Cirque to put on show based on Michael Jackson

First the Beatles and Elvis, now Michael Jackson.The acrobatic troupe Cirque du Soleil announced on Tuesday that it will put on a live touring show featuring the songs of the King of Pop starting late next year.

That will be followed by a permanent production in Las Vegas in 2012 at a property owned by MGM Mirage Inc. A nightclub in Las Vegas will also open with the show.

Cirque and Jackson's estate will each own 50 per cent of the projects and share equally in the cost of putting them on. The estate will also receive royalties from the use of Jackson's music and other assets.

Jackson, who died at age 50 last June after a drug overdose, was described as a "huge fan" of the French Canadian performance group.

He saw their first tent show in Santa Monica, California, many years ago with long time lawyer and now estate co-executor, John Branca. And he visited their Montreal headquarters in 2004, Cirque CEO Daniel Lamarre said.

"He said he was an acrobat himself," Lamarre said in an interview. "As an artist he had this amazing way of bringing some visual element to his performances."

The touring show, which will begin in North America before branching out around the world, will be a simulation of a Jackson concert, while the Las Vegas show will be more theatrical and more technologically advanced, Lamarre said.

There are no plans for other members of Jackson's family to perform.