Musical theatre review: Thriller Live

Thriller Live opened on the West End on January 2nd, 2009, at the Lyric Theatre. I went to see the evening performance on January 7th. In my time I've seen a lot of West End productions, plus I've also studied Drama and Theatre Arts - I know what to look for when I see a show. Usually though, I don't look for anything because it's on the West End. It's supposed to be, along with Broadway, the highest quality level of performance in the English-speaking world. I'm supposed to just enjoy myself.

The very first song - the very first line, in fact - was off-key. Ouch. It could have been nerves, but nerves aren't what people pay for because the top-price seats we had in the stalls cost £50.50 each. In fact, when the third song was also off-key, some people actually got up and walked out - in all my years of theatre-going, I have never seen that before.

After that, I couldn't help but notice other mistakes. One of the dancers actually stumbled forward on landing - it would have been less obvious/noticeable if she hadn't then turned around to glare at one of the other dancers. One of them lost a shoe. One of the belts came undone. At times, they weren't hitting their marks - they weren't staggering the stage properly - so the audience couldn't see all three "tiers" of performers since they were blocking the back performers. And the left and right mid-rigged lights were far too bright. For the West End, it just wasn't up to standard.

It's also a show with no story, just performances of Michael Jackson's songs (and the Jackson 5's), interspersed with some facts about MJ. Don't get me wrong though, the show wasn't all doom and gloom, and it did have some positives:

• I loved the effects and dancing for Thriller
• Dirty Diana was fab, too
• The band were brilliant
• All MJ's signature moves and high-pitched "woo-hoo" noises were perfectly imitated (although the crotch-grabbing and thrusting became a little too much!)
• Denise Pearson was by far the best Michael Jackson with the best voice
• Fabbity costumes.

I did enjoy it, but it didn't thrill me. In fact, if I wasn't lucky enough to go to the West End as much as I do, I would have been very disappointed, especially for the cost. I didn't get the feeling I usually get with musicals - the feeling of over-whelming exhilaration (explained here), which I did get that the next day with Billy Elliot (amazing).

My verdict? There are definitely better things to see on the West End than Thriller: Live. Go and see them instead.