Written by Tanya Terry, with photos provided by Darrin Ross
The only Michael Jackson tribute show endorsed by the Jackson family is coming to Flint’s Capitol Theatre on Jan. 17!
Darrin Ross, creator/producer/director of “Invincible: A Glorious Tribute to Michael Jackson” called the show “Michael Jackson on steroids.”
“It’s everything you would want to see in a tribute show,” Ross added. “We do one music video when we have to build the set for ‘Dirty Diana.’ Everything else is visuals like you would see in a concert or theatrical presentation.”
The updated show features choreography by a dancer that was with Jackson for over 23 years: Lavelle Smith Jr. Smith also served as creative consultant and a historian on Jackson.
Some of the routines to be performed in Flint have never been performed in front of a live audience. Routines in the show help recreate some of Jackson’s iconic videos.
Ross put the show together in 2010 after Jackson died because he felt there was a need to bring a show like of “Invincible: A Glorious Tribute to Michael Jackson” to the stage.
“I have a dance-theatre background; so there’s a lot of dance,” Ross shared. “Lavelle came in and liked what we were doing. He flipped it, moved it, and him and I wanted to do a show that would show what it would be like if Michael Jackson was doing a show now.”
According to Ross, 2024’s highlight was having the show presented to audiences throughout Australia for three weeks.
“We have been to Michigan earlier this year. We’ve been all over the West Coast. We’ve been in existence for 15 years. So, we’ve been almost everywhere. But we’ve never come to Flint until now.”
Ross shared with the Courier that in 2015, Joe Jackson, former talent manager and father of Michael Jackson, saw the show and talked to Ross backstage.
“He didn’t know anyone could do a tribute show like this that could make him feel like seeing his son live and on stage. He became the ambassador for the show and started promoting the show up until his passing…He was brought by one of the Jackson family members’ body guards, Frank Harris. Frank brought Joe backstage. Joe wanted to congratulate me because he’d seen a lot of tribute shows and he’d seen a lot of people try to impersonate Michael. But, he’d never seen anything like this. He said: ‘I never thought anyone could do anything like this, and you’ve done it!’ So, he came aboard.”
Ross shared the show features more than one tribute artist playing Michael Jackson.
Jeffrey Perez serves as the “concert singing Michael.”
“He’s going to sound and sing just like Michael Jackson. I don’t think there’s anyone in the world who sounds as authentic as Jeffrey Perez. He was on the show ‘Ellen’, and he’s just amazing.”
Pete Carter is responsible for the choreographic sequences in the show.
“What Lavelle and I have done is reimagined certain pieces to make them a dance theatrical experience. So, we brought them to life, gave them some air and let them breathe.”
Together, Ross said Perez and Carter offer a tribute show like no other.
“I just talked to somebody last month. They said they’d been to nine tribute shows, and this was by far the best MJ tribute show I’ve seen in my life. I guess it’s like a spiritual connection. I see this show every night, and it’s like the Victory Tour. Every night I get those thrills. I’m enjoying it as we’re doing the show.”
Ross shared that the show went to Iceland in 2018, and he noted audiences there normally don’t clap until the end.
“All throughout the production they were like ‘oooh’ and ‘yeay.’ The people had never seen anything like it before. It’s really an amazing spectacle and a great two hours you can spend with us enjoying and hearing the magic of Michael Jackson.”
Ross sometimes when he has left cities, people in them will regret not hearing about the show and being able to see it.
“If you can come out, this is definitely something I know you will appreciate and be able to talk about all throughout 2025.”
For more information or tickets, visit https://thefim.org/event/invincible/.
