Thriller Live continues touring until March 2014
Thriller Live was performed at Royal & Derngate, Northampton and continues touring until 8 March, 2014.
It’s seven years since Thriller Live, the biographical survey of Michael Jackson’s musical career, had its London preview, and six since it made its first UK tour. It’s still as fresh as a daisy, thanks to a wonderful current crew who are right up there with the best, and do honour to their superb predecessors.
Thriller Live is a delightful concept and a thrilling show – not so much because of the songs, though the 30-plus knockout numbers are attractively enough delivered by this talented team – but because of the dance.
Director/choreographer Gary Lloyd is a fabulous talent who has inspired such variety from an accomplished, engaging team of dancers. The choreography of ‘Wanna Be Startin’Somethin’ is a classic, ‘Smooth Criminal’ is just that – polished, and ‘Bad’ is served up to perfection.
Particular praise goes to lead vocalist Jesse Smith, dancers Michael Lin and Renata Carvalho, and the splendid Sean Christopher who sings just a few numbers (of him, I wish there’d been more).
It is inspired to have the songs and the authentic Jackson dance sequences shared around the whole cast. That is why this show is such a humdinger of a success.
The sound balance – so crucial – is superb: not overbearing, but beautifully calibrated, so congratulations to Chris Whybrow. Original creator and co-producer Adrian Grant has also brought his wisdom and experience to bear, uniting forces with Flying Music to produce what has become this electrifying, scrupulously accurate, show.
Roderic Dunnett
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