(OSA Images/ OSA Images ) - Press image from the Cirque Du Soleil production ‘Michael Jackson The Immortal World Tour.’ Costumes by Zaldy Goco.
We always knew Michael Jackson’s life was a circus — eccentricity swirled around him like the paparazzi.
But he wasn’t the only pop star defined by oddness. The sex scandals, pet chimps and radical changes to his looks weren’t entirely out of keeping in an industry that has embraced Jerry Lee Lewis, Marilyn Manson and Lady Gaga.
(OSA Images) - ’Michael Jackson The Immortal World Tour.’ Costumes by Zaldy Goco.
(Cirque du Soleil) - In ‘Michael Jackson The Immortal World Tour,’ by Cirque du Soleil, a performer scales a pole to perform a seductive pole dance to the music of ‘Dangerous.’
But inspiring a true under-the-big-top spectacle? Now that’s something only Jackson could do.
Cirque du Soleil’s “Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour” rolls into Verizon Center on Friday, claiming to capture the “essence, soul and inspiration” of the late King of Pop. In interviews posted on the show’s Web site, its creators state that Jackson’s music and vocals drive the production.
They’re wrong. Granted, the music is important — more than 30 of Jackson’s songs, including such hits as “Wanna Be Starting Something,” “Dangerous,” “Beat It, “ “Smooth Criminal” and “Man in the Mirror,” will be heard throughout the show, in mash-ups, remixes and live performances of new arrangements. The show’s musical director, Greg Phillinganes, traces his Jackson expertise back to session work on several of the singer’s albums and to his “Bad” and “Dangerous” concert tours, for which Phillinganes was also musical director.
But without Jackson’s legacy as a dance icon, there would be no Cirque circus. There would be, instead, the Jackson version of “Beatlemania.” “MJmania,” perhaps.
Think about it: If he weren’t such a physical performer, known for his introspective solos as well as full-out dance numbers in which his footwork outshone the career dancers fanned out behind him, what would Cirque’s dancers, contortionists and acrobats have been able to sink their famous bodies into? Jackson was a profoundly talented kinetic artist as well as a musician. He was unique in the pop-music world, an entertainer whose physical expression came at us just as powerfully as his musical one.
To be sure, there are countless other pop stars who dance. Ne-Yo pays affectionate homage to Jackson with his white socks and crisp, jazz-inflected choreography (which Jackson, by the way, borrowed in large measure from Broadway great Bob Fosse).
With his velvet coordination, Usher brings up-to-the-minute dance trends like the Memphis jook onstage. But not he, Ne-Yo or enthusiastic singer-dancer Chris Brown has the personal flamboyance or global renown to spark a theatrical event like the Cirque du Soleil show, which has European dates booked through next spring.
And none of them has made dancing a cornerstone of his craft to the extent that Jackson did.
Jackson’s identification as a dancer went beyond the common practice of injecting choreographed sequences into live performances and music videos. Even if such appealing singer-dancers as Beyonce or Madonna were to depart this life well before their time, as Jackson did three years ago at age 50, I’m not sure that the desire to cash in on their popularity would bloom into a dance-acrobatic-narrative extravaganza as this Cirque production promises to be.
Olney Theatre Center revisits “Angel Street,” a Victorian thriller that it last presented in 1950.
1371605280000
Review | Flying V’s show focuses on sex, social awkwardness and superheroes.
1371565560000
The Tony Award-winning Shakespeare Theatre is contesting the rise in fees for the use of its performance space.
1371244740000
Roundabout Theatre Company’s ‘Anything Goes’ is at the Kennedy Center until July 7.
1371178500000
The musical comedy has entertaining singing, dancing and laughs aplenty.
1371177000000.jpg)
Washington is experiencing a space crunch as growing organizations hunt alongside established companies.
1371145586000
D.C. company known for letting the fake blood fly during performances works on a more sophisticated image.
1370992560000
The festival runs through June 30 at the Source Theatre.
1370964000000
At the Kennedy Center on Friday night, a new ballet took the form as its subject and didn’t blow it to pieces.
1370729055000.JPG)
“Les Patineurs,” performed by the Sarasota Ballet, is the jewel of this year’s series at the Kennedy Center.
1370644178000
Choreographer Kathleen Marshall, whose “Anything Goes” is coming to the Kennedy Center, goes old school.
1370619900000
67th Annual Awards for Broadway achievement, once again hosted by Neil Patrick Harris, on CBS.
1370614008000
SUPERNOVA performance art festival aims to disrupt mundane routine in Rosslyn this weekend.
1370560895000
Performers from Step Afrika! in composer Randall Fleischer’s “Ke Nako” from Symphony in Step. Accompained by a 15-piece chamber orchestra, Step Afrika! blends classical music and stepping in this program.
1370560043000The Post Most: EntertainmentMost-viewed stories,videos, and galleries in the past two hours
Find A Theater
Search dance and theater performances by name or keyword.
Loading...
Comments