In Thriller Live, Director/Choreographer Gary Lloyd and Associate Producer Adrian Grant have put together the ultimate Michael Jackson tribute concert, showcasing Michael’s huge back catalogue of of mega-hits with tremendous vocals, incredible dance routines and bucket-loads of passion for both the man and his music.
There are a couple of very slight issues with the show in that, no matter how good the vocalists are (and they really are very good), there will never be another Michael and the other issue is that, if the show is called Thriller Live, it would be nice if everything that the audience are hearing is actually live!
Having said that, the cast of four lead vocalists and more than a dozen dancers, together with the live six-piece band, are working with some of the greatest music ever created and, as they perform hit after hit, the audience waste no time in getting into the spirit. Each song, from the very earliest Jackson 5 hits like I Want You Back and ABC, through to their disco classics Shake Your Body, Can You Feel It and Blame It On The Boogie, has the full house singing and clapping along – and we haven’t even touched on Michael’s huge list of solo hits yet.
The four vocalists, Jason Brock, Joseph Thomas, Britt Quentin and Adriana Louise take turns to deliver the numbers, sometimes alone and sometimes in harmony, with each highlighting a slightly different facet of the classic Jackson vocal ability but with all of them delivering performances that reflect their love and admiration for Michael. Of the four, it is Quentin who has the strongest and purest voice, although Brock’s rendition of the emotional She’s Out Of My Life is another of the highlights of the first half.
The supporting dancers all work tremendously hard with numerous costume changes and some very complicated choreography by Gary Lloyd. Whether they are stomping their way through the disco classics or delivering hip hop acrobatics, they all seem to take the breakneck pace of the show in their stride. Congratulations go to Debbie O’Brien, the casting director, for using such talented dancers so well and special mention goes to Danyul Fullard, who pauses just long enough from his massively energetic dancing to deliver the rap section of Black and White, with the iconic line, “I’m not going to spend my life being a colour”, flawlessly.
Leicester born Kieran Alleyne is a superb Michael Jackson look-alike. He has obviously studied the iconic routines incredibly carefully and he delivers them with consummate skill and pinpoint precision but the fact that he doesn’t sing all of those iconic numbers like Billie Jean, Bad and Thriller does leave some of the audience feeling a little short-changed.
Without doubt, the highlight of the second half is a four vocal version of Michael’s showstopping spectacular, Earth Song. The video screens, which surround the metal gantry set, all spring to life with images of our world being ruined by “progress” and the entire cast give a supremely passionate performance which, justifiably, gets the biggest applause of the evening.
Thriller Live is not a musical, it’s not even Michael Jackson’s life story, but it is a wonderful reminder of the greatest entertainer that the world has ever known. A talent that disappeared far too soon and a man who, despite everything that happened in his life, managed to create music that will outlive us all.
**** Four Stars