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Michael Jackson and the Immortal Cirque du Soleil tour</big>
MONTREAL — There’s a moment in Cirque du Soleil’s “Immortal” show when the stage empties, the lights go down, and Michael Jackson’s “I’ll Be There” vocal gets the room to itself.
It’s an unusually quiet scene in a production that’s brimming with razzle-dazzle, and Cirque’s aerial artists return to the stage soon enough. But the message is poignant and clear: Jackson may not be around to perform, but there’s still plenty of showmanship left in the King of Pop.
Having premiered earlier this month for a Montreal audience that included the late star’s mother and three children, the $60 million “Immortal World Tour” will make its U.S. debut Saturday at Detroit’s Joe Louis Arena. The tour, which will include a December residency in Las Vegas, will wrap up its stateside run in July before heading overseas.
It’s the first live project authorized by Jackson’s estate since his 2009 death.
Detroit’s prime spot in the schedule was driven by logistics, but the show’s principals are happy to play up the poetic symmetry.
“It just feels right,” said estate co-executor John Branca. “Michael started in Detroit with Motown, so it was fitting to have the U.S. tour start there.”
Cirque, known for its imaginative nouveau circuses, has already boosted its pop-music credentials with productions such as the Beatles’ “Love” and “Viva Elvis.”
But Jackson fits Cirque like a hand in a sequined glove: With its whimsical spirit, attention to detail and high-flying elegance, “Immortal” celebrates an artist known for his own endless childhood, perfectionism and dreamy idealism.
For fans who have spent decades burrowing themselves in Jackson’s music on headphones and dance floors, the hits-filled “Immortal” offers a different sort of escapism.
The two-hour show touches on most of the key chapters in Jackson’s life, from his early Motown years through his ’80s superstardom to his later environmental activism. But "Immortal" is less a biography than a series of loosely linked scenes intended to “get inside of Michael’s head and experience the world through his eyes,” said director Jamie King, one of several veteran Jackson collaborators involved.
On the stage’s long runway the day after the Montreal premiere, a beaming King recounted the year-long creation of “Immortal,” Cirque’s first concert-style show. The 40-truck tour caravan — three for costumes alone — rivals the scale of mega-tours by Madonna and Roger Waters.
“Everything he did in performance was already so big. He made it so magical,” King said. “So with this collaboration I had the opportunity to really take it to another place, an even bigger spectacle.”
THOSE PRECIOUS TAPES
The show is an eye-popping feast of MJ imagery: An animatronic child Jackson glides across the arena in a hot-air balloon. A costumed performer plays the chimp Bubbles as a club DJ. Dances and costumes from iconic videos such as “Thriller” and “Beat It” are rendered live. The props are massive, the details exacting — down to the outfits studded with Jackson’s favorite Swarovski crystals.
There are no Jackson impersonators, though a face-painted, break-dancing mime is a frequent onstage front-man.
The set draws inspiration from the star’s Neverland Ranch, in particular the backyard oak — the Giving Tree — where Jackson retreated to write songs. A tree mockup is the set’s sprawling centerpiece, a versatile hub for the 52 dancers, acrobats, contortionists and aerialists.
Several elements designed for Jackson’s ill-fated 2009 concerts are intact, including illuminated track suits for “Billie Jean” and video sequences for songs such as “Smooth Criminal.”
At the heart of it all is Jackson’s voice, featured in surround sound with a live ensemble that includes several players from his old concert bands. They include conductor and Detroit native Greg Phillinganes and drummer Jonathan (Sugarfoot) Moffett, whose electronic kit is stocked with drum sounds extracted from Jackson’s studio recordings.
Epic Records has set a Nov. 21 release for the “Immortal” companion album, produced by show music designer Kevin Antunes. Like the show, the album features vocal tracks from Jackson’s original session tapes, wrapped in new musical arrangements.
“It was a truly magical experience to shut everything off and listen to Michael, listen to that perfection captured on tape, and let that drive my creative juices,” Antunes said.
That meant cracking open some of the most valuable master tapes of the 20th Century.
“It was a little tough,” said Epic chief L.A. Reid. “These tapes are precious, and it’s not something you tamper with lightly. But the integrity of the songs is still intact. None of us can know what Michael would or wouldn’t like, but my guess is that he would love this.”
Behind the scenes at “Immortal” in Montreal, Jackson’s imprint was inescapable. Dancers born years after “Thriller” talked of the honor in representing him. Longtime colleagues spoke in reverent tones.
If this isn’t a Michael Jackson tour, it’s the closest you’re going to get. A family-reunion vibe dominated backstage, bustling with MJ associates such as choreographer Travis Payne, props designer Michael Curry and costume designer Zaldy Goco.
The tour’s rollout comes against the backdrop of the L.A. manslaughter trial of Dr. Conrad Murray, charged in Jackson’s death. For some, the intense work in Montreal was a welcome getaway.
SHOW COMES TOGETHER
In the mold of artists such as the Beatles, Jackson’s estate team said it will be meticulous and protective of his legacy as the years unfold.
“We’re going to be very careful about the projects we say yes to,” said co-executor Branca.
“Immortal” was born of mutual inspiration in 2010. As Jackson’s staff brainstormed live-show concepts on the heels of the posthumous concert film “This Is It,” the call came from Montreal: Cirque chief Guy Laliberté was eager to create a Jackson spectacular.
Cirque and Jackson were no strangers. The singer had been a fan since the company’s first L.A. tent show in 1987, and he even toured the Montreal headquarters in 2003. He took his kids to see Cirque’s “Mystere” in Las Vegas a year before his death.
Still, the estate had its own conditions — namely, that the show emphasize dance and enlist some of Jackson’s creative associates.
“We had a lot of confidence in Cirque. They’ve created some of the best shows ever made,” Branca said. “But Cirque also has a lot of shows, and we wanted to make sure this was going to be a Michael Jackson show.”
In came King, the 39-year-old whiz who got his break as a dancer on Jackson’s 1992 Dangerous show and went on to direct tours for acts such as Madonna (Sticky & Sweet) and Britney Spears (Circus).
“It was very important for me that we really feel all sides of Michael — the showman, the funny guy — but also his heart, how much he loved the idea of bringing the world together and celebrating through music and dance,” King said.
Fifteen diehard fans from around the world — the sorts who can rattle off the credits for a random Jackson video — were invited in for feedback as the show progressed.
“His question to us as designers was always, ‘What does the audience see? What does the audience feel? Forget what I think,’ ” recalled prop designer Curry. "I’ve worked with a lot of stars, and they all have their own opinions. Michael was a vehicle for the audience. So I know we’ve succeeded in something he would like very much.”
The result: a production that is likely to satisfy the most discerning devotees while pleasing Jackson’s legions of mainstream fans.
And you can thank a body of work that just might be, well, immortal.
“Michael lives on. His spirit lives on,” King said. “He’s here with us. Maybe not physically. But certainly his influence, his energy, will never die.”
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