It's a brilliant bit of musical stagecraft. He dances and sings “Billie Jean” and then soon identifies three key inspirations - Fred Astaire, The Nicholas Brothers and Bob Fosse - and then dances with each of them, showing how his style is in their debt (like Fosse's bowler adopted as MJ's fedora).
In it, Jackson comes out alone and puts on a black sequined jacket, black fedora and single white glove, studded with rhinestones. It breaks the fourth wall and is tonally like nothing else in the show. Act II opens with a sort of stripped-down dream sequence of dance, as if Wheeldon had finally wrested the project for himself. There are moments that reveal a potentially different show, one less blunt, more stylish and impressionistic.
It's argued media pressure made him push himself, but we also learn that was instilled years ago by dad. Act I ends with Jackson at a press conference hunted as a cabal of tabloid hacks dressed like extras from “The Matrix” crush him, even suggesting he is their puppet. That’s gotta feel good.”īut even as it uses journalism to its own ends, the script clearly detests reporters. The framing technique for this bio is a fictional MTV film crew that has gotten access to capture Jackson's tour prep and their softball questions are used to coax out Jackson's interior life, like “Do you ever get tired of the hype?” and “Forty-one million records and still counting. You can't have it both ways.Įven so, nothing should take away from a tireless, fully-committed Myles Frost, who plays Jackson with a high, whispery voice, a Lady Diana-like coquettishness and a fierce embrace of Jackson's iconic dancing and singing style, right down to the rhythmic breathing and swiveling head. And a large bulk of Jackson's songs used - including “Earth Song,” “Stranger in Moscow,” “Price of Fame” and “They Don't Care About Us” - were released after 1992. Some pivotal songs - like “For the Love of Money” by The O'Jays - aren't by Jackson at all.
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Nottage and director and choreographer Christopher Wheeldon have one of the greatest music catalogues in the world and yet don't seem to know how to handle it. It’s curiously muted, shallow writing from playwright Lynn Nottage, someone who previously painted a harrowing picture of violent life in the midst of an African civil war with “Ruined.” The approval of the Michael Jackson estate - prominently trumpeted here - looms large.
“The bigger it is, the more we can give back,” he says.
The only thing he's guilty of is caring too much for his charities. He's misunderstood and a little quirky - he shoots a squirt gun during a business meeting - but harmless. The portrait offered of Jackson is of a perfectionist, driven by his love of music and to give his fans the best possible experience, no matter the cost. Like Jackson himself, there are moments of sheer genius punctuated by head-scratching weirdness. That's just one very large disingenuous note in an altogether baffling production that opened Tuesday at the Neil Simon Theatre. The Michael on Broadway will never face that, forever shielded. Why 1992? Jackson will be on the “Dangerous” tour a year later when he is first formally accused of molestation, an allegation that will be settled. We will soon melt back in time - back to the Jackson 5, “Off the Wall” and “Thriller” - but never forward.