Performer embraces King of Pop in tribute show at Rio

Yet another thick plume of white theatrical smoke shoots up from beneath the Crown Theater stage, engulfing Michael Jackson.

The effect is cool, as his hair and clothing rustle in the air, just like you might see in any Jackson music video. The audience whistles and cheers. Their excitement is so palpable and infectious that, at one point, you almost feel like you're at a real Michael Jackson concert.

And then you come to your senses because the King of Pop has been dead for three years and this is an afternoon tribute show at the Rio. The performer, Michael Firestone, struggles with his microphone. His vocals cut out for a few seconds. Still, he dances and sings as though his life depends on it.

As the one-hour show comes to an end, he seems breathless, tired. For more than two months, Firestone has been working a crazy schedule, performing nearly every day, sometimes twice a day.

But the audience - several dozen men, women and children - don't notice. They give him a standing ovation. After the house lights come up, most of them wait near the door to meet Firestone and get their photos taken with him. When he comes out wearing yet another Jackson costume and sunglasses, the crowd vibrates with joy.

"You were awesome!" one woman says to him. "Are you married?"

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Over the summer, Michael Firestone, 33, made it big.

After toiling in the tribute artist trenches on cruise ships and as a "dealertainer" at Imperial Palace, he landed the role he set his sights on 15 years ago: headliner.

Dick Feeney, producer of "The Rat Pack is Back" and owner of the Flying Elvi parachute team, was looking for a Michael Jackson impersonator to star in a tribute show, "MJ Live!" A friend who knew Firestone from his dealertainer days suggested Feeney talk to him.

There are a lot of people out there who lip-sync and dress up like Michael Jackson, Feeney says. Few tribute artists actually sing and even fewer sound like the real deal. That was Firestone's secret weapon.

"When I heard him, I was just blown away. It sounds like Michael (Jackson). The vibrato, it's amazing," Feeney says.

Firestone's recent success has been a dream fulfilled and a validation of a life-long obsession with a strange, gifted musical icon. In this town, shows come and go. But now, Firestone is enjoying the trappings of success.

He has his own billboard featuring his Michael Jackson persona. That means everything to his mother, who introduced her son to the world of Vegas impersonator shows in the 1990s.

"When I'm driving down the highway and I see a billboard of him, it freaks me out," says mother Jennifer Wade. "It was a dream of ours. When he was younger, we would drive the Strip and he'd see the billboards and say, 'Mom, one day, I'm going to be on one of those.' And I'd say, 'That would be really great.' He's worked so hard. I'm just proud of him."

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Werewolves and zombies kicked this whole Michael Jackson thing off for Firestone.

His mom sat him down in front of the television to watch the debut of Jackson's "Thriller" video. For this 13-minute minimusical, director John Landis, who made "An American Werewolf in London," turned Jackson into a werewolf and then a dancing zombie.

"We waited all day to watch," she remembers. "When it started, I thought he might be scared. I thought, 'Maybe I shouldn't let a 4-year-old watch this.' "

But Firestone loved it. The video sparked a fascination with all things Jacko and probably rewrote Firestone's destiny. At age 6, he learned to moonwalk and taught himself each dance move by watching his reflection in the oven door.

At first, he showed interest in several musical performers, says his father, Gary Firestone. He even developed a killer Jim Carrey impersonation. But Gary Firestone knew something had changed when he came home from work to find his North Carolina house draped in white sheets.

"I just thought he was horsing around, like all kids did," says Gary Firestone, a retired Air Force master sergeant. "We had a video camera. After school, he was evidently practicing."

Then came the talent competitions. When he was 15, Michael Firestone dressed up as Michael Jackson, entered his high school talent show in North Carolina and won. Soon he was entering and winning so many contests that kids at school picked on him. He didn't let that deter him, though.

"When he first started it, I just thought it was something to do when you live in a small town," his mother says. "There were days when Mike would go upstairs for a couple of hours and when I called him to dinner, Michael Jackson would come down."

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Like many sheltered 15-year-old boys from the South, Michael Firestone was afraid to see a drag queen show.

Until his mom told him Michael Jackson was in it.

The show, "An Evening at La Cage," changed Firestone's life. It featured a Jackson tribute artist.

"I went home and said, 'Man, I'm going to do this.' I was in the 10th grade. From that point on, I never had a life. I just went home and started practicing," Firestone says.

His parents were divorced by then and Firestone was living in North Carolina with his father. He visited his mom on holidays and during the summer. But once he realized he could turn his love of Michael Jackson into a career, Firestone began planning his move to Las Vegas.

First, he thought he would study turf grass management at Wayne State College in Nebraska. That would appease his education-loving father and help him pursue a career working at golf courses in Las Vegas. But Firestone didn't like college, so he came up with a plan B: welding.

The local housing market was booming and it seemed like the perfect trade to earn a paycheck while pursuing his passion. Then he landed the dealertainer gig and it seemed that his star was rising.

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It was June 25, 2009, and Michael Firestone was home, asleep, when the phone rang.

His mother was on the line. "Before you turn on the TV, there's something you should know."

Michael Jackson was dead.

"I just kind of laid in bed all day, shocked," Firestone says. "It didn't really hit me until later that night. Then it hit me pretty hard. I was actually not even going to do this anymore."

Elvis Presley's career enjoyed a resurgence after he died, producer Feeney says. People forgot about the pills and booze the weight he packed on in his last years. Elvis was loved.

Death sometimes does that to celebrities. It happened to Michael Jackson, Feeney says. Jackson's legal troubles don't seem to be affecting interest in his music or in the tribute artists who portray him. It seemed like a good idea to strike while the iron was hot, so to speak.

Firestone, who has two daughters with another one on the way, says he never believed the sexual abuse accusations made against Jackson.

That's what allows him to carry on as a tribute artist.

"I really try to focus on getting Michael Jackson's personality out there," he says. "I think the reason people respond to me is because I stay in the Michael Jackson box."

There is no more talk of hanging up his sequined glove. Instead, Firestone says he has big things in store for the world. He's working on an album of original music and he is drafting new ideas for more stage shows featuring him as Michael Jackson.

"The more we get into this thing, the more I'm sure I have people's attention now."

Contact reporter Sonya Padgett at spadgett@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4564. Follow @StripSonya on Twitter.