I grew up with Michael Jackson,the King of Pop. I've learned about him when he was still a little boy singing with his brothers during his Jackson 5 days. My favorite song from him was Ben. I lost track of him after that since I was still in the Philippines and we can only hear from him when he had a hit song that was becoming popular in the radio. The next time I heard from him, he was already grown up during his Thriller days. He was very popular already and deep in me I wanted to see him in person. He was always in the news and that was also the time when his physical changes took place. Whenever he had some special tv shows, I wouldnt miss to see it. I had danced with his music and me and my friends thought we were the coolest group since we get to dance an MJ song. My desire to watch him perform live was still growing inside me and I was dreaming to watch his planned "This Is It" concert until that dreadful day when he passed away. When the documentary movie of "This Is It" came out, I was one of probably millions who watched the movie in 3D. I also owned a copy of the said documentary film in BluRay disc.
Last year, in 2010, the hope of experiencing Michael Jackson came alive again by the news of a Cirque Du Soliel production of Michael Jackson's The Immortal World Tour. And it happened here in Las Vegas. Last Dec 3, 2011 I finally got the taste of a Michael Jackson experience even if it was half-baked. Half-baked because MJ is already gone and it was a Cirque Du Soliel show as a tribute to him and his songs. This was a touring company and they came from California before coming here in Las Vegas for the whole month of December.
There are at least 5 Cirque Du Soliel shows here in Las Vegas and I almost saw all of them but in fairness, the touring company was able to come up with a very good show at par with their resident counterparts. As expected from a Cirque production, there were a lot of acrobatic routines. There were pole dancers, gymnasts, dancers and live singers as well. They were able to give justice to every Michael Jackson song. The show was not overwhelmed by just acrobatic routines alone, there were also an equal mix of dancing. Since this is a touring company, they could not fully avail of the automated set changes like their resident sister companies are enjoying here in Las Vegas. The producers were brilliant enough to use portable sets in which the performers could push in and out from the stage. The clever use of light effects including film projections as well as stage pyrotechnics were prominent in the production. Images of Michael were almost always in every scene through the use of film projections. The show will never be a Michael Jackson show without the magic of his music. The production was able to come up with a good list of MJ's music. Live singers and musicians cleverly performed with original Michael Jackson recordings to come up with unique mixes. I really have to download the original soundtrack of the show. The only bad thing I observed from the whole production was that, sometimes there were a lot going on the stage and it was hard for me to capture everything at one time in my line of vision. Maybe this might be caused by my actual seating location from the stage. It may have helped if I was sitting directly in front of the stage, thereby the backdrop videos can blend well with the performers on the stage. As what I have said earlier, the show was very good, cleverly performed given their limited resources in terms of stage set changes.
This was the next best thing that I could have to experience the Michael Jackson magic and his genius. I think the whole production have two goals in coming up with this show: to showcase their Love to Michael Jackson and Respect of his talent and legacy. A fitting tribute indeed to the King of Pop. I'm pretty sure that MJ was with his fans in spirit that evening.
Favorite Moment: I actually have three; Human nature - breathtaking, Smooth Criminal - love the dancing and Thriller - dancing as well as the costumes.
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