By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“)
When award-winning playwright Lynn Nottage accepted the task as book writer for MJ, the Michael Jackson musical, she probably knew there would be critics surrounding her, finding fault with her saying too much or not saying enough about the mysterious popular figure.
Nottage’s book is a truly essential part of what makes this musical work. When it comes to getting more than a glimpse of what drove this musical genius, the storyline set in 1992 at the beginning of his “Dangerous” tour has “The King of Pop” at the pinnacle of his career. When the musical ends two and a half hours later, we know from the historical record he will begin a downward spiral of drugs, endless cosmetic surgeries and alleged inappropriate contact with others that will, eventually, lead to his death in 2009 at 50 years of age.
As he prepares for his worldwide tour, Jackson is obsessed with getting the maximum performance out of his dancers, backup singers, sound, lighting and pyrotechnics technicians and himself.
Roman Banks portrays the oldest of three different Michael Jacksons depicted. He is the one most determined to achieve future success and through him we learn how difficult it was to be a son and brother in a family of talented performers with an almost dictatorial father – Joseph Jackson (Devin Bowles) – at its head. His memories reveal snapshots in his past: his early success as a youngster (Josia Benson and Ethan Joseph), his development as solo artist and songwriter Michael Jackson (Brandon Lee Harris) and his partnerships with producers like Berry Gordy (J. Daughtry) and Quincy Jones (Josh A. Dawson).
The torment he endured as a child and young man without ever having a childhood resulted in his purchase of Neverland, the sprawling complex he called home with its amusement park theme. As MJ, Banks puts it all on the line as he his bankrolls the tour with his personal fortune, despite protestations and warnings from his manager Dave (Matt Loehr). To say no to MJ was to risk termination.
Tour manager Rob (also played by Bowles) knows this more than anyone else. He has to walk MJ up to the precipice of disaster on many occasions when he questions the expenses – or rather the lack of measures to limit expenditures – on the tour. To try to get some good public relations in advance of the tour’s opening, Rob invites Rolling Stone reporter Rachel (Mary Kate Moore) and her cameraman Alejandro (Davon T. Moody) into the Los Angeles rehearsal room for an exclusive feature, but their presence in the room over the course of the several days leading up to the tour has dire consequences as they are privy to MJ’s outbursts and beginning reliance on pills to keep going.
It’s interesting that Bowles represents a father figure on the tour and also goes in and out of playing Joseph Jackson, the tyrannical and abusive head of the Jehovah’s Witness family from Gary, Indiana that Little Michael obeyed unquestionably, but from who adult MJ was estranged.
But story aside, there can be no MJ without faithful depictions of the performer’s most iconic performances. The Jackson Five (later The Jacksons) members include Tito (Josh Dawson), Randy ( Malcolm Miles Young), Jackie (Jay McKenzie), Jermaine (Jacobi Kai) and Marlon (Brion Marquis Wilson). We see Little Michael’s earliest successes at the Apollo Theater in Harlem and then his Motown bestsellers with his brothers. Then, it’s Michael on his own churning out hit after hit, developing key dance moves like “The Moonwalk” and becoming more and more alienated from his parents and siblings.
The first national tour of MJ is directed and choreographed by the classically trained Christopher Wheeldon, who began his studies at The Royal Ballet School and later joined the New York City Ballet. Wheeldon was responsible for helming the Tony Award winning musical An American in Paris that first bowed in Paris in 2014 and then transferred to Broadway in 2015. Wheeldon directed the original cast that starred Tony Award Leading Actor winner Myles Frost at the Neil Simon Theater. His vision and imprint are unmistakable as he lovingly recreates hit after hit from the Jackson Five days to his massively successful albums “Off the Wall,” “Thriller” and “Bad.”
“Thriller” is actually performed twice, but both staged so differently from one another that they seem to be two different selections. Wheeldon and Nottage pay homage to MJ’s dance influencers like The Nicholas Brothers (Chelsea Mitchell-Bonsu and Brian Marquis Wilson), Fred Astaire (Matteo Marrietta) and Bob Fosse (Croix DiIenno), but also allows time for MJ to have his own moments such as at the 26th Anniversary of Motown Records and his introduction of the single sequined glove.
The colors of the lighting cues are as varied as the movement of the dancers on the stage. The ensemble nature of the cast is they play multiple important characters like host Don Cornelius from TV’s “Soul Train” one moment and Motown creator Berry Gordy the next. Most of the touring cast play backup tour dancers, but portray a succession of people who had sway over MJ’s persona such as Jackie Wilson, James Brown or the Isley Brothers. Kyle Dupree serves as dance and figh captain with Jojo Carmichael listed as the assistant dance captain.
Music direction is by Victor Simonson, who conducts a small ensemble with a tremendous sound. Overall music supervision, orchestrations and arrangements is by David Holcenberg with orchestrations and arrangements by Jason Michael Webb. Webb received a special Tony Award in 2019 for Choir Boy and his music score interacts seamlessly with Gareth Owen’s incredible sound designs. The costumes by Tony Award winner Paul Tazewell (Hamilton) are dazzling and designed to capture the lighting designs by Natasha Katz (Some Like It Hot) , an 8-time Tony Award winner and Theater Hall of Fame inductee, along with detailed projections by Peter Negrini. Charles G. LaPointe was responsible for wig and hair designs, while Joe Dulude II was in charge of makeup design.
With Roman Banks leading the cast (Jamal Fields-Green serves as alternate), MJ is as faithful a production to the original cast that is still on a Broadway stage and probably will be for years to come. It is a work that is destined to prove it is not a jukebox musical as some might think, but rather a timeless production that accurately retells the story of the life of an iconic performer and innovator through his unique music and one-of-a-kind dance.
This is Broadway and popular music fused together with fantastic results and memorable performances. To miss this “Thriller” would be “Off The Wall,” “Bad” and maybe even a little “Dangerous.”
The first national tour of MJ (2 hours and 30 minutes with a 15-minute intermission) continues with nightly performances (dark Monday) and additional matinees on Saturday and Sunday at the Saenger Theater, 1111 Canal Street in New Orleans, LA. For tickets click here or call 504-287-0351.
