Thriller Live Interviews

Michael Jackson might have passed on but, his life will forever be celebrated.


So, there I was making my way to Monte Casino to watch Thriller Live for the second time, after being blown away by the talent those kids showcased.

I was totally chuffed the first time and then thought, I should meet the cast. I had an interview with 3 of them, the publicist gave me 10 minutes for each, so I couldn’t ask solid questions except “How are they finding it here in South Africa?, How is the audience reaction? Which is better, here or other countries? “, basically a few dumb questions.

I interviewed Dwayne Wint, Zoe Birkett and Ricko Baird (who portrayed Michael Jackson’s character). This was remarkable. It’s not often that I find myself twanging my English because I want to show off to American and British artist…actually, I usually speak with a very “black” accent to make things easy for performers from Alexander or Sebokeng.

Anyways, above everything, those kids were very talented, humble and sounded much focused. They are not like South African artists who think they’re all that from appearing as a chorus member of High School Musical or Grease…they totally bore the hell out on me.

I also realized that, international artists take the arts as part of their lives. Training is very vital, “Learn your craft very well and better yourself as an artist”, said Birkett.

I found that statement very true and hope that, future artists in South Africa would realized the importance of learning and stop seeing the arts as a mechanism to become famous and making money…because that’s not true.