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Collapse During "One Night Only" Rehearsals

CNN, December 6, 1995

New York City Emergency Medical Services said entertainer Michael Jackson collapsed on stage at the Beacon Theater in New York Wednesday during a rehearsal and was taken to a nearby hospital.

EMS officials said they received a call at 4:51 p.m. EDT from a security guard at the theater who said Jackson was not breathing. When they arrived he was awake and alert, said EMS spokesman John Hanchar.

A preliminary diagnosis found that Jackson was suffering from dehydration and hypotension, or dangerously low blood pressure, Hanchar said.

He was transported to Beth Israel Hospital North on the upper East Side of Manhattan to be examined, Hanchar said. Paramedics treated Jackson with an IV and oxygen.

A hospital spokesman said that Jackson was in stable condition and will undergo some tests after being admitted.

CNN, December 7, 1995

Michael Jackson was hospitalized in stable condition Thursday, suffering from apparent dehydration and low blood pressure. The 37-year-old entertainer collapsed on stage during a rehearsal at the Beacon Theater in New York late Wednesday afternoon.

New York Emergency Medical Service received a call at 4:51 p.m. from a security guard at the theater saying Jackson was not breathing, but when they arrived minutes later he was awake and alert, according to EMS spokesman John Hanchar. Emergency workers determined that Jackson was suffering from exhaustion, dehydration and dangerously low blood pressure, Hanchar told CNN.

EMS spokeswoman Marie Lamberti said that when Jackson was first treated, his blood pressure measured 70 over 40. A healthy reading would be 120 over 80.

"He appeared very sluggish," said emergency medical technician La-Shunn Knight. She said Jackson, wearing jeans and a T-shirt, mumbled a few words she couldn't understand.

Another medical technician, Kevin Barwick, said Jackson was "semi-conscious" and was treated with oxygen and intravenous fluids before being taken to Beth Israel Hospital North.

Jackson's health has made news before. His hair caught fire when a smoke bomb misfired while he was taping a Pepsi commercial in 1984. He was hospitalized with chest pains in 1990. An August 1993 concert in Singapore was postponed because Jackson was suffering from dehydration. And in November 1993, he cut short a concert tour because of an addiction to prescription painkillers amid allegations of child molestation.

Jackson's sister, recording artist Janet Jackson, appeared at the hospital shortly after her brother's arrival.

His admission for tests raised questions about the two weekend concerts to be taped for a cable TV special Sunday night on HBO. HBO officials say rehearsals for "Michael Jackson: One Night Only" are continuing while they await word on whether he will be able to go on.

"Michael was not going to be in rehearsals tonight," said HBO spokesman Quentin Schaffer. "It was just pyrotechnics. His private physician is flying in from Los Angeles right now and we will not know anything until (Thursday)."

Michael Prince, studio engineer, The MJCast, Episode 52 (March 19, 2017)

Unfortunately, as everyone knows, Michael had--I don't know if it was the flu, or if he was just worn out, but, I mean, I was right in the room when he just really, literally passed out and fell forward. His hands stayed by his side, his face crashed right down onto the stage. It was a horrifying thing to see, and you knew, right then and there, that was not a good fall. And, to add something that I learned in later years from Brad Buxer, the MD (Musical Director), this was all related to--and the reason he thinks that his happened is this was already to [promote] for HIStory, which had just been finished. And, he said, and I didn't know this until he told me, that this was actually either the third or fourth one-off that they had done in about a 3-month period. And one-offs are actually harder than a tour. When you do a tour, you've got much longer to rehearse, and once you learn it, you're just doing that same thing for the next six months or the next year. And a one-off, they all have to be a little bit different to make them unique. This was going to have all-new dance routines, and different versions of songs, and edited differently, and that's what Brad thinks is what really led to Michael's collapsing was that this wasn't the first one and Michael hadn't been sitting at home at the Ranch relaxing for two or three months. He had been doing other one-offs... and Michael never had enough downtime in between these, it was just one to another to another, and then, at that point, he would've had some downtime over the holidays, and then there were already some rumors at that point about a tour for the HIStory album…

I say this with sadness that my career with Michael is bookended by two tragedies, where he passed out in one, and the second one, he passed away, and I wish neither of those things had happened. But I did notice, from all the videos I'd seen of Michael Jackson over the years, watching TV--I had never been to his concerts, but I remember the first day he walked into the Beacon Theater, and I was just on Cloud Nine going, "Wow, Michael's gonna knock us dead." And the very first song he sang, I forget what it was, he seemed like 50% of the Michael Jackson I expected in his energy, and I went like, "What's going on?", but I just figured, "Alright, well, I don't know, I've never seen him before. Maybe they just make him look better on the videos or something like that.", but I had no idea he wasn't feeling well at all.

MJCast: What happened in those nine months [after the "One Night Only" special and before the HIStory Tour began], as far as your role goes?

Prince: Well, basically, when Michael first went to the hospital... Jeff Margolis was very hopeful that, after one day or two days of rest and fluids, that MJ would come back. So he goes, "Ok everybody, business as usual, we'll keep running the show." And we ran it a few times with the dancers, updated and edited the music, they were working on lighting and camera angles. And so the second day came, and they were still hoping Michael would come, so he goes, "Ok, we'll see everybody tomorrow", and I don't remember if we rehearsed for two more days or for three more days, but at some point, he came out on stage and made the announcement that they had just spoken to Michael, he still was feeling really terrible, and that they were going to have to postpone the show. At that point, they really didn't think or hope that it was going to be cancelled, but obviously Michael needed more than a day or two, or a week or two, so probably the next day, or the day after that, we all flew home.

Damien Shields, writer/author

Just before 5 P.M. on December 6, during the second of several planned full-day dress rehearsals at the Beacon Theatre, and just two days after he and Marcel Marceau had fronted the media to promote the HBO special, Jackson collapsed on stage.

“He was already feeling ill and had been sick for a few days,” recalls Barry Lather (choreographer), who had camera blocked his new “Thriller” performance with Jackson onstage earlier that day. “Later that afternoon when we were doing additional camera blocking, he collapsed on stage and had to immediately go to the hospital.”

While Lather says that Jackson had been feeling unwell for a few days, Marceau, who was also rehearsing with Jackson in the days leading to his collapse, and was present to witness it, did not detect any ailment on Jackson’s part.

“I would have noticed something,” recalled Marceau. “There was no sign that he was on the verge of a crisis… I was in the Beacon Theatre, watching the [rehearsals], which were wonderful. Michael was on stage with about fifteen dancers. At one point I turned away to get something to drink and then, suddenly, there was a great silence. He stopped everything. Just before the music was loud, the lights flash, and then, in a moment there was total silence, it was as if the world had come to an end.”

“We were all standing on stage,” remembers Lavelle Smith Jr. (choreographer), “and saw him walk to the front of the stage and go down, hitting his face on the grating of the stage.”

“He had both hands by his side, with the microphone in one, and fell face-first onto the metal grate,” recalls Michael Prince, one of the show’s sound engineers. “He didn’t even put his hands out to break his fall. It was scary. And he fell down hard. I’m surprised he didn’t break his nose or his jaw on the grate.”

The metal grate is part of the stage that is specially built into the floor. Jackson uses this to create an effect in certain numbers, including “Black or White,” with bright light, wind, and smoke blasting out from beneath him. Witnesses recall that it was during camera blocking for “Black or White” that Jackson’s collapse took place.

“He was out,” says Jeff Margolis (director). “He fell so hard, and smacked his head on the grates so hard, that he was out cold.”

“He had collapsed, lost consciousness, and was on the floor,” recalled Marceau. “We were all petrified. There were people around him, he did not move at all. Paramedics arrived, and when I saw the stage I was very scared.”

“His bodyguards rushed over and formed a protective circle around him, holding their jackets up to give him some privacy,” says Prince. “Someone yelled for an ambulance and, within minutes, one arrived.”

“I’m the one who called 9-1-1,” recalls Jim Morey (manager). “He was breathing, but definitely not responding. I thought maybe he’d had a heart attack.”

“I must say that the 9-1-1 responders, even with the traffic in that city, got to the Beacon Theatre in less than five minutes. It was incredible,” says Margolis. “First they checked him out as he lay on the ground, then they had him on a gurney, in an ambulance, and out of there so fast. They moved like bullets.”

Jackson was rushed to Beth Israel Medical Center North at 170 East End Avenue on the Upper East Side of New York. Meanwhile, a meeting was called in the lobby at the Beacon Theatre.

Prince recalls that once Jackson had been whisked off to the hospital, “an announcement was made over the PA system at the Beacon asking all dancers, band, cast and crew to gather in the theatre’s lobby.”

“It seemed that probably this whole show was going to be cancelled or delayed somehow,” recalls Lather. “No one knew what was going to happen for the rest of that day. We were still camera blocking and putting the show together with Jeff Margolis. The entire show was never ran from beginning to end; the production wasn’t ready for that yet. Several more days of camera blocking were still on the schedule.”

Ultimately it was decided that the show, or at least rehearsals at that point, would go on without Jackson, who was not scheduled to be at the Beacon Theatre that evening anyway.

Jackson was scheduled to attend the 1995 Billboard Music Awards at the New York Coliseum that evening, where he was to receive the Special Hot 100 Award for his outstanding chart achievements. Instead, Jackson lay in a hospital bed, with medical professionals working to stabilise him.

The One Night Only cast and crew continued to run numbers and camera block at the Beacon Theatre that evening, and the next day, as Jackson awaited the arrival of his personal physician, Dr. Allan Metzger, who was flying to New York from Los Angeles to assess the superstar.

Quentin Schaffer, Vice President of Media Relations at HBO, issued a brief statement on the evening of the collapse, letting the public know that Jackson had been “stabilised,” while confirming that rehearsals were continuing. Schaffer acknowledged that the status of the special was uncertain, adding that HBO’s main concern was Jackson’s health.

Jackson’s blood pressure was found to be an abnormally low 70 over 40 by an Emergency Medical Service crew that arrived at the Beacon Theatre just four minutes after the collapse, reported John Hanchar, a spokesperson for the E.M.S.

Dr. William Alleyne II was the Critical Care Director at Beth Israel North Hospital in December 1995, and was responsible for providing the medical care that ultimately saved the King of Pop’s life.

“Mr. Jackson was in critical condition,” Alleyne told Herald Online. “He was dehydrated. He had low blood pressure. He had a rapid heart rate.”

Meanwhile, the public had caught wind of Jackson’s situation, and began to gather in droves outside the hospital to show their support for the superstar.

“I looked outside the window, and the crowd was shoulder-to-shoulder, huge, far more than when the mayor’s mansion across the street had hosted the Pope, the President, even Nelson Mandela,” Alleyne recalled, adding that it was even “absolute pandemonium” inside the hospital.

It didn’t take long for the media to start reporting the incident, with speculation over the severity of Jackson’s condition running rampant.

“Michael Jackson Collapses At Rehearsal,” was the New York Times’ headline the next morning, reporting that Jackson collapsed while rehearsing on stage the afternoon before, “casting uncertainty over plans for a highly publicised national cable television special to be telecast on Sunday.”

Entertainment Weekly took the news of Jackson’s collapse with a grain of salt, running a story that asked: “Did Jacko faint on stage–or stage a faint?”

The EW article claimed that an unnamed source had revealed to them that Jackson was displeased that the streets of New York City had not gone into lockdown over his concerts, and that the 2,800-seat Beacon Theatre was so small it was incapable of facilitating Jackson’s enormous lighting setup – neither of which were true.

Jackson’s sister, LaToya, was quick to phone the New York Daily News with the assertion that she knows “all of Michael’s little moves and his little schemes that he pulls when he thinks he needs attention,” adding that his collapse was “a publicity move.”

“I don’t think anyone is a good enough actor to fake going down the way he went down,” says Prince, who witnessed Jackson’s dramatic collapse from his post with the sound crew.

The King of Pop’s doctor also insists his collapse was both very real and very serious. “He was near death,” stressed Alleyne, adding that Jackson “was unconscious when he arrived” at Beth Israel North Hospital.

“His biggest concern was could he perform,” recalls Alleyne of Jackson.

Unfortunately for all involved, Alleyne informed Jackson that there was “no way” he could perform anytime soon.

Jackson remained hospitalised and under strict medical care throughout the planned December 8 and 9 taping nights, and beyond HBO’s December 10 broadcast date, resulting in the cancellation of the whole thing.

Not only was Jackson’s collapse, and subsequent cancellation of the HBO special, seriously detrimental to his health, but it also damaged his future record sales in the U.S., and tainted the American public’s perception of his ability to perform live anymore.

“Without a doubt, the HBO special, we perceived, would have been a very big boost to sales right the way through to Christmas,” Vice President of Marketing at HMV, Alan McDonald, told The New York Times.

“Jackson has run out of gas,” New York media analyst, Porter Bibb, said at the time, adding that he “may have seen his day as the King of Pop.”

On December 8, just hours before the first show was scheduled to take the stage with a live audience, the cast and crew at the Beacon Theatre were again asked to assemble themselves for a meeting, with Margolis delivering the news that no one wanted to hear: the show would not go on.

“We got the word that it was being cancelled,” recalls Lather. “It was so disappointing, because everyone had worked so hard, and so many creative special people were working on the show to accomplish something never seen before for Michael.”

“In hindsight, it’s really eerie that my career working with MJ was bookended by cancelled concerts,” recalls Prince, whose first-ever gig with Jackson was One Night Only; his last being This Is It.

Once the cancellation had been confirmed, attention was turned towards whether or not the show would be rescheduled at a later date.

“The show was pretty much ready to go,” recalls Margolis. “I mentioned it at one point to his management that when his health got better we could try and redo it. They said that they would discuss it with Michael and then I never heard back from anybody about anything. But yeah, the music was all done. The mixes were all cleared. The orchestrations were all done. Everything was finished. It was a done deal. And for some reason it just never happened. I guess when HBO and everybody said ‘one night only’ they weren’t kidding.”

The lack of rescheduling was less due to HBO’s desire to try again, and more so a combination of Jackson’s hesitance to return to the concept, and the insurance company’s settlement of HBO’s claim.

“HBO had insurance on the shows,” explains Morey, “so the insurance agency got involved. Basically, once the show became an insurance claim, the whole concept just went away.”