Michael Jackson will get the Cirque du Soleil treatment
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Michael Jackson, always a kid at heart, surely would have appreciated this news.
Cirque du Soleil said Tuesday that it will create a brand new traveling show that will honor the music and the spirit of the King of Pop.
Jackson’s estate and Cirque du Soleil will collaborate on a concert-like production that will tour sports arenas starting in the fall of 2011.
The traveling production will be followed in 2012 with a permanent show in Las Vegas, similar to existing Cirque du Soleil productions built around the music of the Beatles and Elvis Presley.
“Having attended Cirque du Soleil performances with Michael, I know he was a huge fan,” John Branca, co-executor of Jackson’s estate, said in a statement issued Tuesday.
“This will not just be a tribute to Michael’s musical genius, but a live entertainment experience that uses the most advanced technology to push every creative boundary as Michael always did.”
The venue of the permanent show has not been announced. The late pop star’s estate and Cirque du Soleil will split the costs and profits of their collaborative ventures equally, while intellectual property royalties will go to the estate.
In March, administrators of Jackson’s estate and his longtime record label, Sony Music Entertainment, announced a seven-year-distribution deal for as many as 10 new Jackson projects, including unreleased recordings and DVDs.
Read the full story on the Jackson-Cirque du Soleil collaboration at the Pop & Hiss blog.
-- David Ng and Scott Sandell
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