bluesky
Proud Member
- Joined
- Oct 31, 2009
- Messages
- 1,146
- Points
- 38
Cirque54 mins agoTwitterReply
RT @michaeljackson: More guests arrive to #MJIMMORTAL, the atmosphere is electric!t.co/8Lfyg3z7
What is actually being streamed?
Awwww, so happy to here the kids enjoyed itP?ris J?ckso?
The Cirque Du Soleil MJ Immortal World Tour Was SOOOOOOOO Amazing!!!!! Truly, Truly Amazing!! It Brought Tears To My Eyes!!!!!!!
johnnykats John Katsilometes
The Jacksons swung into the media confab before meeting up with Katherine, but all said she would have teared up at the show. #mjimmortal
21 seconds ago
johnnykats John Katsilometes
None of the Jackson brothers had seen the show until tonight. They were moved especially when the Jackson 5 videos and Human Nature played.
16 minutes ago
johnnykats John Katsilometes
As for reuniting to possibly play #Vegas, Marlon Jackson laughed and said, "Never say never." #mjimmortal @Cirque
20 minutes ago
johnnykats John Katsilometes
In backstage media chat, Marlon, Tito and Jackie say Michael's spirit of unity shone in the show. "He was here," Marlon said.#mjimmortal
22 minutes ago
P?ris J?ckso?
The Cirque Du Soleil MJ Immortal World Tour Was SOOOOOOOO Amazing!!!!! Truly, Truly Amazing!! It Brought Tears To My Eyes!!!!!!!
MONTREAL—When I first heard that Cirque du Soleil was planning a show based on the life and works of Michael Jackson, I felt a shudder of fear. Not only did I doubt the wisdom of living too heavily off the presence of pop idols, so soon after they failed to ring the bell with Viva Elvis!, but I questioned what was to be gained by sifting through the ashes of Jackson’s sad demise so soon after the event.
Well, about 15 minutes into Sunday night’s opening of Michael Jackson—The IMMORTAL World Tour, I heard a voice in my head saying “Oh ye of little faith.”
Not only is Cirque’s latest show their most spectacular to date, but for almost all of its 2-hour length, it succeeds in distilling a sad and powerful poetry out of the enigma that was Michael Jackson.
Credit Jamie King, the writer and director with succeeding in erecting a tower of glory on top of what could have been a potential minefield.
From the very opening, where we’re about to start groaning at the presence of a quintet of typical Cirque clowns, we soon realize they’re blessedly multi-racial, genuinely funny and—wait for it—a larger than comic portrait of The Jackson Five.
Soon after, we tap into a vein of sweet nostalgic bliss for a happy childhood that Michael never really had, taking us through “the lost and found of my heart” and asking a question he would ask until his death, “Where is my childhood.”
A little child in a hot air balloon floats over the golden gates of Neverland and disappears over our heads in the spectacular arena King and his collaborators have created.
They turn the cavernous Bell Centre into a place of magic and I can’t wait to see them repeat the trick in Toronto’s ACC later this month.
In the short time remaining between the show’s finish and my deadline, it’s impossible to catalogue all the beauty on display, but you won’t forget the aerial acrobats all in black, whose bodies are wired with an assortment of lights that turn them into human star sculptures of breathtaking beauty.
And when it comes to the “Ghost Stories” sequence, we all wait to see what’s going to be done with the archetypal Jackson number, “Thriller”
But instead of a mere imitation of the video we all know so well, King and company turn it into a voodoo funeral, all in white, with the spectre of Baron Samedi hovering over the familiar dance steps.
As the show goes on, we start to realize how much of Jackson’s vision of the world was ebony-hued and how potent the darkness was.
In fact, they show how certain images came to overwhelm Jackson by having his trademark hat, shoes and glove all appear 20 times larger than life as the song “Beat It” is ironically sung.
But as Michael keeps dancing towards his death, we see clock wheels spinning madly out of control, just as time did for the superstar.
There is no one playing Jackson per se, but one performer, clad all in silvery white, with a childlike cap, fills the role of our central figure who becomes hero and victim all at once.
Things become almost unbearably moving when we hear Jackson’s prophetic lyric, “Gone Too Soon,” with its lines about “Born to amuse, to inspire to delight/Here one day and gone one night.”
A stage full of red hearts beat faster, then fade out one by one. Then from the darkness, we see the entire company with hearts glowing anew, filling the aisles of the theatre while we watch a video of the very young Michael singing “I’ll Be There” with that voice which could hurt and heal at the same time, as it did for all his life.
I would have been happy to have the show end there, but it goes on to a conventional upbeat finale, with “greatest hits” like “Billy Jean,” “Black and White” and “Man in the Mirror.”
For my taste, I would prefer the show to have ended simply. But this is just the very first performance of a multi-year and since they have so much of it right already, there’s no reason to doubt that Cirque’s tribute to Michael Jackson will shimmer in complete glory before too long.
The event: The music, moves and legacy of Michael Jackson got the fantasy treatment Sunday night as Cirque du Soleil staged the world premiere of The Immortal World Tour. It's the biggest project formally authorized by the estate since the star's 2009 death.
The crowd: A capacity audience of 13,000 included brothers Tito, Jackie and Marlon Jackson, mom Katherine and Michael's kids Prince (14), Paris (13) and Blanket (9).
The tour: Sunday's show launched a 47-city North American tour that will make its U.S. debut Oct. 15 in Detroit. The tour — which will include a December residency at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas — is slated to wrap up July 20 in Chicago, though more dates are likely. The show will establish a permanent Vegas home in late 2013.
The fans: On a wet and chilly night in Montreal, Sunday's opening drew fans from Brazil to Los Angeles, some decked out with glittery white gloves and classic Thriller jackets.
The music: The show was an ecstatic barrage of hits from Jackson's solo career and Jackson 5 years. With vocal parts extracted from original studio tapes and mixed with a live band (directed by Jackson keyboardist Greg Phillinganes), it was a four-dimensional funky swirl of sound. The set ran through a host of moods — a night where the tender Childhood seamlessly segued into the crackling Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'.
The performance: The Jamie King-directed show featured Cirque's typical attention to detail, from meticulously constructed props (glowing hearts, a handsome hot-air balloon) to exquisite cast numbers choreographed by longtime Jackson associates such as Travis Payne. Unlike traditional Cirque shows, Immortal was presented less as a nouveau circus than a fantasy concert, with some of Jackson's signature moves cast through Cirque's whimsical prism.
The centerpiece: A re-creation of Jackson's Giving Tree, the backyard spot at his Neverland Ranch where he often retreated for musical inspiration.
The wow factor:Human Nature featured performers dangling over the stage, gorgeously dotted with lights against a backdrop of stars. A giant white glove and dancing shoes appeared for Beat It, and the Giving Tree sprouted a sprawling set of claws for Thriller, which featured mummies and white-tuxedoed zombies. Peace symbols adorned the chests on the robotic warriors of They Don't Care About Us. While the show featured no singular story line, broad themes of compassion, human connection and global consciousness were sketched throughout.
The King of Pop: Jackson's images were a constant presence, and he occasionally had the stage to himself: I'll Be There featured just his voice accompanied by a live piano, childhood footage playing on a big onstage screen.
The brothers: Backstage, three beaming Jackson brothers declared that the show captured Michael's spirit. "That was Michael's message — to help us understand that love is so important," Tito says. The family was particularly moved by the interpretation of Gone Too Soon. "Our mother is probably bawling out there somewhere," Jackie says.
Contributing: By Brian McCollum, USA TODAY