Cartoon by Ariel Molvig. For more: http://nyr.kr/RsnHQP

Cirque Du Soleil Does Michael Jackson

Then, just after intermission, things took a turn for the better. A series of ballads, including “You Are Not Alone” and “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You,” were given simple, beautiful onstage interpretations, the latter with a pair of trapeze artists. “Beat It” was as loud as they were soft, but it had the only truly funny moment of the night: a dancer dressed as a giant sequined glove that looked as much like the Hamburger Helper mascot as like Michael Jackson. The remixes started to feel more considered and exciting. Most importantly, the show began to make tentative inroads into exploring Jackson’s psyche. A restaging of the ecological anthem “Earth Song” wisely showed much of Jackson’s original video, in which he stands atop the planet as it’s torn apart by humanity’s callous indifference; it’s unthinkably hubristic and unaccountably moving. And “Scream” did the same thing, projecting Mark Romanek’s futuristic black-and-white video and overlaying images of military violence. Sharp protest songs like “They Don’t Really Care About Us,” which was performed by an army of Robocops, alternated with gospel ballads like “Will You Be There,” which ended with a huge projection of Jackson in a fully Christ-like pose.

In this week’s issue: Connie Bruck on Philip Anschutz and Tim Leiweke; John Seabrook on YouTube TV; Wendell Steavenson on Alaa Al Aswany; and what Santorum’s popularity means for the G.O.P. primaries: http://nyr.kr/Ln2M

Frames From Fiction: A Day at the Circus

The photograph selected to accompany this week’s fiction piece, “The Musical Brain,” by César Aira, is one of thousands by Sverre Braathen, a lifelong circus fan who regularly took time out from his busy career as an attorney to follow the circus throughout the Midwest in the nineteen-forties and fifties.

Click through for a slide show of Braathen’s circus photography: http://nyr.kr/uQRdRr