MICHAEL JACKSON’S musical legacy never left, but a kind of comeback is coming. With a series of court victories that bring the end to serious legal crises, with a Broadway show beginning and a Cirque du Soleil show returning after a long pandemic pause, the Jackson business is on the upswing 12 years after the pop superstar’s death. Very recently, things looked grim. The 2019 HBO documentary “Leaving Neverland” raised child molestation allegations anew. The once-dead lawsuits brought by the two men featured in it had been revived by changes in the law. And a decision in the estate’s appeal of a US$700 million tax bill was taking years to arrive. “I was always optimistic,” said John Branca, the entertainment attorney who worked with Jackson through many of his biggest triumphs and now serves as co-executor of his estate. “Michael inspired the planet and his music still does. There was never any doubt about that.” One accuser’s lawsuit was dismissed in October. The other was tossed out in April. In May, a ruling in the tax case slashed the bill dramatically. The estate suddenly stands nearly clear of a dozen years of disputes. That means Branca expects that in the next 18 months it can finally be taken out of probate court and turned into a trust for Jackson’s three children, who are all now adults. And the focus of the estate can now shift back to presenting Jackson to the world. The first priority is the revival of the Cirque du Soleil show, “Michael Jackson: One” at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. It is slated to reopen Aug. 19 after a coronavirus closure of nearly a year and a half, in time for a major celebration planned for Jackson’s Aug. 29 birthday. The Broadway show, “MJ: The Musical,” will follow quickly on its heels, the first of several planned projects. “It’s not a chronological depiction of Michael’s life,” he said. “It’s more impressionistic, inspired by Michael’s life and his music. It takes place as Michael is preparing for a tour and MTV wants to get an interview. Michael’s very press shy, and slowly but surely as they develop a relationship begins to talk about different parts of his life that then get enacted in the show.” Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage wrote the show’s book. Tony Awardwinner Christopher Wheeldon is directing and choreographing. Broadway newcomer Myles Frost will star as Jackson. Rehearsals resume in September, and previews begin in December. Branca said he’s proud of the diversity the show will bring to the stage. Successes aside, Branca feels lingering bitterness about director Dan Reed’s “Leaving Neverland” and what he felt were American media outlets that “don’t have the time or the wherewithal to do the research to figure out what’s true and what’s not true.” Hence, the estate’s last lingering lawsuit, now in private arbitration, is one that it brought itself against HBO over the documentary. “I was very angry at HBO and Dan Reed and I still am because here’s the thing: You can say anything you want about somebody who’s dead. They’re not here to protect themselves,” Branca said. The two men featured in the documentary are appealing the dismissals of their lawsuits. HBO has defended “Leaving Neverland” as a valid and important piece of documentary journalism. Under the guidance of Branca and his more behind-the-scenes co-executor John McClain, the estate has brought in US$2.5 billion in revenue in the past 11 years, and Jackson has remained the top-earning deceased celebrity every year since his death at age 50 from a lethal dose of the anesthetic propofol. (SD-Agencies) | 