Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour

A riveting fusion of visuals, dance, music and fantasy that immerses audiences in Michael's creative world and literally turns his signature moves upside down, Michael Jackson THE IMMORTAL World Tourunfolds Michael Jackson's artistry before the eyes of the audience. Aimed at lifelong fans as well as those experiencing Michael's creative genius for the first time, the show captures the essence, soul and inspiration of the King of Pop, celebrating

a legacy that continues to transcend generations.

THE IMMORTAL World Tour takes place in a fantastical realm where we discover Michael's inspirational Giving Tree - the wellspring of his creativity. The secrets of Michael's inner world are unlocked - his love of music and dance, fairy tale and magic, and the fragile beauty of nature.

The underpinnings of THE IMMORTAL World Tour are Michael Jackson's powerful, inspirational music and lyrics - the driving force behind the show—brought to life with extraordinary power and breathless intensity. Through unforgettable performances Michael Jackson THE IMMORTAL World Tour underscores Michael’s global messages of love, peace and unity.

A Cirque du Soleil and Estate of Michael Jackson production of a show in one act written and directed by Jamie King. Creative guide, Guy Laliberte; director of creation, Chantal Tremblay; music designer, Kevin Antunes.

The Mime - Salah Benlemqawanassa
The Fanatics - Laurent Bourgeois, Larry Bourgeois, Julio Alberto Santiago, Tomohiko Tsujimoto Bubble - Terrance Harrison

The Cirque du Soleil show that celebrates Michael Jackson, "The Immortal World Tour," is as singular as the performer himself. Part rock concert, part aerial fantasy, part multimedia extravaganza and part surreal performance art, the show, written and directed by Jamie King, manages to capture the essence of Jackson better than seems possible. Early reaction in Montreal indicates die-hard Jackson fans are ecstatic while non-believers remain so throughout, emerging more perplexed than elated. Still, even the show's detractors have to concede that as spectacle, "Immortal Tour" is one of a kind.

 A childlike Mime, more reminiscent of Marcel Marceau's Bip than Jackson himself, is our guide through the inevitable journey from childhood to death, although everyone involved with the show rightly insists it's not a biography. Instead it's more of an impressionist collage than a realistic piece of portraiture.

The high, golden gates of Neverland part to lead us through a fantasy world where an animatronic baby Michael floats through the arena on a hot air balloon, while acrobats dressed in black float through the sky, their bodies illuminated to turn them into constellations. A live band plays with power and guts while the digitized voice of Michael sings along, joined by live backup singers.

The total effect is of presence and absence at the same time. No one plays Jackson, but his presence is everywhere.

He's depicted as a prophet of peace, someone who wanted good in the world for everyone. But in the "Ghost Stories" sequence, the dark side of the man comes out, with "Thriller" emerging as a voodoo funeral rite in which performers dress in white and Haitian spirit Baron Samedi floats above them all. Driving numbers like "Bad" turn into parables of how Jackson let his image take over, as giant versions of his signature hat and glove dwarf the action.

Videos show Jackson driving himself -- dancing, dancing, dancing -- while clocks spin madly and the death we all know is coming races upon him.

Songs like his prophetic "Gone Too Soon," with its lines "Born to amuse, to inspire to delight/Here one day and gone one night," acquire a new edge, and when a stage full of pulsating red hearts finally fades into darkness, we see an old black and white film of child Michael from The Jackson Five singing "I'll Be There" with the bittersweet quality he knew all his life.

With a cast of more than 50 dancers and acrobats, teams of choreographers and more technical credits than some large-scale movie spectacles, it's hard to allot praise individually. But writer/director King has imposed a real shape onto this mass of material. Yes, it's uneven and overlong in its current format, but past produtions have illustrated that Cirque knows how to fix a show once it's up on their feet.

Judging from the reaction of the Montreal crowd to the opening and the brisk ticket sales across North America, this show seems certain to have legs.

How do you stage a Michael Jackson show without Michael Jackson? With high energy dancing and acrobatics, plenty of razzle dazzle, tons of ingenuity and lots of carefully selected video clips of Jackson himself.

That seems to be more or less the recipe adhered to by the Cirque du Soleil in creating Michael Jackson The Immortal World Tour which had its world premiere at the Belle Centre last night (Sunday, Oct. 2, 2011). It plays here again tonight before moving on to Ottawa, then to about 60 other North American cities.

This $60 million arena show that sold $40 million worth of tickets within 24 hours when it was first announced, is not like anything the Cirque has done before, although its genre is similar to that of Viva ELVIS and LOVE (the Beatles show) in Las Vegas.

This MJ show has circus acts, but it’s not a circus. Nor is it a rock concert or dance show, exactly, either. Insofar as people are expecting any one of the above, they may feel a bit shortchanged. But if they go with the performance art flow of it all, they are not likely to be bored.

This is a dazzling, fast-pace spectacle for people with short attention spans, flitting from one song to the next, seldom settling down with one for a whole number. All is deftly rearranged, using live music and Jackson’s recorded voice. The audience is overwhelmed with images, some of them on screens, others created through maniupulation of quirky props, like a mega-sized white glove, a huge Jackson hat that conceals several dancers or a pair of giant shoes and socks, with dancers inside.

There’s no real attempt to tell Jackson’s life story, but it does begin with a five-clown band, evoking the Jackson Five. (Not the most successful idea in the show, given their moves aren’t nearly as slick as the originals and their bad afro wigs don’t become them well.)

The show offers a fairly comprehensive sampling of Jackson’s better-known songs. Early on, there’s a poignant rendition of Have You Seen My Childhood? Some songs, like Dancing Machine and Black or White, get more of a workout than others. Fantasies of Neverland come alive, one after another, sometimes at very high volume. There’s quiet time, too, with Jackson speaking his own lyrics.

A solo dancer/acrobat in sparkling white does mime shtick that reminds us where the moonwalk came from. He returns again and again throughout the show, at one point doing a series of startling backwards cartwheels. (Do not try this at home.) Aerial acts are used frequently to conquerthe cavernous space of the Bell Centre. A single contortionist worms her way out of a giant book, in one clevelry staged scene.

Unlike most Cirque shows, this one, directed by Jamie King, is prepared to do a couple of encores. And on Sunday night it was clear that 13,000 people wanted more. And more.

Michael Jackson The Immortal Tour Dates

• ·         -Montreal October 2 & 3, 2011
• ·         -Ottawa, Opens on October 07, 2011
• ·         -Hamilton, October 12, 2011 8:00 PM
• ·         -Detroit, October 15, 2011 8:00 PM
• ·         -London, Opens on October 18, 2011
• ·         -Toronto, Opens on October 21, 2011
• ·         -Winnipeg, Opens on October 26, 2011
• ·         -Saskatoon, Opens on October 29, 2011
• ·         -Edmonton, Opens on November 01, 2011
• ·         -Vancouver, Opens on November 04, 2011
• ·         -Seattle, Opens on November 09, 2011
• ·         -Spokane, Opens on November 12, 2011
• ·         -Eugene, Opens on November 15, 2011
• ·         -Portland, Opens on November 18, 2011
• ·         -Las Vegas, Opens on December 03, 2011
• ·         -Phoenix, Opens on December 30, 2011
• ·         -Boise, Opens on January 03, 2012
• ·         -Denver, Opens on January 06, 2012
• ·         -Sacramento, Opens on January 10, 2012
• ·         -San Jose, Opens on January 13, 2012
• ·         -Oakland, Opens on January 17, 2012
• ·         -San Diego, Opens on January 21, 2012
• ·         -Anaheim, Opens on January 24, 2012
• ·         -Los Angeles, Opens on January 27, 2012
• ·         -St. Louis, Opens on February 07, 2012
• ·         -Houston, Opens on February 10, 2012
• ·         -New Orleans, Opens on February 15, 2012
• ·         -Tulsa, Opens on February 18, 2012
• ·         -Kansas City, Opens on February 21, 2012
• ·         -Indianapolis, Opens on February 24, 2012
• ·         -Orlando, Opens on February 28, 2012
• ·         -Miami, Opens on March 02, 2012
• ·         -Jacksonville, Opens on March 07, 2012
• ·         -Raleigh, Opens on March 10, 2012
• ·         -Charlotte, Opens on March 13, 2012
• ·         -Milwaukee, Opens on March 16, 2012
• ·         -Montreal, Opens on March 20, 2012
• ·         -Quebec, Opens on March 24, 2012
• ·         -Minneapolis (area), Opens on March 27, 2012
• ·         -Newark, Opens on March 30, 2012
• ·         -New York, Opens on April 03, 2012
• ·         -Long Island, Opens on April 07, 2012
• ·         -Philadelphia, Opens on April 10, 2012
• ·         -Pittsburgh, Opens on April 13, 2012
• ·         -State College, Opens on April 24, 2012
• ·         -Columbia, Opens on April 27, 2012
• ·         -Hartford, Opens on May 02, 2012
• ·         -Baltimore, Opens on May 05, 2012
• ·         -Worcester, Opens on May 16, 2012
• ·         -Dayton, Opens on June 06, 2012
• ·         -Columbus, Opens on June 09, 2012
• ·         -Nashville, Opens on June 12, 2012
• ·         -Austin, Opens on June 15, 2012
• ·         -San Antonio, Opens on June 23, 2012
• ·         -Atlanta, Friday, June 29, 2012 8:00 PM
• ·         -Montreal, Opens on July 06, 2012
• ·         -Washington (area), Opens on July 13, 2012
• ·         -Cleveland, Opens on July 17, 2012
• ·         -Chicago, Opens on July 20, 2012
• ·         -Salt Lake City, Coming soon

To be continued ....