As a massive Michael Jackson fan, it may seem unlikely that screenwriter and stage director Julien Nitzberg would dare create a musical that mocks some of the King of Pop’s oddest quirks and alleged misconduct. But Nitzberg ached to understand why Jackson was the way he was. His solution was to create a musical about it: “For the Love of a Glove: An Unauthorized Musical Fable About the Life of Michael Jackson as Told By His Glove.” And the resulting revisionist history is at Carl Sagan-Ann Druyan Theater in the Echo Park through July 1st.
The production’s premise is that Jackson was controlled by aliens who looked like gloves and forced him to do the bizarre things that baffled his fans. Nitzberg first came up with the idea for the show after being asked to write a television movie about Jackson’s life. “I could not make sense of all the bizarre things that Michael did,” Nitzberg told the Journal. “Why did Michael have sleepovers with kids, adopt a chimp named Bubbles and try to buy the Elephant Man’s bones? None of it made sense. I came up with the idea that Michael was controlled by an alien who looked like a glove and gave Michael his talent. The alien forced him to do all these bizarre things. The TV network thought it was hilarious but wanted a normal version.”
Audiences will see Michael Jackson’s life told with a mixture of real actors and life-sized puppets. The first act focuses on the Jackson 5 years — and the Jackson 5 members are puppets designed by renowned puppet artist Robin Walsh. And Nitzberg is in awe of his cast.
“Not only are every one of them an amazing singer, but they are equally talented as comedians and dancers,” Nitzberg said. “This show requires them to do all three while operating life-sized puppets.”
The show takes swipes at cultural appropriation and racism. It’s also a dirty puppet musical that will remind audience members of the best moments from “Avenue Q” or “The Book of Mormon.”
“A major part of the show deals with the Amadeus-Salieri rivalry between the Jackson 5 and the Osmonds,” Nitzberg said. “The Osmonds were shaped to be the white version of the Jackson 5. Without spoiling too much, let’s just say there is a very bizarre moment when Michael and Donny meet and Donny tells him about Brigham Young’s teaching that at the end of days all black people will turn white. This is done in a song called ‘What a Delight When You Turn White.’”
“For the Love of a Glove” is not Nitzberg’s first foray into a production about odd artists. In 2009, Nitzberg directed the documentary, “The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia.” It tells the story of the family of “D. Ray” White and his criminal family who are also accomplished mountain dancers. The documentary was produced by MTV Films and “Jackass” star Johnny Knoxville.
“When I finished making ‘The Wild and Wonderful Whites,’ I decided to delve deep into researching Michael Jackson’s life,” Nitzberg said. “I wanted to tell a story that no one had told before, mixing the fantastical elements I had come up with along with telling the true weird parts of Michael’s life that most people did not know about. After a few years of research, the story came together when I discovered the true story of the rivalry between Michael and Donny Osmond. I decided that this was the key to understanding Michael’s life.”
“We mock American racism with a savage yet comical approach that allows us to laugh at the horrors of the world we live in.” – Julien Nitzberg
Nitzberg said the aliens in the show are based on The Marx Brothers, The Three Stooges and Abbott and Costello. The head alien is an annoying, bossy blowhard while the other aliens are comic archetypes as well. There is also a love story between Jackson and his glove, which Nitzberg modeled after the Ginger Rogers – Fred Astaire musicals where they fall in love, have a big falling out and then fall in love again.
Nitzberg said his taste for comedy comes from his late mother. “My mom had a very wicked sense of humor and loved weird comedy,” Nitzberg said. “I wish she was around to see [the show].”
The arts run in Nitzberg’s family. His maternal grandfather Hans Knauer was a composer and conductor from Vienna. Knauer and his wife, along with their daughter (Nitzberg’s mother) survived a concentration camp in Slovakia. After World War II, Knauer returned to Vienna and helped organize concerts for the Jewish community, including a symphonic adaptation of the Kol Nidre.
“I inherited from [my grandfather] this belief that art can help process and heal from trauma,” Nitzberg said. “[My grandfather’s] love of music was passed down to me. But an equally important influence was seeing Mel Brooks’ ‘The Producers’ as a kid. Watching it, I realized that one of the ways to fight antisemitism and racism was mocking it. People who see ‘For the Love of a Glove’ get the Mel Brooks influence. We mock American racism with a savage yet comical approach that allows us to laugh at the horrors of the world we live in.”
“For the Love of a Glove” is showing through July 1st at the Carl Sagan-Ann Druyan Theater at the Center For Inquiry West, located at 2535 W. Temple Street, Los Angeles, 90026.
For tickets, visit https://fortheloveofaglove.com/
More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.