REVIEW: Thriller Live at the Lyric Theatre, London
Ablaze with lights, deafening music and bursting at the seams with energy, this is as near you can get to a pop concert housed in a hitherto sedate little theatre in the heart of London’s West End.
This electric production is purely a tribute to pop phenomenon Michael Jackson
There are no pretensions, this is purely a tribute to pop phenomenon Michael Jackson whose apparently mysterious death in 2009 at the early age of 51 is still shrouded in controversy.
Jackson was christened the ultimate showman and the completely revamped show, Thriller Live is an attempt to justify this claim with a fixed set, a small orchestra, a few dancers and fewer vocalists, and do you know, it works.
It may take some time, but as the ear drums adjust to the decibels, the nostalgia soon hits home. From the early Jackson Five hits ABC and Rockin’ Robin, the greats keep coming.
Act Two is the better constructed.
Instead of blowing up the likes of Dangerous and She’s Out of My Life into rather clumsy mini musicals, after the interval, The Way You Make Me Feel, Thriller and, of course, The Man in the Mirror for instance, have a beginning, middle and an end.
Enough to send a tingle up the back of anybody’s spine.
I wonder if there are any seats left for tonight?