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Cirque du Soleil ‘Immortal blends artistic universe of Michael Jackson with sparkling playground arts
The show tells the story of Michael’s life, but rather than in a linear fashion, it uses scenes to show his loves and influences.
For example, in one scene a group of welders fly and swing on motorized cables, performing on various “dancing machines” to pay tribute to Jackson’s different dance styles. The song “Ben” celebrates Jackson’s love of animals.
During “Human Nature,” artists representing the constellations wearing multicolored LED costumes swoop, soar and float in the air.
“Thriller” re-creates Jackson’s original choreography for the video for that song: Acrobats and dancers dressed as mummies perform among coffins and tombstones.
“In the end, it’s just an overall celebration of Michael the artist,” Phillinganes says. “You get a little insight into him as a person, his love for children, his love for his own childhood, his love for the planet and his love for people.”
The show was developed by Jamie King, a creative director and choreographer who worked on concert tours for pop stars such as Madonna, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. He got his start as a dancer on Jackson’s “Dangerous” world tour in 1992.
Phillinganes says he was brought into the show by attorneys John Branca and John McClain, co-executors of Jackson’s estate, who saw him as a trusted musical compatriot of Jackson.
In the 1970s, Phillinganes, a keyboard player, had played with Stevie Wonder and Quincy Jones before an executive at CBS Records asked him to be the arranger on The Jacksons’ 1977 album “Destiny.”
“Next thing I know, I’m in a room with Michael and the brothers,” he says. He continued working with the Jacksons on their next album, “Triumph,” then with Michael Jackson on his solo albums “Off The Wall,” “Bad” and “Dangerous.” He even played on Jackson’s 1982 masterpiece “Thriller” album, the biggest-selling album of all time.
When Jackson mounted his first solo tours for “Bad” and “Dangerous,” he chose Phillinganes as his musical director.
“There was a mutual respect, which was great,” Phillinganes says. “And there was a trust, and I understood what he wanted. I was one of the last ones to have been involved in the making of original recordings anyway. So it was just a matter of translating that through musicality and technology to the live show.”
Phillinganes says he took the same approach to the Cirque du Soliel show. Perhaps his greatest contribution was choosing its nine-member band and three backup singers.
Phillinganes brought in four musicians who worked with Jackson — drummer Jonathan “Sugarfoot” Moffett, who worked with Jackson for more than 25 years; bassist Don Boyette; guitarist Jon Clark, and singer Fred White.
MJ/Cirque uncover falls brief of immortality
In March 2009, Michael Jackson announced a 50-night stand in London. It was comeback time for pop music’s biggest superstar, who hadn’t toured since 1997.
Sadly, Jackson died just weeks before opening night. While the world mourned, it quickly became apparent this guy was going to be worth more dead than alive. Forbes confirmed it, reporting Jackson’s estate brought in nearly a half billion dollars in the two years after his death.
Which brings us to “Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour,” a revenue-generating collaboration between Jackson’s estate and Cirque du Soleil that landed at Target Center on Tuesday, March 27, for a two-night residency, with top tickets ringing in at $175 a pop. Cirque, of course, has long since
nailed the art of spectacle and Jackson himself was a fan. Indeed, his London shows were to feature Cirque-style aerialists, so the partnership made perfect sense.
But what is “Immortal,” exactly? With Jackson’s vocals all obviously on tape, it’s not a “real” concert. But it’s not just a Cirque du Soleil show with a bunch of Jackson remixes playing in the background, either. Instead, it’s a sometimes eye-popping, sometimes boring and almost always vaguely unsettling marriage of the two.
Tour director Jamie King does a fine job of cranking up the sound and fury. A native of Verona, Wis., King began his career as a dancer with Jackson in the early ’90s. These days, he produces mega-tours for Madonna and Celine Dion. King even has
experience with prerecorded vocals, as he oversaw Britney Spears’ last two outings.
But with no single (living) personality at the center of the action, King’s giant, motorized screens and bombastic live band start to get repetitive and even grating. Too often, the Cirque folks are underutilized as mere backup dancers. Those there more for Cirque than MJ are bound to leave disappointed.
To be sure, there are some terrific moments.
After a glacial opening – look, a mime on a moving sidewalk!
- things picked up with a tribal tear through “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ ” and a literal take on “Dancing Machine,” complete with gold-plated torture/dancing devices that borrowed from both steampunk and the “Saw” franchise. During “Scream,” a handful of acrobats dropped plenty of jaws with a routine that saw them taking bellyflops onto the floor below. Late in the proceedings, a small army of robots with bedazzled breastplates boogied with militaristic precision to “They Don’t Care About Us,” a sequence originally designed for Jackson’s 2009 live dates.
Ultimately, though, it takes patience to get to the good parts of “Immortal.” All too often the filler feels like the 10th production number of an Oscar telecast entering its fourth
hour. For every breathtaking one-legged breakdancer, there’s a guy dressed as Bubbles the Chimp, hugging (and terrifying) audience members.
Ross Raihala can be reached at 651-228-5553.
Follow him at Twitter.com/RossRaihala.
Not utterly a thriller for ‘Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour by Cirque du Soleil’
If you walked into Time Warner Cable Arena to see the awkwardly named Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour by Cirque du Soleil thinking you were going to hear all of the late King of Pops most beloved hits, you might walk out a bit disappointed.
If you came in thinking you were going to see a typically dazzling Cirque du Soleil production, you might come away a tad underwhelmed.
The two-act, 130-minute show produced in partnership with the Jackson estate and in Charlotte Tuesday and Wednesday is lots of things: big, bold, colorful, ambitious, celebratory and reverential, but also uneven, ponderous, and at times just plain weird. It cant settle on a tone, jumps around in time, and consistently goes too long without significantly crowd-pleasing moments.
Immortal features more than 60 performers, along with musicians who were members of Jacksons band. Its a tribute, with his vocals (supported by the live band and background singers), dance routines inspired by his moves, and lots of video montages featuring Jackson, who died in June 2009 at age 50.
It was written and directed by Jamie King, who recently choreographed Madonnas Super Bowl halftime show and has designed concerts for Rihanna and Britney Spears. And while I wouldnt profess to know more about developing set lists for large-scale arena shows than someone with those credentials, I cant help but wonder about Kings choices.
If you are able to without any prompting or clues hum the hooks for deep cuts from the Jackson oeuvre like Is It Scary or Working Day and Night, then you are obviously a true fan and you wont be puzzled by the lineup.
Me, I wanted his re-live all of his biggest hits. But although many are there, No. 1s like Rock With You, Bad, The Way You Make Me Feel and Dirty Diana didnt make the cut, and megahit Billie Jean is given awfully short shrift. Another thing that makes the show feel disjointed is that its not chronological, so it feels less like a journey and more like a hodgepodge.
The most fundamental disappointment, though, is the fact that Cirques cast puts more of a premium on dancing and goofing around (in a giant white glove, in a Bubbles the Monkey costume, in oversized afro wigs), while limiting the number of mind-bending acrobatic feats weve become so accustomed to at its shows.
On the bright side, there are some awe-inspiring moments. Anna Melnikova wowed both men and women (perhaps for different reasons) when midway through Act 1 clad in a sequined bikini, sequined gloves and black heels she did a sexy, risky pole dance high above the stage to Jacksons apropos 1991 hit Dangerous.
She was overshadowed only by recurring appearances by amputee Jean Sok, who is without question the best one-legged breakdancer I have ever seen.
Immortal also builds to a rousing climax, with the singers messages of tolerance and acceptance coming through clearly in Black or White, which I saw both black and white people singing along to as cast members waved a kaleidoscopic array of national flags on stage.
Its just a shame it took a full two hours to get the crowd on its feet for anything other than intermission.
Cirque du Soleil does Michael’s magic
Cirque du Soleil’s biggest and boldest touring show, “Michael Jackson: The Immortal,” has the late king of pop’s music, his moves, his enthusiasm, and even his likeness on most of its promotional material. But Cirque doesn’t have someone who looks and sounds like him. It wouldn’t dare.
“That would not be doing him justice, because there was only one Michael Jackson,” says Tara Young, artistic director for the tour, which brings its 200-person cast and crew and its 35 trucks to Charlotte’s Time Warner Cable Arena on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Instead, “Michael Jackson: The Immortal” uses a quasi-narrator – Salah Benlemqawanssa, a French hip-hop dancer – to guide audiences through the performances, using a form of dance that Young calls “untouchable.” “When you watch him you feel a sense of Michael because Michael was magic onstage.”
So is he a better dancer than Michael?
Young laughs, then says, “I wouldn’t say that. Michael Jackson was groundbreaking in everything he did. And all we are trying to do is to be equally as groundbreaking, and honor his life.”
Jackson died on June 25, 2009, at age 50. But he has not been forgotten.
Five months after his death, a documentary titled “This Is It” – which chronicled his rehearsals and preparation for a concert series that never happened – was released; it made $261 million at the box office. One of the best-selling music-oriented video games of the past year is “Michael Jackson: The Experience,” which allows players to emulate his moves in their living rooms.
“Michael Jackson: The Immortal” was produced by Cirque du Soleil in partnership with Jackson’s estate and is written and directed by Jamie King, who recently choreographed Madonna’s Super Bowl halftime show and has designed concerts for Rihanna and Britney Spears.
The production features more than 60 performers, along with musicians who were members of Jackson’s band. It has a rock concert feel, but it also has all the Cirque hallmarks: opulent visuals, a fantasy-like atmosphere, an international cast and mind-bending acrobatic and aerial feats.
Despite the pedigree, though, reviews of the show – for which ticket prices top out at just shy of $200 – have been mixed. Kevin C. Johnson of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch last month called it “a sometimes fantastic, sometimes nutty spectacle.”
But Howard Cohen of The Miami Herald just this week was far less kind: “In all likelihood no other presentation of this scale will ever dethrone it in the annals of all-around misguided awfulness.”
None of this has discouraged Young. In fact, she doesn’t even read the reviews.
“I never have in my 25-year career,” says the veteran of more than a dozen Broadway shows. “I really enjoy feeling the breath and energy of the audience. And I love that in the arena setting because it’s a different feeling, feeling 15,000 people enjoy the show than it is on Broadway having 2,000 people.”
And for whatever it’s worth, she thinks Jackson would have given the show a glowing review.
“He’d be very proud. … I think he’d be looking down feeling really proud.”
