In ‘Immortal,’ ‘The Giving Tree’ has been taken away, but expect Jamie King to stay

By John Katsilometes

Monday, Dec. 5, 2011 | 3:06 p.m.

At the onset of Saturday’s Las Vegas premiere of "Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour," the audience listened to a poignant recording of Michael Jackson asking, “Have you seen my childhood?”

Not long after, I was asking, 'Have you seen my tree?”

You might recall my reference on Saturday to “The Giving Tree,” a concept so metaphorically appealing that Director Jamie King ordered a Yosemite National Park-worthy oak to be constructed as part of the “Immortal” set and planted it in the middle of the stage.

In reality, “The Giving Tree” was Jackson’s Walden Pond, an asylum of creative and spiritual refuge at Neverland Ranch where he would paint, draw and craft songs.

However, as “Immortal” bounced along Saturday night, it became curiously apparent that the tree we fell for in October’s opening performance at Montreal’s Bell Centre had been summarily chopped down. We got a trunk, and some videos of the tree. But this was no oak. It was, mostly, an imaginary tree.

Unlike Jackson’s boundless imagination, the tree that was once so prominent in the show faced physical limitations. The oak was just too vast for its surroundings at Mandalay Bay Events Center.

King, the show’s resident director and sometimes lumberjack, explains.

“There were some technical things to consider. With the nature of an arena show, certainly things become venue-specific,” King says. “Some of the larger props, depending on the venue, we can’t always fit in. This is a low-ceiling venue, so things don’t always work.”

The big oak is depicted only occasionally, on the LED screens and video roll-downs, and also as a stump.

But the tree, thematically, is as large as ever.

“The essence of the tree is still here,” King says. “The actual physicality of the tree isn’t, but if you saw in ‘Wanna Be Startin' Somethin',’ there is tree imagery that comes in, but certainly now it’s a more kind of esoteric approach to the tree. It’s certainly represented, just not in its physical form any longer because of our limitations.”

The tree might well return in some form, or not, King says. But please remember the tree, as it was important to Jackson’s creative spirit and has been a focal point of the show -- except in Vegas.

OK, enough about the tree. For now.

I have now seen “Immortal” twice and have likened it to a Lady Gaga or Madonna concert, absent Lady Gaga or Madonna. As expected, the show that played to about 8,000 joyous fans at Mandalay Bay was musically outstanding. The 12-piece band, many of whom performed with Jackson on tour or in the studio, is fantastic. Cellist Tina Guo in particular is astonishing in how she commands the stage. She is at once beautiful and plays beautifully. The trampoline effect on the circular stage space that juts into the audience, the acrobats whirling over the set on gymnastic rings, the LED-infused body suits, the use of old Jackson 5 videos and the dancing throughout, is all wonderful.

Highlights: “Thriller” was exhumed with spot-on choreography inspired by the famous video (including the eerie voice of the late Vincent Price); “Smooth Criminal” resurrected the great lean-forward move, always a crowd-pleaser. And the gal on the very tall pole bends her body in ways that most practitioners of that form of entertainment in Vegas can only dream about. “Human Nature,” punctuated by cast members wading through the crowd while carrying hearts glowing bright red, is a warm and unifying moment.

Of course, there are some curious decisions: Why Bubbles? It would be fine to make a reference to the famously befriended chimp, maybe play some video of the hairy little beast or playfully toss him back and forth as a stuffed animal. But here he is, a full-fledged cast member, loping around the stage and even performing as a club DJ. This is the show’s “Blackbird” moment, reminiscent the regretful scene in the first version of “Love” when the gorgeous song was reduced to badly executed slapstick until the scene was mercifully adjusted to fit the tune’s inspired message.

No, Bubbles must go. And I have this uneasy feeling that some nightlife exec might pick up the Bubbles-as-DJ idea and have some luckless soul dressed as the chimp host a night at a Vegas nightclub. If that ever happens, we can just shut down the city, forever. It’s over.

What we can look forward to, happily, is the dynamic King signing on as director of the resident Cirque-Jackson show when it opens at Mandalay Bay Theater in early 2013. Cirque CEO Daniel Lamarre says the decision is all but official that King will be retained to direct the theater version of “Immortal.”

“We are so, so happy to have a director who knows Michael,” Lamarre said during Saturday’s red-carpet walk. “All along, we were always asking the same question to our creative team, which was, ‘How would Michael react if he were here?’ and Jamie and his team were so close to him that they were able to give us the right answer. That’s why it would make sense to pursue this venture with him.”

Lamarre added that finalizing the deal is “only a formality right now, and I’m very confident we will get there.”

As King says, “If I’m asked to do the resident show, and it would be a great moment, there are moments and elements in this show that are very Michael, from ‘The Giving Tree’ to the Neverland world he lived in, that whole fairytale life he really appreciated, that certainly would make sense going into a resident show.

“In (Mandalay Bay Theater), you can be more theatrical. This is a rock interpretation of the show now.”

So the tree is likely to be replanted, somehow, in Vegas. It’s only appropriate, even if it’s just to give Bubbles a place to swing.

Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at Twitter.com/JohnnyKats. Also, follow “Kats With the Dish” at Twitter.com/KatsWithTheDish.