Michael Jackson ONE will be a year old this week, having kicked off its world premiere June 29. Considering the quantity of Cirque du Soleil performances and the effects of tabloid journalism on the public’s perception of the late performer, it’s not surprising ONE drives Jackson’s most dedicated followers to ecstasy. What may be surprising is the restorative power of the show. Those who included Jackson’s music in the soundtrack of their lives but have fallen away will realize once again why Jackson became such a towering cultural figure, eventually crowned King of Pop.

Jackson’s spirit inarguably guides Michael Jackson ONE. That’s in part due to Jackson’s universal influence on dance and visuals as well as the 63-member cast and the creative team. Many of them likely stood in front of mirrors and worked out Jackson’s moves, as writer-director Jamie King did as a youth. King, a prolific A-list tour choreographer and director (Madonna, Britney Spears), was a dancer on Jackson’s Dangerous tour early in his career. He was hired to develop and direct Michael Jackson THE IMMORTAL World Tour, which had risen from the ashes of the This Is It tour Jackson had been in rehearsal for before his death.

“I think that the plan by Cirque du Soleil was that IMMORTAL should be rock ’n’ roll, like Michael Jackson would have done it while alive,” says Silke Ortloff, the show’s artistic director, who adds that the reactions of the audiences informed what would become Michael Jackson ONE. “There’s just nobody who can convince an audience how they would go on (performing) except the person himself. And then, based on that, it was clear much more that people just want to come and celebrate the music genius of him.”

That’s exactly what it is: a musical celebration of Michael Jackson. King’s team drew on Jackson’s iconic fashion items—shades, fedoras, penny loafers and a single spangled glove—for symbolism, the Dangerous album art and memorable videos for set and production design, and four “misfits” that become “Heroes” through the influence of Jackson’s music. Once Clumsy, Shy, Smarty Pants and Sneaky are sucked into The Vortex to the music of “Beat It” (the first four verses inspired the names of the misfits), they are each transformed one-by-one as the performers represent with their respective acts: double-slackline, martial arts, hat juggling and … that thing Sneaky does with the glove.

It’s one of the easiest Cirque story arcs to follow, but there are also dance-ensemble battles between Smooth Criminals and MJ Warriors, LED-suited dancers during “Billie Jean,” heart-wrenching through-the-years video sequences and a soundtrack amazingly impressive in its sequencing and integration into the production, as well as its surround-sound fidelity. The music, as Ortloff says, is the main thing. “I think everybody lives with this music for a while,” she says. “You have your own memories. And that’s what it is about. It’s not about what we all heard later. It’s all about his music, how he created music, and what he did onstage.”

Mandalay Bay 7 & 9:30 p.m. Sat.-Wed. $69-$180 plus tax and fee. 800.745.3000 Ticketmaster