Thriller Live continues at the Lyric Theatre, London and on tour. Picture: Irina Chira
Thriller Live continues at the Lyric Theatre, London and also on tour.
Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★
Thriller Live has been running at the Lyric since January 2009 but this week sees the launch of a ten-month UK and European tour, along with a host of production revamps.
It is testament to the enduring quality of Jackson’s music that every track in the show still sounds so familiar and yet completely fresh. What is not clear is what the show is actually meant to be. It is part tribute, part concert, part karaoke. The few narrative sections that highlight certain musical events and statistics from Jackson’s life are jarring and the show lacks any storyline whatsoever. The music jumps from album to album and so is missing any kind of narrative journey. True fans may argue that the music is all that matters, but as a result the show lacks soul and often seems empty.
The five lead singers have been carefully chosen for their vocal similarities to Jackson. The use of a female vocalist works very well, as it creates interest and variety. Trenyce Cobbins is a vocal powerhouse who, thanks to Jackson’s unique pitch, often sounds very like him. Alex Buchanan has moments of brilliance, especially his part in ‘Earth Song’, but his rendition of ‘She’s Out of My Life’ is affected by a bit too much schmaltz.
Haydon Eshun, originally from the boy band Ultimate Kaos, is consistently excellent. Dajiow is listed as a lead vocalist, but acts more as a Jackson impersonator, albeit an incredibly accomplished one.
The biggest cheers of the night went to an incredibly talented Eshan Gopal, who played the young Michael. The fantastic rendition of a Jackson 5 medley was uncannily like the star himself.
Gary Lloyd’s staging and choreography must be some of the best in the West End and the dancers are a revelation. Not one of them misses a beat and their performances infect the audience with incredible energy, Particularly mention goes to the step-perfect Victoria Lamm and Daniel Bradford, whose pure athleticism is breathtaking. What is less successful is bringing guitarists onto the stage for certain solos. While being brilliant musicians, they are not performers and so any effect falls flat.
Lloyd has frequently brought in changes to consistently freshen the show, but another production revamp purports to set the bar even higher than before. Whether you have seen it before or are new to the show, the visual effects are spectacular. Jonathan Park’s set design is relatively simple but highly effective combined with Nigel Catmur’s dazzling lighting and special effects by The Twins FX Visual. Frequent use of huge LED screens mean that the cast perform in a zombie-filled graveyard for ‘Thriller’ and a graffiti-covered subway for ‘Bad seamlessly. Dancing shadows during ‘Dangerous’ may be simple, but create a stunning visual.
Rob Jones and Catherine Teatum from the Shooting Flowers company have designed costumes that are slick, glamorous and often quite risqué. Two dancers in the sequence for ‘Dirty Diana’ seem to have popped over the road from a Soho S&M shop and gold hot pants on display border on the pornographic. The direct inspiration from Jackson’s videos is very familiar in the brilliantly designed outfits from the Jackson 5 section and ‘Smooth Criminal’ in particular.
Thriller Live is a highly entertaining visual and audio spectacular, just don’t go expecting any kind of depth or storyline.
Aliya Al-Hassan
Readers may also be interested in:
Thriller Live hits $150 million mark at the global box office – News
SHARE THIS POST:
Comments are closed.