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Stage Review: MICHAEL JACKSON ONE presented by Cirque Du Soleil
By PAMELA HARLAND / Contributing Editor
Posted: June 23rd, 2013 / 01:08 AM
They finally got it right! I finally decided to go back to Las Vegas to give a Michael Jackson Cirque Du Soleil show a try and boy am I glad I did as MICHAEL JACKSON ONE is a winner.
About a year and a half ago, The Mandalay Bay showcased the traveling MICHAEL JACKSON: IMMORTAL show presented by Cirque Du Soleil. My niece and I couldn’t wait to go. I was a huge MJ follower as a teenager and needed the nostalgic tour to fitfully mourn his passing. Plus, now my teenage niece is a devoted MJ fan so who better to go with to see this” all about MJ” show than her.
Unfortunately, it was all glory no guts. More frills than filling. Fanciful colors, a flying Bubbles the chimp, and a tap dancer no one even knows took up ten minutes of our time. Acrobatics performed while lesser known songs splayed throughout the arena. Needless to say, it was a big disappointment, not horrible, just not what MJ would have wanted. His true fans knew that. As the spectacle ended there was no clamorous reaction, simply polite applauding and then a quick exit.
So, when the official and semi-permanent show MICHAEL JACKSON ONE presented by Cirque Du Soleil came to Vegas in May we had to go back in hopes of a tributary redemption. And in deed we were granted just that! The show was spectacular, done in the vein of Jackson as opposed to a tabloid like parody exhibition set up to suggest it was in fact a tribute. It was as if the old show was done by people whose knowledge of MJ did not exceed all the rubbish said about him while this time it was done by true fans of the King of Pop.
Dancers lit up the stage while lights flashed on and off as though they were moving across the stage. A hologram of Jackson during a montage including the hit “Black or White” was a phenomenally creative way to bring him back if only through illusion. When his famous shoes and socks floated down from the ceiling and then preceded to moon walk I nudged my niece in disbelief.
Moonwalking on the walls, three large screens showing a beautiful collage of past MJ videos redone, dancers popping MJ’s moves, the gloves, the fedora, the shoes, the legend, MJ was there in full spirit. The true test of the show’s success was the fact that we all knew after the triumphant finale that this show would be something MJ himself would have been proud to be a part of. The thundering standing ovation the entertainers received confirmed my rejoice. And though we will never again see him on stage performing for us, in a way through the Michael Jackson: One Cirque Du Soleil show we can get the next best thing. Bravo!
