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Johnny Depp to produce new musical on Michael Jackson
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In this file photo taken on May 18, 2017, US actor Johnny Depp attends the premiere of Disney's and Jerry Bruckheimer Films 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales' at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California. (AFP/Valerie Macon)
The unauthorized musical will notably be told from the perspective of the late musician’s famous sparkly glove.
The King of Pop wore this rhinestone accessory during his “moonwalk” performance for NBC’s Motown 25 special on May 16, 1983. It went under the hammer on November 2009 at Julien’s Auction, where it fetched US$420,000.
The musical, entitled For the Love of a Glove: An Unauthorised Musical Fable About the Life of Michael Jackson, As Told By His Glove, will be helmed by American playwright Julien Nitzberg.
The stage writer and director is best known for his work on the 2009 documentary, The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia, which follows a notorious family of outlaws.
Although details about For the Love are still scarce to this date, the musical is described as “a fresh, revisionist look at the strange forces that shaped Jackson and the scandals that bedevilled him.”
In a recent interview with Page Six, Nitzberg revealed that he was initially commissioned by a major TV network to write a film about Jackson.
Read also: Michael Jackson fans defiant as abuse claims loom over anniversary
The project was ultimately abandoned as both parties could not agree on how to approach the allegations of child abuse against the singer, which were recently revived in the 2019 documentary Leaving Neverland.
“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?’” he recalled.
Nitzberg later began formatting the project for the stage with Depp’s production company, Infinitum Nihil, with which he previously collaborated on a biopic on American singer Tiny Tim.
For the Love of a Glove will premiere on January 25, 2020 at the Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan theater in Los Angeles.
As the Guardian pointed out, the musical is not the only forthcoming project to delve into the controversial life of Jackson.
Earlier this week, Bohemian Rhapsody producer Graham King had reportedly acquired the rights to make an authorized film about the King of Pop.
The biopic, which will be penned by American screenwriter John Logan, is said to span his life from his beginnings in the Jackson 5 through his death on June 2009.
