Despite all the controversy surrounding Michael Jackson, there's no shortage of future projects about the late King of Pop. Next up, get ready for a new musical about MJ's life that's being produced by none other than Johnny Depp — and it's going to be told from the perspective of the singer's famed sequin glove.
The musical is being helmed by playwright Julien Nitzberg, and it has quite the title — For the Love of Glove: An Unauthorized Musical Fable About the Life of Michael Jackson, as Told by His Glove.
As Page Six reports, the show is described as a "look into the strange forces that shaped Michael and the scandals that bedeviled his reputation" — as narrated by MJ's talking, singing glove. And apparently, actors will star alongside life-sized puppets of the Jackson 5, Donny Osmond, Emmanuel Lewis, Corey Feldman and even Bubbles the Chimp.
The musical has been a long time coming, with Nitzberg first coming up with the concept 17 years ago.
"I'm known for writing a lot of biopics," he told Page Six. "A major TV network wanted me to write a [Jackson] movie... but the question came up [about] how to deal with the child-abuse allegations.
"I said, how's this? Everything MJ has been accused of has actually been caused by his glove, which is actually an alien from outer space [and] feeds on virgin boy blood. They laughed and said, 'Can you do the normal version?'
"It was morally kind of repugnant to me to do... I turned down a really big paycheque."
But as Nitzberg explained, he just couldn't shake the idea, eventually bringing it to life thanks to some much-needed financing from Johnny Depp and the actor's company Infinitum Nihil.
"I'm going to go back to this... and do this as a musical," Nitzberg said.
For the Love of Glove: An Unauthorized Musical Fable About the Life of Michael Jackson, as Told by His Glove will premiere in Los Angeles on January 25.
The news of the glove-led musical follows the recently announced plans for a Michael Jackson biopic helmed by the producer behind Bohemian Rhapsody and The Aviator, Graham King. The musical also comes in the wake of the controversial HBO special Leaving Neverland.
The musical is being helmed by playwright Julien Nitzberg, and it has quite the title — For the Love of Glove: An Unauthorized Musical Fable About the Life of Michael Jackson, as Told by His Glove.
As Page Six reports, the show is described as a "look into the strange forces that shaped Michael and the scandals that bedeviled his reputation" — as narrated by MJ's talking, singing glove. And apparently, actors will star alongside life-sized puppets of the Jackson 5, Donny Osmond, Emmanuel Lewis, Corey Feldman and even Bubbles the Chimp.
The musical has been a long time coming, with Nitzberg first coming up with the concept 17 years ago.
"I'm known for writing a lot of biopics," he told Page Six. "A major TV network wanted me to write a [Jackson] movie... but the question came up [about] how to deal with the child-abuse allegations.
"I said, how's this? Everything MJ has been accused of has actually been caused by his glove, which is actually an alien from outer space [and] feeds on virgin boy blood. They laughed and said, 'Can you do the normal version?'
"It was morally kind of repugnant to me to do... I turned down a really big paycheque."
But as Nitzberg explained, he just couldn't shake the idea, eventually bringing it to life thanks to some much-needed financing from Johnny Depp and the actor's company Infinitum Nihil.
"I'm going to go back to this... and do this as a musical," Nitzberg said.
For the Love of Glove: An Unauthorized Musical Fable About the Life of Michael Jackson, as Told by His Glove will premiere in Los Angeles on January 25.
The news of the glove-led musical follows the recently announced plans for a Michael Jackson biopic helmed by the producer behind Bohemian Rhapsody and The Aviator, Graham King. The musical also comes in the wake of the controversial HBO special Leaving Neverland.
