Thriller Live Becomes the West End's 15th Longest Runner - Review

Lyric Theatre, London


*****


Directed and choregraphed by Gary Lloyd

This week Thriller Live celebrated becoming the 15th longest running show on the West End and its audiences thankfully still can’t get enough. From the first hip thrust, to the still incredibly relevant political numbers and the satisfyingly zombie filled Thriller Finale, the incredibly talented cast embrace each song, each moment and each moonwalk as if each note and step were the highest honour.

Director and choreographer Gary Lloyd presents a show that is unashamedly fantastical. Shooting Flowers have styled flashy versions of almost every costume you can recall the inimitable MJ wearing, that stun alongside Jonathan Park's steel and LED set. With Nigel Catmur’s lighting and one heck of a live band, the show is as seamless as any Michael show, even if on a smaller stage.

Michael Jackson wasn’t one to write songs that are easily forgotten, but the sheer volume of his catalogue means that there are more than a few surprises in this fabulous show. Dirty Diana seduces with some fantastic head pieces, while Remember The Time, complete with Egyptian poses and sass, bring the 90s flooding back. There’s also a rollercoaster ride of emotions, with the somber reflection of She’s Out Of My Life, sung with soul by the sweet Reece Bahia and a gender swapped The Way You Make Feel making everyone in the audience feel young and sexy while reminding them that Cleo Higgins (she of Cleopatra, Comin’ Atcha fame), is still a voice to be reckoned with.

Clichéd though it sounds, Thriller Live makes you feel alive - though perhaps not as lively and spritely as the unbelievably talented dancers, who fill the stage with as many backflips, high kicks, cartwheels and grinding as they can muster... which to be fair is the only appropriate reaction when Wanna Be Starting Something comes on. There’s even some comedy as cheeky Leslie Bowman interrupts the narration of the leads and the gorgeous Jamal Crawford is rejected again and again by Cleo. Throw in some baby faced young talent, this time Marcellus Virgo Smith, to portray Jackson's early years and you’ve got yourself one blinder of a show.

Out of the four leads, the closest we get to an MJ tribute is Dajiow, who encompasses Michael Jackson in every step and note, leaving many questioning whether it was really him singing Thriller… and it definitely was. The show isn’t a tribute though, but a celebration of the heart breaking, body shaking, crotch grabbing Man in the Mirror, who is still indisputably the King of Pop.

The West End's 15th longest running musical and yes, we can still feel it.

Now booking through 2017.

Reviewed by Heather Deacon

Thriller Live - Review

Lyric Theatre, London

*****

Conceived by Adrian Grant

Directed and choreographed by Gary Lloyd

Dajiow

Marking seven years in the West End (along with an eye-watering global box office take of £150million) Thriller Live continues at the Lyric after a magnificent makeover.

At its heart the show is still the same juke-box musical, chock full of hits. But there’s no fictional fairy-tale woven around the songs of Michael Jackson here and nor does the show pretend to be a (potentially tedious) biopic. Thriller Live remains a simple yet lavish, tribute to the music, the styles and the dance that Jackson created, excellently performed.

A re-worked opening sequence hints at some of Jackson’s greatest hits before the ever-sensational Eshan Gopal, almost dwarfed by his super-sized afro wig, bounds on to the stage to take the show through the early Jackson 5 days. Young yes, but Gopal’s an old-hand in the show and his confidence is matched only by his ability, smashing ABC with flawless vocals and movement.

The essence of Thriller Live is not in having one actor play Jackson. In place of an overly structured, scripted piece, 5 leading performers dip in and out of the “Jackson” role, suggesting the style and the voice of the man and at all times performing as an inspired tribute rather than a tacky replica. The staging is enhanced by ingenious electronic imagery, with LED panels so subtly configured that real life-silhouettes can barely be discerned from Colin Rozee and Potion Pictures' animations.

Of this Jackson five, Alex Buchanan’s vocals are divine – never bettered than in a finely worked She’s Out Of My Life. Reflecting Jackson’s complicated and sometimes androgynous persona, Trenyce Cobbins, the sole female lead, offers a take on the performer’s presence that is as distinctive as it is assured. It is the immaculately manicured Dajiow however who captures the essence of Jackson at the height of his fame, sporting a look and poise that even at the show’s after-party made one do a double take. When Dajiow moonwalks it could be Michael.

The secret of the show’s success, aside from Jackson’s platinum-plated back catalogue, has to lie with director / choreographer Gary Lloyd who has stayed with the production from the outset. Jackson wrote the songs, but it is Lloyd’s vision that has translated concepts first revealed either in Jackson’s sensational videos or stadia performances and scaled them down to fit a West End stage, whilst retaining the creative essence of Jackson’s magic.

Aside from the precision Lloyd has drilled into his company whether the routine be body-popping, breakdancing, moonwalking, or zombies boogying, the dance maestro focuses at all times on an unpretentious flair that captures Jackson’s style and yet avoids mimicry. 

From a strikingly 70s Rockin’ Robin routine – all flared red and white costumes with the dancers moving seamlessly on heels that would give most people vertigo, through to a psychedelic angle to Can You Feel It, Lloyd’s vision is inspired throughout. The show’s title number is reserved to (almost) the very end – with Dajiow wearing the red leather jacket from John Landis' legendary video and Lloyd conceiving a routine that with a dozen or so dancers pays homage to Landis’ spectacular work, filmed with a far larger cast some 30+ years back.

Thriller Live offers no plot other than a glimpse of the dazzling arc that Michael Jackson’s work created. Sensational songs, stunningly performed! 

Booking until mid-2016