I have been aware of Michael Jackson as one of the top popular artists, breaking records for record sales and box office for concerts, a world-class entertainer, and the subject of stories about his illicit sex life. But I never made a point of listening to his music. I knew little about it.

Now that I have seen the musical MJ, I begin to understand the excitement.

MJ traces the development of Jackson’s career and his art. Book writer Lynn Nottage frames the story by opening it in a rehearsal studio in Los Angeles in 1992, where Jackson and his colleagues prepare for the upcoming “Dangerous World Tour.” It’s a drab, industrial site designed by Derek McLane, with lots of room for dancers. As the story progresses and we see Jackson’s work take its final shape for performances before an audience, we also see the space transformed by Natasha Katz’s lighting and especially and quite gloriously by Peter Nigrini’s projections. Costume designer Paul Tazewell gives Jackson his iconic costumes (and hats) and gives the cast outfits for both rehearsal and performance. Charles G. LaPointe handles wig and hair design, and Joe Dulude II the make-up. The powerful sound is by Gareth Owen. Victor Simonson directs the music, with electronic music design by Strange Cranium and orchestrations and arrangements by Jason Michael Webb and David Holcenberg, who also supervises the music. Michael Jackson’s movement is by Rich & Tone Talauega. The Production Stage Manager is Shawn Pennington, not always an easy job with large numbers of people sometimes moving fast on the stage and backstage. The British choreographer Christopher Wheeldon both choreographed and directed the show.

That makes sense to me, because in my limited experience of Jackson, his most creative work is in dance, which can be quite thrilling. When you see in his work the influence of leading choreographers like Bob Fosse with the isolation of body parts and the use of the head (and hats), you see that Jackson takes dance quite seriously. 

Nottage’s book flashes back to Jackson’s past as memories influence his creation of the numbers for the tour. As Jackson, Jamaal Fields-Green (the alternate for Roman Banks) not only is an amazing and thrilling dancer but also an actor who takes us with him into Jackson’s relived experiences. Brandon Lee Harris plays the younger Michael. Josiah Benson and Bane Griffith share the role of Little Michael, and Bryce A. Holmes is his younger brother Little Marlon. Devin Bowles can be unpleasant as well as helpful as Rob the manager, and also as Joseph Jackson, Michael’s father; the two at times almost seem to blend into one authority figure. Mary Kate More plays Rachel, a  reporter who comes to interview Michael for her TV program; we get more stories; we also see him disguise himself as a janitor so he can continue the interview when Rob tries to cut it off – the disguise is the price of fame. Da’von T. Moody is Rachel’s cameraman. Josh A. Dawson plays Quincy Jones, with whom Jackson recorded “Off the Wall,” “Thriller,” and “Bad”; and he doubles as Tito Jackson. Anastasia Talley is Katherine Jackson. J. Daughtry takes on Berry Gordy, Nick, Don Cornelius, and a doctor, and Matt Loehr is Dave. Nine other dancers on the tour also double as significant people in his life, brothers, colleagues and influences.

The date of this show places it before the pederasty rumors and accusations were prominent. A couple of times we did see one of his associates giving Jackson a handful of pills, which he immediately washed down. MJ is a musical about an entertainer, a brilliant one, and a very entertaining show about that entertainer. Michael Jackson as a person was more than just an entertainer, and no doubt other musicals, movies, plays, books could – and have – explore other aspects of this person. MJ is what it is, and it is a very enjoyable, very entertaining, sometimes brilliant evening of musical theatre.

—Bob Wilcox

Photo by Matthew Murphy, MurphyMade
Roman Banks as MJ and the cast of the MJ First National Tour.