[h=1]It took time, technical wizardry and $60 million[/h]
A Swarovski crystal is embedded in the eye of the puppet that represents Michael Jackson's younger self in the Cirque du Soleil's Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour. During a backstage tour of the show offered to journalists earlier this week, renowned props and puppet designer Michael Curry showed off his doll-like creation, which soars above the crowd in a helium balloon while Jackson's voice sings Have You Seen My Childhood?
It's a touching moment, which, like much of the show, is served up with a dash of Neverland bizarreness.
Curry used a remote-control box to make the puppet nod and blink, as he explained that he had used the crystal in order to make the sparkling eyes visible to those in distant seats. This is but one of many tricks he has picked up in the trade of arena stagecraft.
And just in case of malfunction, this mini-Michael, which contains three motors and a battery, has a twin that waits in a warehouse, ready to be shipped.
The balloon and puppet are constructed of carbon fibre and specialized foam to keep the weight down to nine pounds, Curry said, "because helium is not a very strong force. And gravity is."
It takes time, high technology, dozens of artists, and a huge support team - as well as a budget of $60 million - to put together a show like this.
But there are no guarantees it will turn out as planned.
Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour is dazzling but uneven. It's a memorial, not a resurrection, no matter how devoutly Jackson fans may wish it.
Thus far, the show has received mixed reviews from critics and enthusiastic cheers from the public.
"The show is too young to comment on it," was the cautious reply of Quebec rocker Robert Charlebois after the show's Sunday-night premiere.
Unlike the Cirque du Soleil's Iris, which opened recently in Los Angeles following two months of previews, the Michael Jackson show was exposed to media scrutiny at birth.
On the theatrical side of show business, this just isn't done. Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark stirred up a controversy when it prolonged its previews (182 of them) long past the Broadway norm. But the rules of the rock world were applied here, even though the MJ show is a hybrid of circus, dance and concert, a performance-art spectacle that bombards the senses.
The show's complexity became evident during the backstage tour at Montreal's Bell Centre, which was offered to more than 100 journalists and included interviews with the creative team. Many of them had worked with Jackson during his lifetime and are passionate about preserving his legacy.
Stepping carefully over cables, dodging carts of equipment being wheeled from one place to another, brushing past batwing costumes and a pile of gravestone props, groups of reporters were ushered from one meeting point to another. We encountered designers, members of the music team, the choreographic team, and finally, director Jamie King himself, who exclaimed, "Michael was so Cirque!"
Jackson was indeed an ardent fan of Cirque du Soleil, since its early Las Vegas days at the Mirage. (Jackson used to hole up there for long periods, where his music was once used for the Siegfried and Roy Show). At one point, he even travelled to Montreal to visit Cirque headquarters.
King, who both wrote and directed the show, said putting it together was a "full-circle" experience for him. He began his career dancing for Jackson, whom he regards as his mentor.
Once King began choreographing Madonna tours and videos, his list of pop-star clients multiplied to include Britney Spears, Rihanna, Ricky Martin, Elton John and Céline Dion.
King is in demand. But he'd love to work with Cirque again. "I have a whole new bag of tricks that I can take with me to my pop stars," he said.
"I've learned so much working with Cirque." Cirque owner Guy Laliberté made sure King got "every tool that I needed to construct a show that was representative of Michael and a celebration of his life," King said.
That included assembling a team of 10 of his favourite fellow choreographers, notably, longtime Jackson collaborator, Travis Payne.
He also brought in hotshot New York costume designer, Zaldy Goco, who said the only restrictions placed on his style were concerns for fire safety, citing the show's pyrotechnics and his own desire not to repeat the work he'd done for Jackson's ill-fated This Is It tour.
"Michael was about new ideas and bringing new technology to his fans," Goco said. "He always wanted to entertain them in a new way."
In addition to former members of the Jackson entourage who provide a layer of authenticity, King has experts such as Curry, whose wizardry with the inanimate has proved popular with Julie Taymor (The Lion King and Spider-Man), as well as within the opera world, where he collaborates frequently with William Friedkin (The Exorcist). This will be Curry's fifth Cirque.
King also has top rock-circuit set designer Mark Fisher (Pink Floyd's The Wall, U2's recent tour) who had already done two Cirque shows in Vegas: Ka, with director Robert Lepage, and Viva Elvis.
But the British architect, who just finished designing Elton John's new show in Las Vegas, said the Cirque experience differed greatly from rock-music shows.
"This is a very much more complicated show, technically ambitious. The integration between scenery, video, costumes, props, lighting, music - this is way beyond what's done in rock 'n' roll. It's much more complicated. It takes longer to produce. And it takes longer to settle down."
Although it took two years to develop and five months to rehearse it, the show does need some editing, King admitted. But he's pleased it contains such an abundance of rich material.
Sitting side by side onstage are musical designer Kevin Antunes, whose job included sifting through the catalogue and selecting songs, and musical director Greg Phillinganes, who plays keyboards in the show.
Phillinganes said his most emotional moment was meeting "Mama Jackson" - Michael's mother Katherine -who surveyed the proceedings from Laliberte's private box before the show. (Michael's three children, and three of his brothers, also attended.)
Phillinganes, who also performed at Jackson's funeral, said that, as he played the childhood number with the "boy" in the balloon on Sunday night, he thought of Katherine.
"You can imagine," he said. "I know she's out there; I can see her. So yeah, it was not your average day at the office."
http://dailygleaner.canadaeast.com/liveit/article/1445967
