The King of Pop at the Theatre Royal St Helens Review
The King of Pop
Theatre Royal, St Helens
5 March 2016
Reviewed by Rebecca Banasko
Being a mad Michael Jackson fan back in the day I was really excited to be going to see The King of Pop at St. Helens Theatre Royal.
Getting to St. Helens is so straightforward. The theatre is just opposite the bus station and a 5 minute walk from the train station. We travelled by car and parked in Birchley Street car park, a council car park which is free after 3pm. This was just a 3 minute walk from the car park to the theatre.
Now I have to say that my expectations were not that high before seeing the show. This was purely because I was such a huge fan, the hysteria surrounding The King himself was still fresh in my mind and I’ve always said that younger generations would never be able to comprehend the universal obsession with Michael, his talent and his life.
I went with my sister-in-law and we were surprised to see that there was quite a range of ages attending the show with children as young as 4 donning silver gloves, black trilby hats and red leather jackets.
This was my first visit to this theatre and it was seemed quite small but sat around 4000. We were seated right in the upper circle. Almost as far away as you could get.
The show began with a short presentation on the screen with footage and photographs of Navi, the impersonator, who we were about to see. Or at least, that’s what I think it was, as being seated so high up meant that we could only see the bottom quarter of the screen. This was a disappointing start.
However once Navi entered the stage and I forced myself to put out of my head the fact that he was an impersonator; it was easy to believe that we were watching MJ himself.
Navi seemed to have the moves down to a T, the outfit was spot on but I feel unable to comment on the voice as the sound was quite muffled where we were. The music was definitely louder than the singing. The band were brilliant and the dancers were great, sticking to all of Michael’s own very recognisable choreography. The show featured many of Michael’s biggest hits and some that even I’d forgotten about and even included hits from the Jackson 5.
Between songs Navi spoke to the audience, keeping up the persona of Michael which was really entertaining and believable. At the end Navi spoke as himself, telling us of his credentials as Michael’s number one impersonator; how he had met him and of how he has performed at Michael’s birthday parties and still works with Michael’s estate now, 27 years on. As a fan it was pretty awe inspiring to witness someone of Navi’s calibre knowing that I will now never get a chance to witness the real thing.
I would recommend this show, not only to MJ fans but to those who want to witness the closest thing to Michael and to experience his music. It’s a fantastic night out, great fun and very nostalgic to those of us who remember what a great talent he was.
I really recommend Navi and his show. I give it 4/5 because our seats didn’t allow us to enjoy the show to its fullest but it’s a brilliant show and if you want to see an MJ impersonator Navi has to be the number one choice.
Rating: 4/5
The King of Pop is currently on tour around the UK, for more information, tour dates or to book tickets at a venue near you visit www.kingofpoptour.com.
For other shows at the Theatre Royal in St. Helens visit www.sthelenstheatreroyal.com.
St. Helens Theatre Royal, Corporation Street, St.Helens, Merseyside, WA10 1LQ
