Photo: Globe and Mail

This past weekend, Cirque du Soleil lit up the Staples Center in Los Angeles with their rendition of performances of Michael Jackson’s hit songs in Michael Jackson The Immortal World Tour. Fans of MJ flocked the arena, paying homage to the late singer by dressing to the max with black top hats and silver gloves. The third stop in the global tour, Immortal was welcomed by adoring fans and featured Cirque du Soleil’s mix of music, dance, and acrobatics.

The show began with a series of clips of Michael Jackson, pumping up the crowd and the house was soon bellowing with the anticipation of those in the audience. The cast performed some of the singer’s popular tracks, including “What You Do to Me“ complete with dancers decked out in suspenders, “Thriller“ with a smoky graveyard and the iconic werewolf/head ticking choreography, and “Black or White“ with a set of waving flags. The visual displays of all the numbers was an interesting medley of visual effects, such as fireworks, a golden dancing machine powered by mechanical arms, costumes with animated multi-colored lights, and film segments of a young Michael Jackson singing “I’ll Be There.”

The best part of Immortal was a one-legged dancer, who performed in multiple sections of the show. He kept people captivated with his flips and dance moves. Illuminating the stage with his charisma and energy, he became one of the highlights of the performance.

Immortal was entertaining for the most part, but a few viewers left the arena feeling as if some of the usual magic of Cirque du Soleil was lost. Maybe it was the fact that the music was more pop than the usual musical scores utilized by the performance group. Or it was because the show was more centered on hip hop dance choreography rather than the high-flying acrobatics and reality-defying moves that Cirque du Soleil is known for. Overall, it was a good show but not a great one.

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