Sharlene Shall Educate You ...: performance

25 June 2011

Genius.

“One day in rehearsals, Michael was ready to practice the opening number and he came catapulting out of what we call the ‘toaster’ flying out of a hole and landing on both feet. He was wearing that iconic metallic suit with the sunglasses and long hair with a rigid stare off into the distance. The first day he did this with about 50 of the crew and dancers watching and he just stood there for about four minutes. We were all looking nervously at each other, wondering what he was doing. Then, he very slowly raised his hand up, grabbed his sunglasses and took them off. It felt like forever and then he did a spin kick and the music started. So of course I’m wondering why he takes such a long pause. Well, the reason is he knew exactly how long he needed to hold that pose for the crowd. The first time we did it live in front of Munich stadium his pause was exactly to the second, the same amount of time that he was doing in rehearsal, and the crowd was going wild. He Just knew.”
— Peter Morse