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"Zorba" Musical Attendance

Date confirmed in Washington Post (“last night [September 19, 1984])

Michael Jackson, handwritten note on hotel stationery (archived)

Anthony Quinn said to me when doing a movie, the most important thing is to start with a very, very strong story. That’s the most important, he said, then all else is built from there, like a piece of music. He said it’s the song melody most important, then all else builds from there. That’s the problem with songs today, all the technology is there, but no powerful, sing-along melodies; that’s most important.

Washington Post (September 20, 1984)

Michael Jackson and Ed Meese sat with each other in the Presidential Box last night in the Kennedy Center's Opera House. They came to see Anthony Quinn in "Zorba."

Although Jackson was kept behind one closed door after another from the limo to the box, you could see him when he got up at intermission and at the end of the show. He wore no glove, but was dressed in black.

Theater-goer Kelly Corcoran, who saw him come in underneath the Kennedy Center, said he "wore shades."

According to Steven Yuhasz, an understudy who was called in to perform last night, most of the cast members knew at some time in the afternoon that Jackson was supposed to be in the audience.

"They tried to keep it from Mr. Quinn," Yuhasz said. "It's a distraction."

But Yuhasz said that the cast was "excited" about the news. "Everyone was joking around, saying, 'Okay, get out the white gloves for the opening number.' " Yuhasz also noted, "It adds a certain amount of energy to perform for a superstar."

Before the show, champagne, beer, wine and Perrier were reportedly taken to the bar behind the box.

One policeman who stood watch at the front of the Opera House would not talk about the rock megastar. When asked if Jackson was in the Opera House, he said, "Meese the presidential counselor is in there." But what about Michael Jackson? The policeman looked the other way.

A ticket-holder in Row N kept watching the box. And seeing nothing. "Watch the eyes," she said, pointing to an usher who was facing toward the box and who seemed more concerned about the box than about seating people.

"To tell you the truth, I'm not sure why I care," the ticket-holder said, asking not to be identified because she was sure she'd be labeled "un-American" by "all the kids on the block" for saying that about Michael Jackson. She had come early expecting a lot of traffic after hearing on local television that Jackson was attending the performance.

Jackson is in town with the Victory Tour, which plays RFK Stadium on Friday and Saturday. The 90,000 tickets for the two shows sold out last week.

As the Kennedy Center audience gave Quinn a standing ovation, Jackson was gone, without even a wave of the hand.

"I saw him," said Kristen Topercer, 15, with a sigh as she walked out of the Opera House. "I wanted to get his autograph, but I couldn't get close to him."

Kelly Corcoran, however, got close to him. By chance, she was walking by one of the doors off the Hall of Nations. She opened the door to the Green Room. There was Jackson with Quinn. Although she didn't catch anything specific, she said the two were "talking casually."

Then a security guard yanked the door shut.