There’s little doubt that Michael Jackson was an almost otherworldly talent whose exceptional singing, songwriting and performing made him one of the most famous people on the planet.
There’s also little doubt that Jackson lived a turbulent life, from his abusive father to his drug addiction to his multiple accusations of child abuse, to which he responded by openly flaunting his relationships with young boys.
Still, the jukebox musical “MJ the Musical” has been a blockbuster on Broadway, averaging more than a million dollars each week since it opened in February 2022. It earned 10 Tony nominations and won four. According to Broadway World, it has grossed $193 million and attracted more than 1.3 million attendees.
If anything, the touring version of the show, which runs through May 26 at the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Minneapolis, suggests that the key to its success is a strong actor playing the title role. Two men play the adult Jackson and Jamaal Fields-Green, who is billed as the alternate, portrayed him Wednesday night when media was invited to see the production.
It’s entirely possible that Fields-Green is a gifted performer who would be the highlight of any other musical in which he starred. But he’s no Michael Jackson. He nailed all of Jackson’s hees, ooohs and other non-verbal vocals, but often struggled to otherwise replicate Jackson’s singing voice. And it felt like he learned just a few of Jackson’s dance moves and spent the entire show offering slight variations of them.
One of Jackson’s greatest strengths was looking like he wasn’t trying at all, that his talent flowed naturally like water from a tap. Fields-Green’s performance felt pained and awkward, making it difficult to see anything but someone trying, and largely failing, to impersonate Jackson. I ran into a friend at intermission who, without any trace of shade, told me she had seen better Michael Jacksons on cruises. Yes, plural. Cruises.
The action in “MJ the Musical” takes place in the days leading up to opening night of Jackson’s 1992 Dangerous World Tour, one of only three solo tours of his lifetime. A reporter named Rachel (Mary Kate Moore) is on hand to shoot behind-the-scenes footage for MTV and allows for the story to jump back in time to various points in Jackson’s life.
That means we see multiple Jacksons, with two actors (Josiah Benson, Bane Griffith) swapping nights as the young Michael and Brandon Lee Harris playing him as a teen and young adult. Harris does a terrific job capturing the essence of Jackson’s transition from teen idol to adult superstar. It certainly helps that he’s the one singing the songs from Jackson’s finest album, 1979’s “Off the Wall.” He’s easily the best thing about the show. (Deftly playing both Jackson’s abusive father Joe and his tour manager/enabler Rob, newcomer Devin Bowles is the second best thing about the show.)
“MJ” does address many of Jackson’s controversies, from sleeping in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber to attempting to buy the Elephant Man’s bones to overindulging in plastic surgery. It does not, however, address the child abuse allegations, the first of which emerged a year into the Dangerous World Tour. Soon after, Jackson publicly admitted he was addicted to painkillers, unexpectedly married Lisa Marie Presley and ultimately canceled the rest of the tour, which was scheduled to run into 1994.
Playwright Lynn Nottage, a two-time Pulitzer Prize for Drama winner, positions Jackson as a perpetual victim but never delves any deeper into explaining his persona than airing Jackson’s many woe-is-me songs. Yes, Joe Jackson was a monster, and in one of the most disturbing moments of the musical, he’s shown striking the young Michael, who responds by curling up into a self-protective ball. But the Michael Jackson we see in “MJ” is his own kind of monster who projects his insecurities and unrealistic expectations on those around him.
The show also fails to wrap up any number of plot lines and ends on what attempts to be a high note for Jackson. The thing is, his life got much worse in nearly every aspect in the years that followed. Watching the musical reminded me of when Jackson announced his 2009 This Is It comeback tour and I told my partner there was no absolutely no chance Jackson would actually perform the shows. I didn’t think he would die, which he did just weeks before opening night, but it was obvious he was in no way possible fit to perform on such a grand scale.
To be sure, Jackson wrote and recorded plenty of magical songs and, with the right actor playing him, “MJ the Musical” could be such a blast that it would be much easier to overlook its many faults. Perhaps a “Mamma Mia” approach, where his music was used to tell an entirely separate story, would have been a better bet. I just hope the team behind the in-the-works “Purple Rain” musical are watching and taking notes on what not to do in terms of bringing a true icon back to life on the stage.
‘MJ the Musical’
When: Through May 26
Where: Orpheum Theatre, 910 Hennepin Ave. S., Minneapolis
Tickets: $199-$50 via hennepintheatretrust.org
Capsule: It’s bad, it’s bad, shamone.
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