Missing thrills
> Thriller Live gave fans of Michael Jackson some nostalgic moments but fell short of the mark
THE performances of the late king of pop, Michael Jackson, always evoked a high dose of excitement in viewers. Sad to say, such excitement was missing from the opening act of Thriller Live, a West End musical production that is now performing at the Putra Indoor Stadium in Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur, till Wednesday.
After two-and-half hours of the show, you are left with an impression that perhaps only Jackson himself could have performed his songs, and no one else.
Those who came expecting to be “thrilled” were instead dismayed by the show’s weak opening, which started with a medley of Jackson 5 songs – I Want You Back, ABC and The Love You Save.
The singers and dancers had to literally coax the audience to stand up and dance. This is Michael Jackson’s Thriller we are talking about! The man himself would have the audience on their feet the moment he came out on stage.
Perhaps, they should have kicked off the show with Jackson’s more famous hits such as Beat It or Smooth
Criminal, before moving on to his early hits with the Jackson 5. Then close the musical on a high note (which they fortunately did) with Thriller and his other hits.
It was a little chaotic, too, on the stage. The costumes were also a little too tacky for my taste.
Believe me, Jackson would never stand for such tackiness. In fact, he was such a perfectionist right down to his dance moves and dressing.
Some of the dance moves were also found wanting. Local Michael Jackson impersonators would have performed those moves, such as the famous moonwalk, better.
However, the concert had some redeeming performances, most of them coming in the last few songs of Act 2.
Although the concert did not start off impressively, thankfully, it ended with a bang.
My favourite moment was when the singers and dancers performed Thriller. The cast re-enacted Jackson’s famous music video of this song where a girl goes out on a date with her man and finds herself surrounded by ghoulish monsters.
Some of these ghoulish dancers even jumped down from the stage to “attack” the audience, much to the delight of the crowd. Then, there was the moving Earth Song delivered together by lead singers MiG Ayesa, Sean Christopher, Jerome Wayne (better known as J Rome) and Samantha Johnson.
Among all the singers, I must say Johnson has the best vocals. My other favourite moment was when Christopher performed Billie Jean. His footwork was amazing.
The songs and dances for the finale of Bad and Black & White had the crowd cheering, which reached its peak when the singers re-enacted MJ’s music video for Smooth Criminal.
The gangster underworld was well portrayed on stage.
However, for diehard fans of MJ, they would certainly expect much more from this show than what it has delivered.