Michael Jackson has been gone for 17 years, yet a major stage production built around his music is still filling venues around the world. On July 18, “Michael Lives Forever” comes to Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai with tribute artist Rodrigo Teaser at the center. But this is not simply a man putting on a fedora and attempting a moonwalk.
Teaser started impersonating Michael when he was only 9 years old. As a shy child who struggled to speak to people at school, he found his confidence through music and dance. Years later, that private escape became an international career that has taken him across South America, the US, Asia and the Middle East, including a FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 performance before 40,000 people.
Introducing Rodrigo Teaser: Michael Lives Forever
The footage gives audiences a look at the scale of Teaser’s tribute and explains why “Michael Lives Forever” has grown far beyond a small impersonator act. Teaser has shared the stage with people who knew Michael’s work from the inside, including choreographer Lavelle Smith Jr, guitarist Jennifer Batten and vocal director Kevin Dorsey. Batten played on all three of Michael’s world tours while Dorsey worked with him for 25 years.
For Teaser, the connection is also deeply personal. After Michael died in 2009, he and his wife produced what they believed would be a farewell concert. Teaser thought one large show would be his way of saying goodbye to the artist he had followed since childhood. Instead, audiences wanted more. One concert led to another and the tribute grew into an international production.
Rodrigo Teaser, Kevin Dorsey and LaVelle Smith Discuss Michael Jackson
That makes this recent June 2026 interview especially relevant. Teaser appears alongside Kevin Dorsey and Lavelle Smith, two men with direct connections to Michael Jackson’s career. Their presence helps explain why Teaser takes the responsibility of a tribute so seriously. He openly says he is not trying to convince audiences that he is Michael. He wants them to understand that he is a fan too.
That honesty may be one reason the show has continued to grow. Teaser still remembers being the shy child who locked himself in a room and danced for hours. Michael’s music gave him a way to express himself, make friends and finally be noticed. Now, when he speaks with Michael Jackson fans around the world, he says he often discovers that they found the same comfort in the music.
Michael Jackson’s influence can still be seen in artists such as Usher, Bruno Mars and Ne-Yo, but Teaser describes Michael as “ground zero.” Jackson’s impact stretched from record-breaking albums and groundbreaking short films to dance moves that changed pop performance. The recent success of the “Michael” biopic has introduced his story to another generation while older fans continue to relive the memories that made him the King of Pop.
“Michael Lives Forever” is another reminder that Michael Jackson’s stage legacy did not disappear when the concerts stopped. On July 18, Rodrigo Teaser and members of Michael’s extended creative world will bring that music back to a Dubai arena.