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[Sharon007]

Thriller musical set for Broadway



Pop star Michael Jackson is to help develop a US stage musical based on the video to his hit song Thriller, it has been announced.

Producer James Nederlander, whose company owns nine Broadway theatres, said the star would "participate in every aspect of the creative process".

Jackson's spokesman said the singer and Mr Nederlander "represent live theatre and musical excellence".

Jackson was not involved in current West End production Thriller - Live.

'Exclusive'
The show, which is being staged at London's Lyric Theatre, opened earlier this month, and its premiere was attended by Jackson's brother Tito.

Mr Nederlander's organisation said the Broadway production "will be the exclusive Michael Jackson authorised version of Thriller.


The show is expected to be based around the video for Thriller, which was first shown in 1983 and starred Jackson as a werewolf and featured dancing zombies.

No details of the musical have yet been revealed, but it is thought the stage show will also feature songs from Jackson's 1979 album Off The Wall.

In November, Jackson reached an out of court settlement with an Arab sheikh who claimed the singer had reneged on an entertainment contract worth £4.7m 2005.

Bahraini royal Sheikh Abdulla Bin Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa told London's High Court that he had planned to revive the star's career with productions including albums and a stage play.
He said that no project had ever been finalised.

Source: [url="http://"http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7852770.stm"]BBC[/url]
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Jackson's 'Thriller' musical may come to Chicago

Michael Jackson's iconic 1983 music video "Thriller" may become a stage musical. The theater producer Nederlander Organization officially announced Monday that it has acquired the rights to the video and plans to turn it into a Broadway show.

Rumors of the project first surfaced last fall on New York gossip pages. And because the Nederlander Organization controls Broadway in Chicago, such a project could have a pre-Broadway debut in Chicago.

"Could be," said James L. Nederlander, the coy lead producer, on Monday morning. "I'd like to."

To come to Chicago, after all, Nederlander would mostly have to do a deal just with himself. "We have a lot of disagreements," he said, "me, myself and I."

"Thriller," which has yet to acquire the rest of its creative team, will be at least a couple of years away. But Nederlander said that Jackson would be personally and fully involved in the creation of the show.


Source: [url="http://"http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/chi-0127-jackson-thriller-musicajan27,0,1693877.story"]Chicago Tribune[/url]
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Nederlander will produce Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' musical



The Nederlander Organization has acquired the rights to produce a musical version of Michael Jackson's "Thriller," the organization announced today.

According to the announcement, the musical -- based on the horror-spoof "Thriller" video -- will be "the exclusive Michael Jackson authorized version of 'Thriller' " and the Gloved One will be involved in "every aspect of the creative process."

(So don't confuse it with "Thriller -- Live," a hit-laden Jackson tribute that opened earlier this month on London's West End, or that YouTube video of the inmates in the Philippines, or the participatory Thrill the World re-creation that came to Hollywood & Highland in October.)
The musical will include songs from the 1982 "Thriller" album as well as Jackson's 1979 album "Off the Wall."

The groundbreaking "Thriller" video is considered the most successful music video of all time and cost $800,000 to produce. The 14-minute opus, complete with a chorus of dancing zombies, tells the story of a young couple who are out on a date when the young man, played by Jackson, turns into a werewolf.


Source: [url="http://"http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2009/01/thriller-musica.html"]LA Times[/url]

[Sharon007]

Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” Is Broadway Bound


Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” is set to make the jump to Broadway. Playbill reports that Broadway bigwigs the Nederlander Organization have acquired the rights to make a new musical based on Jackson’s famous werewolves-and-zombies video. Broadway has already turned the music of the Four Seasons and the Who’s Tommy into musical productions — and somehow recruited U2 to record music for a Spider-Man show — so the prospect of Jackson on the Great White Way isn’t that far-fetched, especially as producers scramble for ideas to draw in big crowds in the wake of large-scale show closings due to the recession.

According to James L. Nederlander, “I love the idea of making ‘Thriller’ a musical. Girl meets boy, they fall in love, boy has big secret, now what…” “Now what” is our thoughts exactly: the concept works great when it’s used in YouTube videos made by French film students lip-synching “Thriller”, Filipino prisoners dancing “Thriller” and impromptu dance troupes on a train, how can a six-minute song/14-minute music video sustain itself over the course of two acts? According to the press release, the musical take its plot from the actual music video, a “horror film spoof in which a young couple are out on a date on a beautiful full moon evening, when suddenly the young man, played by Jackson, turns into a werewolf.” This sounds like it could be Cats, but with zombies instead of kitties.

On a positive note, the musical will reportedly also feature songs from both Jackson’s Off the Wall and Thriller, so you can pretty much expect to see “Billie Jean” and its sidewalk that lights up when you step on it at some point during the production. Michael Jackson will also reportedly be a part of the creation of the musical in some capacity. The creative team and estimated theater dates of the show have not yet been revealed.

Source: Rolling Stone