West End Production Thriller Live at Montecasino & Grandwest

Michael Jackson may be “gone too soon” but his timeless music lives on forever in Thriller Live, a multi-media concert-styled celebration of the music and life of the legendary “king of pop” and the famous Jackson 5. Presented by Showtime Management and 94.5 Kfm, direct from London’s West End, Thriller Live brings the distinctive dancing and sound of many of pop music’s greatest hits to life in Johannesburg and Cape Town.

On Tuesday, 10 August 2010, this high-octane dance and visual effects show, specially created to celebrate the career of Michael and the Jackson 5 opens at The Teatro at Montecasino for a limited four week season followed by only six performances at the Grand West Arena, Cape Town from Thursday, 09 September to Sunday, 12 September 2010. Thriller Live has enjoyed success throughout Europe including the United Kingdom, Germany, Holland, Italy, Denmark and Scandinavia, where the show received rave reviews and standing ovations. Soon South African audiences will be dancing in the aisles to the ever-popular mega-hits I’ll Be There, Can You Feel It, Beat It, Billie Jean and of course, Thriller!

In the male lead is Ricko Baird whose talent and expertise covers a wide spectrum as a performer culminating in the ultimate performance with Michael Jackson himself on the Michael Jackson and Friends tour as front dancer on the award winning dance number Dangerous. Ricko also co-choreographed Michael’s number one hit “You Rock My World” and doubled for him in the video. Ricko has gone on to dance in concerts and videos with artists such as Janet Jackson, Tina Turner, Britney Spears, Christina Agulliera and many of the world’s greatest artists. He has also choreographed for Mya, winning an award for best choreography for “My Love is Like Wo” and recently worked on the choreography on Jennifer Lopez’s tour.

Twenty one year old singing sensation and actress, Zoe Birkett is Thriller Live’s female lead. At the tender age of sixteen years she earned her place as the winning female contestant in ITV’s Pop Idol voted by the British public.  Zoe went on to perform to over 250,000 fans on two national arena tours and sang 5 hits on the Pop Idol Big Band album which reached number one in the album chart and went triple platinum all within a year. Since then, she has sung at various high profile events including concerts at The Royal Albert Hall and the London Palladium. She has also performed for the Princes Trust and royalty, including a private meeting with Prince Charles, performed at Buckingham Palace for Prince Edward and guests and was personally asked to sing at Tony Blair’s son Leo’s christening.

Apart from performing Zoe is a keen actress and has presented backstage at the Top of the Pops Awards, interviewing Kylie Minogue, Daniel Bedingfield, Will Young, Gareth Gates, Blue, Craig David and many more. In 2008 she toured the UK and Europe with Thriller Live Returning to take the stage as the leading role of Diva in the debut West End production of Priscilla Queen of the Desert.

The cast of accomplished multi-talented performers including Ben Forster (Doody in the West End production of “Grease”, Lennon & McCartney’s All You Need is Love); Ian Pitter (performed with Celine Dion, Beyonce, Westlife, Boyzone); Tyrone Henry (worked with Meatloaf, Robert Palmer, Westlife, Chaka Khan); Earl Perkins (Rent, Ragtime, Hello, Dolly!, BBC’s Dr Who); Danielle Hampson (danced alongside stars such as Michael Buble, Boyzone, Tom Jones and The Pussy Cat Dolls); Chelsea de Carvalho (special music adaption of Chess where she performed alongside Idina Menzel and Josh Groban – television credits include Dalziel and Pascoe, Brief Encounters and Britannia High); Sophie MacDonald (danced for Kanye West on his European Tour, worked alongside Pharrell Williams and Ciara, appeared in music videos for Mika) and Miranda Wilford (The Rat Pack – original USA Cast, Grease, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, Popstar The Musical).

The youngest members of the cast are two fifteen year old sensational singers, Kieran George Alleyne who came third in the regional finals of Idols 2008, and Jordan Bratton who played and sang at Lincoln Center at the age of four and sang at Carnegie Hall a year later.  He played the organ at the Greater Allen Cathedral in Queens in front of a 25,000-member congregation. Jordan was recently allowed to sit in with musicians from Stevie Wonder’s band as the drummer for 2 jazz selections. They were amazed and said that he was a “musical genius”. Jordan recently completed a seven-month run as Young Simba in the Walt Disney National Tour of The Lion King, which received rave reviews and Jordan was invited to be a guest on the Jay Leno show after his 1st performance ever on stage! He then landed the role of Young Harpo in the Broadway production of The Color Purple.  Soon local audiences will be seeing this multi-talented young performer live on stage.

Thriller Live includes eye-popping multi-media effects and dazzling choreography by the shows award-winning director Gary Lloyd (who has previously worked with artists including Leona Lewis, Will Young, Robbie Williams, Kelly Clarkson and Girls Aloud).  Adrian Grant, Co-Producer and Original Creator of Thriller Live enjoyed a close association with Michael Jackson that spanned over twenty-one years, and in that time he enjoyed seeing the megastar entertain millions of people all over the world. Adrian has been privileged to have had great access to Jackson’s world over the years, i.e. during the recording of the ‘Dangerous’ album, ‘HIStory’ album, world tours, photo and video shoots, exclusive interviews, lunches, dinners and much more. In 1994 Adrian wrote the best-selling Michael Jackson chronology – The Visual Documentary, published by Omnibus Press.

What’s on Stage, UK says of Thriller Live: ?“It’s not a show, or a musical, it’s a concert. But as a concert it’s very good theatre, a total blast.” So now’s the time to wear your white sequined glove, take out your trilby and prepare to be blown away by Thriller Live. “Can you beat it?”

For further show information visit www.thrillerlive.com Thriller Live is proudly brought to you by Showtime Management and 94.5 Kfm. Ticket prices for the six shows at Grandwest Casino begin at R150 with the top price at R300.   Book now at Computicket.

The video below is a bootleg video from a show earlier this year

SHOW INFORMATION:

VENUE: Grandwest Casino, Cape Town

DATES:  Thursday, 9 September to Sunday, 12 September 2010.

TIMES:  SIX shows only

Thursday, Fridays 20h00; Saturday 14H00, 20H00; Sunday 14h00, 18h00

THRILLER LIVE CAST:

Lead Male Dancer                           RICKO BAIRD

Lead Female Vocalist                     ZOE BIRKETT

Lead Male Vocalist                            BEN FORSTER

Lead Male Vocalist                            IAN PITTER

Lead Male Vocalist understudy       TYRONE HENRY

Lead Male vocalist Understudy        EARL PERKINS

Lead Vocalist                                     JORDAN BRATTON

Lead Vocalist                                     KIERAN ALLEYNE

Swing Dancer/ Resident Director    DANIELLE HAMPSON

Dancer/Dance Captain                     MICKEY FROME

Swing Dancer/Lead Male Dancer Understudy     LEWIS DAVIS

Dancer                                               CHELSEA DE CARVALHO

JOEL ELHADJ

ELLIOT JAMES

SOPHIE MacDONALD

MARY WEAH

LAURA WHITE

AARON WITTER

Dancer/Lead Female Vocalist understudy   MIRANDA WILFORD

BAND

Musical Director/Guitar                 RYAN FARMERY

Drums                                              GABOR DORNYEI

Keys 1 and Drums 1                      SAM GRIMLEY

Keyboards                                      THOMAS INDGE

Keys/percussion                            ADAM KOVACS

Bass                                                JOHNNY COX