![]() We already know that Joseph Jackson was so driven and so hungry for a piece of fame that he hit or threatened his young son for seeming to disobey him. The show also benefits from the songs, which, like Frost’s performance, are largely note-for-note recreations: from Jackson 5 hits (“I Want You Back,” “ABC,” “Dancing Machine”) up through various songs from Jackson’s own catalog. There are some head-scratchers: During a scene in which Jackson is guilt-tripped into participating in the 1984 “Victory” tour with his brothers, the cast breaks into the O’Jays’ “For the Love of Money,” but one of the key tracks on Dangerous, “Remember the Time,” isn’t heard at all.Īll that said, MJ doesn’t tell us anything we don’t know: The narrative is a collection of Jackson’s greatest character-shaping hits. The performance reminds you how much Jackson brought to pop, choreography and celebrity mystique. He doesn’t just capture his playfulness and pillow-soft voice but also the flashes of anger and frustration that would sometimes emerge when he spoke. He mimics the moonwalks and body ticks - the way Jackson could shrug each shoulder up and down or flick his wrist while performing. (That’s the case with “Billie Jean,” presented as if it’s straight out of of the Motown 25 special.) Forced to live up to a commitment to give a press conference to promote the tour, Jackson is surrounded by dark-lit “reporters” who resemble vampires, leading into a performance of “They Don’t Care About Us,” one of his angriest and most defensive songs.įrost, who has appeared on The Voice and had a small role in the 2019 film All In, has clearly studied Jackson’s moves. That moment is one of several in which one of Jackson’s hits - like ”Human Nature” and “Stranger in Moscow” - is used astutely as a commentary on his mindset and actions, rather than just as a way to recreate a well-known performance. A rehearsal of a Jackson 5 medley pulls Jackson back into his childhood: In one, he watches as his childhood self (exquisitely portrayed by Christian Wilson, one of two actors in that early-Michael role) and his mother (played by Anaya George) duet on “I’ll Be There.” The pained look on Frost’s face as he watches is among the show’s most poignant moments. As both the Dangerous tour director and Jackson’s overbearing father Joseph, Quentin Earl Darrington (who looks a bit like Dwayne Johnson’s less beefy brother) navigates between those roles in several scenes. The setup sounds clunky, but most of the transitions between past and present are seamless, thanks to Wheeldon and also to cast members portraying more than one role. “It’s not the old songs,” he tells her of his reticence to sing his former group’s hits. A quick exchange with the MTV producer (played by Whitney Bashor) or a rehearsal of an older Jackson 5 hit triggers Jackson, pulling him back in time to remember either a happy or painful moment in his life. The show recreates some of Jackson’s career milestones, at least until 1992: rehearsing with the Jackson 5 in their home, meeting Berry Gordy (who signs them to Motown), collaborating with Quincy Jones on Off the Wall and Thriller, being handed Grammy after Grammy, reuniting with his brothers for the semi-botched Victory reunion tour.Īs we watch Jackson and his team fine-tune the Dangerous show, those moments in time are woven into the story as flashbacks. Written by Pulitzer-winning playwright Lynn Nottage and directed by Christopher Wheeldon, the British choreographer known for his work in the ballet world, MJ doesn’t completely dispense with the standard bio-musical narrative tradition. You’ll leave the Neil Simon Theatre (where the show opens tonight) both on a giddy high from Jackson’s music but also grappling with what was and wasn’t incorporated. But from its equally beloved and debated subject to its often inventive structure, MJ is far more unconventional - and far more complicated - than previous shows on the sagas of the Four Seasons, Cher or Carole King. Bio-musicals have come to be a tourist-friendly tradition on Broadway. It gives you all the answers you need.” Yet that original question hovers throughout the two and half hours of MJ, finally premiering on Broadway after a lengthy Covid-relayed delay. Returning to the topic later in the show, Jackson also tells her, “Listen to my music. Jackson, played by Myles Frost down to the trademark billowy white shirt, curly ponytail, and feathery voice, demurs: “I want to keep this about music.” To which the reporter responds, “Is it possible to separate your life from your music?” In the first of several such scenes in MJ, the new Broadway musical about one of the pop’s most explosive and, now, polarizing figures, a fictional MTV reporter tries to get Michael Jackson to open up.
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