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AP Drama Writer
NEW YORK (AP) - Some key figures who helped manage Michael Jackson's career are teaming up to create a stage musical about the behind-the-scenes making of a superstar that producers call a cross between "Goodfellas" and "Dreamgirls."
Producers Mark Lamica, Quincy Krashna, Jerry Greenberg, Raymond Del Barrio and Larry Hart will join forces to present "The Man," a fictional show inspired by the rise of Jackson, Elvis Presley and Whitney Houston. The story will be told through the eyes of a manager.
"We want this project to be a compelling, gritty, entertaining tale, that tells the story of the price of fame in a new way," said Lamica, who served as a partner with the late Frank Dileo, who was Jackson's manager.
"The Man," with a book by Lamica and Grammy Award-winning composer Hart, is expected to open in Las Vegas in the late fall of 2013. The show will have all original music and will follow the superstar from the 80s to 2005.
The producing team last combined to create "Larry Hart's Sisterella," a pop-rock update of the Cinderella fable that Jackson was an executive producer on before his death.
Greenberg was president of Jackson's jointly owned record label with Sony Music for 11 years. Krashna is another Dileo partner who also worked with Jackson.
Lamica, in a statement, called the musical an "epic, music driven dramatic work" and said he is drawing widely from personal experiences. "This is a fictional template and story that, with some variation, fits a number of global celebrities," he added.
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