Michael Jackson’s 60th Birthday Celebrations with Thriller! Live.

Musical Theatre Musings sent guest blogger Elle Janus along to catch up with the cast of Thriller! Live. This is what she had to say:

I was lucky enough to celebrate The King of Pop’s 60th Birthday with the cast of Thriller Live! On a classic London open top bus sitting outside the Lyric Theatre in the heart of West End. I climbed aboard and was given Prosecco and cake in true Birthday spirit!

Then the cast of Thriller Live! Joined us and posed for great photos and answered some questions for us.

I got to speak to David Devyne, who plays the Pop icon Michael Jackson. Originally starting in the ensemble within the cast, his dance talents were obviously noted as he then moved up to play MJ. He was talking about how he had previously been an estate agent and then he got the call to say he was cast in Thriller Live! And he couldn’t believe his luck as he quit the estate agent job just hours before! A wonderfully humble man who said as long as his audience are with him and enjoying the performance he is happy, he treats every performance as if it is the first and hopes to be there for as long as he can.

I also spoke David Julien who was a contestant on The Voice UK, and has a fantastic voice especially for this production, he adds a flare of MJ’s vocal style to his voice which really honours the original voice but still maintains his own personality in performance. He told me he was hoping to stick around with the show for longer than his contract is currently stating and he found the dance work quite hard in the beginning. He still has moments where he has to concentrate hard on getting it spot on, but that keeps him loving it and in the moment.

The bus then took a tour around London, with the cast performing classic MJ songs to the shocked pedestrians and excited public as they noticed MJ performing to them. This was a truly special way to remember the memory of an icon that shaped the music industry and many more lives than we may ever realise. For me, the nostalgia alone made me go away and listen to those old albums and book a ticket for Thriller Live!

The man is missed, but the legend and music will always live on.

Check out Musical Theatre Musings review of Thriller! Live on tour.