Thriller Live has come to the Hippodrome and this week I was invited to attend. The play is conducted in the style of a tribute concert, taking the audience through the hits of the king of pop.
Initially, I was surprised and perhaps a little disappointed, having left home expecting to be led through a musical chronicle of Michael Jackson’s life. However, as the curtain lifted we were greeted by a dance troop. We were given an introduction, then watched as the singers took us through Michael Jackson and Jackson 5’s biggest hits, accompanied by some amazing choreography, split across the two levels of the stage.
As with opening night there are always a few wobbles that need ironing out. A few missed notes didn’t go unnoticed, and this is a challenge when singing such well known songs, but as the evening progressed the singers got stronger and came into their element- perhaps some opening night jitters had crept in, but they certainly wore off throughout the show.
At first when I realised that this wasn’t going to be a musical biography of Jackson’s life, I expected Thriller Live to be a tribute act, which to some extent it was. However, this expectation was once again proved wrong as the singers surprised the audience with their own mixes of the songs, as well as mixing some of the famous man’s songs into one performance. On the most part, the choice of songs were great, although I felt that some songs were cut short unnecessarily in place of less famous choices, and I would’ve liked to see more emphasis on some of the bigger hits, as at some points of the show only hardcore MJ fans were left singing along.
While, for me, this was not at all what I was expecting and I couldn’t quite let go of the disappointment I felt when I realised we weren’t going to hear anything about the King of Pop’s life, it was great to see that others were really enjoying themselves. A couple to the right of me spent the entirety of both acts dancing and singing along with the cast (I think they’d been before- they seemed to be very prepared for when the cast were going to move into another song!).
The audience participation was great, and this was probably what I enjoyed most throughout the performance, and I feel that they could have made much more of this. Even if it wasn’t your favourite MJ song, it was a great laugh to stand up and dance and sing along with the rest of the audience; the Blame It On The Boogie dance moves were great fun to watch, even though this wasn’t actually encouraged by the cast!
Overall, if you’re looking for an easy going, fun night out with friends or family where everyone will know and enjoy the music and you want to have a laugh together then Thriller Live is definitely the way to go!
Speak soon,
The Owlet 💜
You can find me on Twitter, Instagram, Bloglovin, Facebook & Pinterest
You can find me on Twitter, Instagram, Bloglovin, Facebook & Pinterest
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