When Matte Martinez was a kid growing up in North Bergen, New Jersey, he had Michael Jackson-themed birthday parties where, "if you weren't dressed as Michael Jackson, you weren't allowed in," he recalled. "It was serious." For one birthday, his mom, who owned a dance studio, got him a red leather jacket, just like the one that Jackson wears in his "Thriller" music video.
And this Halloween, when Martinez leads a special post-curtain-call performance of "Thriller," he'll be wearing that jacket; eight times a week, he plays the King of Pop in MJ The Musical at the Neil Simon Theatre. "It's actually kind of wild that I get to upgrade in this way," he marvels, then adding with the glee of a true fan, "I really want this jacket for myself. So who knows, maybe they'll give me the jacket." Granted, he would only get a costume piece if he were to ever leave the show, which Martinez doesn't plan to anytime soon...READ MORE