UPDATED 12/4/2019 5:07 p.m. E.T.:According to The Hollywood Reporter, Johnny Depp's rep is saying that the actor and his Infinitum Nihil production company is not involved in For the Love of a Glove: An Unauthorized Musical Fable About the Life of Michael Jackson, As Told by His Glove. "There is currently a dispute over credits and a rep for Depp says that he and his company are not producing and not involved in any way," the publication reports.
See original story below.
Last week it was announced that the production company founded by Johnny Depp, Infinitum Nihil, will produce a musical on the life of Michael Jackson from the perspective of his iconic sequined glove. The show will be given a very literal title: For the Love of a Glove: An Unauthorized Musical Fable About the Life of Michael Jackson, As Told by His Glove.
When the show was announced the project's playwright, Julien Nitzberg, said he came up with the idea about 17 years ago after having a dispute with "a major TV network" over how to deal with child abuse allegations that had been leveled against Jackson. As Nitzberg put it "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?"
The two parties did not come to an agreement.
Now that was the type of quote that one would think requires further elaboration. And, right on cue, The Hollywood Reporterdug up some new details on what prospective playgoers can expect if they actually go and see the show when it opens in Los Angeles in late January 2020.
As writer Chris Gardner reported:
For the Love of a Glove tells the story of what happens after a group of aliens shaped like bedazzled gloves crash-land in Jackson’s hometown of Gary, Indiana.
From there Nitzberg told the outlet, "[The glove] can give people magical musical talent if it drinks their blood and has part of their body inside of it. But it can only feed on virgin boy blood.”
Jackson learns that he can't feed the gloves himself, so he "starts bringing boys home."
While that might be the cringey hook that grabs headlines, Nitzberg claims the project will also cover Jackson's life, as well as themes like racism, religious oppression, and a purported rivalry Jackson had with Donny Osmand. Nitzberg also wanted to make clear to THR that music in the play will be made up of 20 original songs, and also that it'll feature "Japanese Bunraku-style puppets."
Roles for the play include the glove (THRHIL-LHA), Jackson, the Jackson 5, Emmanuel Lewis, Donny Osmand, Corey Feldman, and Bubbles the Chimp.
THR reports that Depp's production company got involved because the two sides had been working on a biopic of ukulele player Tiny Tim, but that fell through, so Nitzberg pitched this instead. Nitzberg also argued that now is the time for "process culture" instead of "cancel culture." As he defines the concept, it would be a method where the public can "process how fucked up people are and understand what made them that way. I think there’s a collective trauma of everyone who grew up as a Jackson 5 fan and a Michael fan," he said. "This is a way to process that in a fun way while helping people understand all of the really fucked up stuff that affected Michael’s life.”
Sounds very...out there. It's set to open on Jan. 25, 2020 in Los Angeles.
