and it is no surprise that it is now in its fifth year in the West End. Even if you are not the biggest fan of Michael Jackson, there is still a lot to recommend this show. Obviously, enjoying the music is an advantage, but if you enjoy seeing spectacular dancing and a well performed musical revue then this show is up there with the best of them. Thankfully, this is not a gushing, Michael Jackson praise-fest, but instead simply allows a bunch of highly talented singers, dancers and musicians to let the songs and routines speak for themselves.
Thriller Live is currently playing at the Sheffield Lyceum before continuing on its national tour. Details can be found at http://www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk/event/thriller-live-13/ and on the shows official website at http://thrillerlive.com
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