A respectful, hopeful memorial

Minutes before the start of Michael Jackson's memorial service, CBS-TV's Katie Couric noted the irony of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus loading into the Staples Center for its planned run this week.

"Michael being an animal lover would have appreciated their appearance," she said, as footage of a train of elephants being led toward the venue rolled.

Of course, the fact that an actual circus would be held where Jackson's often surreal life was being celebrated is a metaphor almost too ridiculously perfect.

But in the course of a 2-hour and 40-minute production -- which began with Mariah Carey's performance of "I'll Be There," the Jackson 5 song that she made a hit again in 1992, and ended with a wrenching, tearful goodbye from Paris-Michael, Jackson's until-now sheltered 11-year-old daughter -- the event unfolded not as a gaudy spectacle but as a surprisingly respectful commemoration.

For reasons never explained, awkward pauses filled the first part of the memorial. Most egregious was the almost 20 minutes that passed between Smokey Robinson taking the stage to read messages from Diana Ross and Nelson Mandela and Jackson's brothers, clad in matching dark suits with yellow ties, sunglasses and sequined gloves on their right hands, wheeling in Jackson's gold-plated casket.

During the downtime, some commentators leaned toward snarkiness: Fox News' Greta Van Susteren, in discussing the fact that not all of the allotted tickets to the memorial were picked up by fans, remarked, "A Lakers game wouldn't have these empty seats."

NBC correspondent Courtney Hazlett griped, "We are getting under way a little bit late, but quite honestly, that's no real surprise when it comes to the Jacksons."

Once the memorial began, Couric and ABC's Charles Gibson broke in between speakers or performers to state the obvious ("And there's Stevie Wonder," Gibson said at one point as Wonder was seated at his piano), while NBC, Fox, CNN and MSNBC simply carried the live feed with natural sound.

The lineup of guests who either performed or eulogized Jackson showcased his diversity as an artist and a human being.

Queen Latifah read "We Had Him," a poem written by Maya Angelou expressly for the occasion ("With the abrupt absence of our treasure, though we are many, each of us is achingly alone, piercingly alone. Only when we confess our confusion can we admit he was a gift to us"), while Motown honcho Berry Gordy called him "the greatest entertainer who ever lived."

Jackson's music was venerated by a very pregnant Jennifer Hudson who, joined by some of the dancers who were to be part of Jackson's London "This Is It!" shows, sang a somber "Will You Be There."

John Mayer used his guitar skills to play masterfully and subtly the melody of "Human Nature." And Usher, the only performer to venture offstage and lay a hand on Jackson's flower-coated casket, broke into tears on the last words of the heartbreaking "Gone Too Soon."

Kobe Bryant and Magic Johnson -- no strangers to the Staples Center -- spoke of Jackson's humanitarian work, while the Rev. Al Sharpton emphasized Jackson's influence in breaking down racial barriers.

"He put on one glove, pulled his pants up and pulled down the color curtain," Sharpton said in a speech worthy of a revival.

Speaking of that glove, it was childhood friend Brooke Shields, clearly distraught, yet mostly composed, who humanized Jackson with her sweet, humorous stories of their escapades as 20-somethings.

"When he started wearing the glove, I was like, 'What's up with the glove? Look, if you're going to hold my hand, it better be the non-gloved one, because sequins hurt my hand,'" Shields said, eliciting respectful laughter.

When it seemed Jackson's memorial, which was produced by awards show kingpin Ken Ehrlich, would keep running until it collided with the evening newscasts, Kenny Ortega, the veteran choreographer who was working with Jackson for his London shows, took the stage.

"We were here. We were here a little over a week ago," he said, looking around the venue where Jackson had rehearsed the day before his death. "I promise you, [those shows] would have been his triumphant return to the world."

Ortega's words led into a performance -- taken from those concerts that now never will be -- of "We Are the World" and "Heal the World," which ended with the Jackson siblings and a stable of small children onstage.

Family. Music. A message of hope.

Could Jackson have been memorialized any more appropriately?

Contact Melissa Ruggieri at (804) 649-6120 or