The Way He Made Them Feel: A Broadway Tribute to Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson was a child star who grew into a ground-breaking global icon. From his innovation as a performer, including his signature "moonwalk," to his stratospheric vocal ability to his legendary stage presence, Jackson's wide influence as a singer, dancer and all-around entertainer reached virtually all aspects of the entertainment industry—including live theater. The news of Jackson’s death on June 25 stunned the world. Though he never performed on Broadway (but did star in the wildly popular movie adaptation of The Wiz), Jackson served as an inspiration to a generation of theater professionals. Broadway.com asked stage stars to pay tribute to the King of Pop.

Here is what they had to say...

ASHANTI (star of the Encores! production of The Wiz at City Center): [The June 25 show] was very, very special. It started off a little bit somber. Of course, everyone took the news a little bit hard, but we all pulled together. We said a huge cast prayer and we dedicated the show to Michael—it turned out to be an amazing show. Right after we finished the prayer, I pulled Alex [musical director Lacamoire] to the side and I said, “You know what would be really cool? After we take our bows, if we could do a little Michael Jackson—we need to hear something uplifting. Something people can dance to.” Alex hand-wrote the sheet music, and we pulled it off. We did “Don’t Stop ’Til You Get Enough.” The whole audience was in an uproar. Everyone was dancing on stage, dancing in the audience—it was awesome. Everyone sang and danced—it was a really wonderful, wonderful evening. I spoke to [Michael Jackson] on the phone in 2007 when I started working on my album. I was working with a producer that was also working with him. And I spoke to him and he was just—I can’t even explain the feeling. He paid me a compliment. He said, “I like your song ‘Turn It Up.’" It was a song that was on my third album, Concrete Rose. I was like, Oh my God, I can’t believe it. He said, “Just continue to do what you’re doing.” It was a blessing to be able speak to him. I also performed at the Neverland Ranch back in 2003. When people see the pictures or video on TV, it’s really like that there—ferris wheels and rides and cotton candy and animals. It was like a completely different world. I remember I was the only one performing that day. It was a huge stage and a bunch of kids and families and it was just like, wow, this is something for my own history books.

ALEX LACAMOIRE (music director of The Wiz, orchestrator of In the Heights): Michael Jackson was a big inspiration for a lot of people in [The Wiz] to do what they do, and some people knew him personally, so it was a very emotional show. We had a little prayer before the show and just tried to celebrate his spirit. Right when we were done praying, Ashanti said, “Is there a way to get the band to play like a little microscopic tribute at the end of the show?” And I said “I don’t know if we’ll be able to do that.” But I started to think about it, and I got an idea of a way we could get a Michael Jackson groove in there. Ashanti recommended “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough.” And then during the first act, I grabbed some staff paper and during the book scenes—where we didn’t have to play music—I grabbed a pencil and started to sketch out an arrangement of a way that we could get it into the bow. It was like guerilla orchestrating. I finished it during the intermission. It was very rough—just bare bones. The stage manager photocopied it during intermission, and I handed it to the band before the Act Two started. The audience loved it. The whole cast was on stage dancing. [Director] Tommy Kail was in the audience, and he said the people were flipping out. Michael Jackson to me was the first pop star that I had to look up to growing up. I was seven when Thriller dropped, and that was right around the time MTV started to become important. Like every other kid my age, I had Thriller and I played it nonstop. I even remember Michael saying he wanted to put out a record that was all hits, and that’s what he did. I keep thinking about what are the biggest icons in our world of music. I think of Elvis, I think of Michael Jackson, I think of The Beatles. They’re just untouchable. The cream of the crop. He had that ability that’s uncanny and you can’t learn: you’re born with it. And he had it. The way he improvised, his riffs, his sound, his songs, all that stuff is really very iconic. You can’t escape his influence.

GAVIN CREEL (Hair star who sang “I’ll Be There” on Good Morning America on June 26): It’s crazy, I almost don’t believe this news. It’s too much to process. It feels like a PR stunt because people cannot believe it. So sad. You know, I used to dream about Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston when I was a kid—like I was going to meet them and perform with them. I was obsessed. My family would bribe me to do things that would get me Michael Jackson paraphernalia. Once we were all on vacation and my parents locked their keys in the car, and since we were on vacation, we didn’t know how we were going to get in touch with anybody. And I—like some savant—memorized the phone number at the house and called our one cousin that was there. My parents were so impressed with me that they bought me a purple Michael Jackson wallet and a Michael Jackson pin. I literally was like, “Oh my gosh! I’m about the coolest person there is.” [Co-star Sasha Allen] got really emotional singing [“I’ll Be There” with the cast of Hair on Good Morning America] today. For our generation, Michael Jackson was the biggest pop star in the world. Even with all the scandal and all the rumors and stupid stuff like that, he was an icon. He grew up in front of the country and the world. He’s only 50 years old. It’s insane. I thought it was very appropriate that GMA asked if we would be willing to do this [tribute number]. At first, we were like “Ah! Do we know it? Can we do it justice?” We’re on national TV—we want to make sure we can do a good job. Nadia [Digiallonardo], our music director and the gang pulled it together, and I’m really proud that we got to be a part of that.

SASHA ALLEN (Hair star who sang “I’ll Be There” on Good Morning America on June 26): GMA wanted us to do a tribute and collectively, I guess they chose that song. I was really sad; it was hard to sing. I absolutely adored him, and a lot of the cast members really adored him, too, so it was really hard for us to actually sit there in the rain and sing one of his songs. He influenced me so much. I remember seeing him one time in concert, and I started crying. I couldn’t believe how starstruck I really was for him, because I don’t really get that starstruck. I never met him, unfortunately, but I was so starstruck just watching him. I was 18 at the time. It was amazing. I know most of his songs. He influenced me so much. He’s such a talent. The most famous person in the world and he’s gone. It’s so sad. I feel honored that I was able to sing that song for him. I think above all the other stuff, the tribute really touched a lot of people and I’m just glad that I was able to sing. A lot of people were really touched by it: it’s a beautiful song. I just can’t believe he’s gone. I’m having a really hard time.

SERGIO TRUJILLO (choreographer of Jersey Boys, Next to Normal and the upcoming Memphis): I was discovered by Michael Peters, who was Michael Jackson’s choreographer, who choreographed “Beat It” and “Thriller.” [Peters, along with Michael Bennett, won a 1982 Best Choreography Tony Award for Dreamgirls.] I actually danced with Michael Jackson on the 10th anniversary special of MTV in Los Angeles. I was one of the dancers for that particular event. We did “Man in the Mirror.” [He was] very shy, very introverted. Soft-spoken, but brilliant. We’d rehearse the number all day long and then Michael would come in and just pick up the steps at the end of the day. He had that star quality that you can’t put your finger on. He would just say “Hello,” “How are you?” He was so shy, socially awkward in a way, but just imagine being him—at such a young age becoming the biggest pop star in the world. He did bring his chimps to rehearsal one day. He brought three of them. The trainers came with them. Which was kind of fun for them. They were dressed up…they looked like little kids basically. And he was wearing his red mask. He wouldn’t take it off for rehearsal. He kept it on. Oh my God, I’ll never forget it. The whole time I just kept saying, “I’m performing with Michael Jackson. I’m performing with Michael Jackson.” You sort of have a set of dreams and things you want to achieve. Broadway show—check that one off. Choreograph Broadway show—check that one off. Perform with Michael Jackson—check that one off.

JUSTIN JOHNSTON (star of Rent on tour and native of Gary, Indiana, Michael Jackson's hometown): It was a big shock. I still haven’t been able to come to grips with it fully. This man taught me the majority of what I know about how to be an entertainer. I grew up in Gary, Indiana, where he’s from and my family lived a couple blocks from his house. My entire life I would always see the house and I would always have that connection. I didn’t know him, but I felt like every day since the age of two, I was communicating with him in some type of way. Age two is when Thriller came out, and that was the first and only album my dad bought for me before he died the next year. My dad died and it was almost as if he gave this record to me and was like “You’ll be fine, go ahead, I can leave now.” So that was the only thing I had from my father, and it meant a lot to me. Every other child was scared of Thriller, but I wasn’t. My sister was terrified of it, but I couldn’t get enough of it. It was like taking a master class as a toddler: trying to imitate, trying to get things a little bit better, trying to know how he did this and how he did that moonwalk and how he sang this like that. I can’t believe how many people are calling me. Even Joey [Fatone] from 'N Sync had to call me yesterday because he had to make sure I was OK, and he knew Michael very well. I was supposed to go to London in February to see him in London. He died putting his show up, so I know I can’t call out [of Rent]. It had to end like this, when I think about it, because I can’t imagine him being an 80-year-old man and then leaving. It wouldn’t have had the same impact. He was set up to have this final bow with these 50 concerts in London, and he wasn’t able to see the stage one last time —that’s the only devastating thing about it. He couldn’t even touch the stage one last time. He was in rehearsals, so at least he had that. He gave us his heart and his talent, and that’s what brings tears to people—that’s what takes your breath away.

ANDY BLANKENBUEHLER (choreographer of In the Heights, 9 to 5 and The Wiz): I was hugely influenced by Michael Jackson. He was huge for me because I didn’t know at the time that he was being Fred Astaire and all those different things: He was quoting everything that inspired him, so I was learning about things like Fred Astaire in an already adapted way from his influence. I fell in love with that whole era of dancing and it really inspired me to have my career. I always wanted to do things that had the kind of pop that he had and to be able to be doing those things now is wonderful. I’m probably not exaggerating when I say half the cast [of The Wiz] is in the business because of Michael Jackson. More than anything, he was an icon, he just gave them something to esteem to because there was a total—for whatever his other issues were—there was a total purity in the way he attacked his performance that, especially for African-American artists, I think was just momentous. What’s great about the arts in general is people are inspired by so many different people without anybody knowing. I’ve had a career that’s not been about Michael Jackson—I’ve never done a music video, I’ve never worked for a pop artist—but my respect and admiration for Michael Jackson was something that’s deeply seeded that I haven’t needed to share; it’s just influence. Michael Jackson had this light energy. He’s thin and buoyant, but he also had so much groundedness in how he moved that this small person was able to carry stadiums of 100,000 people because he had such gravity in his movement. He was so connected to the floor. As an artist, it’s an amazing study and contrast because he sings through the stratosphere and his music goes high and takes you up, but at the same time it’s so deeply rooted in true emotion. It’s really amazing stuff. There are so many ways you can dance in life, but there’s a sizzling sort of groove that was captured in Motown, early pop rock and into early hip hop, that if you dance with that in your spirit, there’s nothing without Michael Jackson.