MJ THE IMMORTAL World Tour
The production arrives in Shanghai on the 16th of this month and will run until 18th August. The show combines ever-infamous Michael Jackson’s music and choreography with Cirque du Soleil’s unique entertainment and circus themed style to create a world tour that has been doing the rounds for the past two years. It is now China’s, and more specifically, Shanghai’s turn to “face the music”. But is China really ready for Jackson mania?
ABOUT THE SHOW
THE IMMORTAL World Tour was written and directed by Jamie King and features 49 international dancers, musicians and acrobats. The show immerses the audience into Jackson’s creative world and is aimed at lifelong fans as well as those experiencing the Jackson magic for the first time. The King of Pop’s genius, soul and legacy live on in this production.
The stage show is set in a fantasy realm where the audience is given an insight into Jackson’s inspiration and limitless creativity. As show promoters say, “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 world tour takes its cue from Jackson’s global message of love, peace and unity. However, as director King says, “It starts with the music. Michael’s voice is what drives the show.”
THE LEGEND IS COMING TO CHINA
Sina’s Chinese news site recently wrote, "The unforgettable legend of Michael Jackson will be unveiled for the first time here in Shanghai." In his lifetime, Jackson never managed to preform in China. His 2009/2010 This Is It tour was due to take in the country but this plan never came to fruition due to the star’s untimely death. It is a lesser-known fact however that Jackson did actually make it to the Middle Kingdom during his lifetime. In 1987, during a holiday in Hong Kong, Jackson took a day trip to the Chinese mainland to visit the city of Zhongshan in Guangdong province. This one-day trip must have made a lasting impression on the star as he devoted space for two photos of his Chinese trip in his autobiography. It was noted that he spent a lot of time with the Chinese children during his trip; a running theme throughout his life...
Michael Jackson’s music was extremely influential to many young Chinese music fans in the late 1980’s as it was a period of time when Deng Xiaoping’s opening-up policies and reforms had lead to an influx of foreign influences and cultures in China. Pop music was no longer subject to bourgeois denouncement and there was a thirst for knowledge about Western music as young people began to get a taste for Jackson’s music and more specifically, his rhythm and passion. Although Jackson’s records were hard to obtain in most of the country due to a lack of foreign music distribution outlets, many fans asked relatives in Hong Kong or Taiwan to send copies or went to foreign language centers at big universities to access the foreign material. Michael Jackson was a way for young impressionable Chinese natives to learn about the outside world, that had been until recently closed off to them, through his music. Jie Cao, a trader who was brought up in Shanghai, told Talk, “Although I wasn’t a big fan of Michael Jackson, the Bad music video on TV caught my attention because of the rhythm. People around me were crazy about Jackson as things around them were pretty boring but because Jackson was such an unrestricted character, they felt that they too could be free.”
It is easy to understand why Jackson had many die-hard fans in China, as he did all around the world, and the IMMORTAL World tour is a chance for many old and new Chinese fans, who didn't get the opportunity to see him live, to experience the spectacle and showmanship of a Michael Jackson concert for themselves.
INTERVIEW WITH THE CREATIVE DIRECTOR
We were lucky enough to speak with Montreal based Creative Director, Chantal Tremblay, who worked on the concept of the THE IMMORTAL World Tour right from the beginning, about the show. Jackson was already a fan of Cirque du Soleil and Tremblay had the pleasure of meeting with him, on behalf of the company, before he died. After Jackson’s death, Cirque du Soleil started thinking about the concept behind the show and started talking to people who had worked on other shows with the King of Pop who were able to share funny stories and other material such as his music, voice and photos. Tremblay told Talk, “We felt that it was what Michael would have wanted. It was not like we tried to reinvent him or show him in a different way. Let’s take what’s there, already so rich from his career, music and emotions. Let’s use all of what is available to us and put the best show together which Michael would be so proud of; the kind of show that Michael would love to have. Michael always wanted to have big shows that included fireworks and a big set. This is what we tried to do with Immortal. It is a big show and it's what Michael would love.”
The show aims to fuse all the Jackson material they had gathered together from his beautifully created music, videos and dance steps to his passion, energy and inspiration. “The biggest challenge for us was to do a show without having Michael and his spirit there because we wanted all the visuals and videos to have Michael and to hear him talking. We are trying to get the emotion of Michael, or that presence of Michael, as we want the fans to feel as though Michael is with us as much as possible,” said Tremblay.
Instead of presenting Jackson’s life chronologically, as would have been the obvious choice, THE IMMORTAL World Tour instead focuses on periods of time in the star’s life. Tremblay explains, “We decided to go and visit Neverland with a team of designers, right at the beginning of the concept, which gave us a lot of inspiration with the trees, gates and being there having a chance to visit, getting so close to what Michael was feeling over there. The wind and smell was giving us inspiration which you feel in the show. We have Neverland as part of the show. After that, we have Smooth Criminal and after that we have trailers of mummies. Yes, we start from the beginning and go back to periods instead of to dates. We also have a part with Jackson 5 in the show.”
In order to get a true portrayal of Jackson’s character and his work, Tremblay assembled a solid creative team around her who had worked with Jackson while he was alive. “There was big pressure of not having Michael here. You always have pressure when you are creating big shows but we wanted to have the size of what Michael is. He has a big legacy and he was a big person. Again, we wanted to be sure that he would be proud of us. That is why part of the creative team and some of the artists have been close to Michael. Jimmy King himself had danced with him on tour and some of the musicians and the drummer had also been on tour with him. Those people were bringing the emotion. The choreographer, Travis Payne, was also part of his beautiful adventure. As we visited Neverland and met some of his family members, it was like rediscovering a person. Instead of knowing Michael from his music and videos, I was getting closer into his life. His happiness and generosity was touching and such a great thing in my life and my artistic career,” said Tremblay.
There is no denying that Cirque du Soleil means for THE IMMORTAL World tour to be an expression and celebration of his life. This is maybe poorly timed due to continual allegations made about Jackson’s personal life however, take the show for what it is; a show jammed to the rafters with cult hits and guilty pleasure songs that will leave you walking away with that feel good factor.
