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MJ History at the Ferneham Hall Fareham Review

29 June 2018

Reviewed by Amy Adeliyi

MJ History is a live experience celebrating the greatest hits of Michael Jackson – from the Jackson 5 through The Jacksons and on to MJ’s rise to The King of Pop. The show had many of the hits: Thriller, Beat It, Bad, Billie Jean, Man In The Mirror, Smooth Criminal, Can You Feel It and many more.

The show at Ferneham Hall in Fareham was very energetic with heavily choreographed dancers and a realistic performance from the star Robin Parsons. Robin clearly had worked hard to perfect MJs nuances and mannerisms, however I felt that this did effect the performance of the songs in the first half. It was difficult at times to understand the words of many of the hits.

The second half was definitely the best half of the show, the routines were slick and well choreographed. The best part was that you could identify much more of the words as ‘Robin’ seemed to have relaxed much more into the show and although the mannerisms were shown they didn’t take over the performance. I think the stand out performances for me were Billie Jean and Thriller as they certainly had the audience up dancing in their seats.

The audience had many die-hard fans, wearing memorabilia including the sparkly (light up) glove, and trademark hat. People were up dancing in their seats and were encouraged to come down and dance by the stage. It was refreshing to see that merchandising wasn’t pushed at the audience and that Robin even offered free photos with him and the band/dancers at the end of the show to those wanting to wait at the end.

Ferneham Hall is a pleasant building with welcoming, friendly front of house staff. There is plenty of seating around the bar area with tables and chairs to sit with refreshments before the show and during the interval. You were also able to purchase drinks during the performance and take your drinks and snacks into the theatre.

There was plenty of free parking in the car parks directly outside of Ferneham Hall or in the adjacent multi storey car park.

Overall Ferneham Hall was a lovely welcoming theatre with a fantastic seating area prior to the theatre that had fully functioning air conditioning, which was a treat in the heat of the last few days. I would give MJ History a 3* out of 5 for the overall production of the show, I’m sure fans would love the dance routines and showmanship ‘Robin’ performs.

Rating: 3/5

For other shows at the Ferneham Hall in Fareham visit www.fernehamhall.co.uk or call the box office on 01329 231942.

Ferneham Hall, Osborn Road, Fareham, Hampshire, PO16 7DB | 01329 231942

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