'Thriller Live' Lyric Theatre **

Supposedly a musical tribute concert to commemorate the transcendent music to the King of Pop, Michael Jackson ,’Thriller Live’ was a production then left a lot to be desired. The musical concert, conceived by Adrian Grant has been attempting to entertain audiences in London's West End, since 2009, but one did not fully understand the fluidity of the production and the narrative was non-existent here, which is highly disappointing. At the commencement, we are introduced to the young Michael Jackson, when he was one of the members of Motown sensations, ‘The Jackson 5’ and how he became known for not only his wondrous music, but his innovative dancing abilities i.e. the famous moonwalk, throughout and incredible music career. Furthermore, the production allows us to recognise his humanitarian work, and how his music and dancing inspired generations of young people to pursue their careers in the performing arts industry. Unfortunately, the flawed narrative confused me quite significantly, in particular the many performance portraying the characteristics of Michael Jackson. One thought the production was vastly vague, and this aggravated me immensely as a musical concert should endeavour to devise a coherent story that can engage an audience of all nationalities. This is why the audience’s participation and reactions were incredibly limitless. Another musical concert , ‘Let It Be’, which is recently playing at the Garrick Theatre,  incorporated a clear narrative and conveys the progression and popularity of sixties musical icon, ‘The Beatles’. This is shameful that Grant fundamentally forgot to incorporate this into ‘Thriller Live’. Paradoxically, the production’s musicality fully excluded Michael Jackson's electrifying music and the delivery of the choreography emancipated his incredible talent. With this in mind, the performances by the company of ‘Thriller Live’ were of a satisfactory level of theatricality. Kierann Rogers-Bedminster was tolerable as the young Michael Jackson. His vocal delivery in “I’ll Be There” was adequate, then again I do feel he has a promising future in the theatre industry as a talented individual. Ricardo Afonso was conventional as one of the many Michael Jackson personalities. On the other hand, there needed to be a variety of a vocal range in many of the musical numbers. Brett Quintin Gilbert was substandard as another element of the King of Pop. Cleopatra Higgins was agreeable as one of the female vocalists, and it was quite intriguing to see a female sing the music of a music icon to a pleasing standard of vulnerability and immense power. The direction and choreography by Gary Lloyd was slightly distasteful, and it appeared under rehearsed, as many transitions are frequently chaotic, and it seemed that he focused more on the chorography  rather than the direction of the production. Lacklustre directing here I have to advocate . Jonathan Park’s set design was rather horrendous as it fell that there appeared to be an immeasurable clarification as to the concept of his design. One found the experience of ‘Thriller Live’ to be pretty heinous and the Lyric Theatre needs complete renovation as the seats were horrifically uncomfortable.