Last Wednesday, I flew down to New York for the day and saw a new musical with a problematic figure at its centre that has got a rough ride from critics as a result.
No, I’m not talking about Canadian producer Garth Drabinsky’s new Broadway show Paradise Square (though I saw that as well).
I’m talking about MJ the Musical, a new jukebox musical that centres on pop star Michael Jackson pushing himself too hard during the 1992 rehearsals for his Dangerous World Tour. (The show is booking to December 30 at the Neil Simon Theatre.)
The book writer is Lynn Nottage, Pulitzer-winning playwright of Sweat and Ruined. She and the show have received quite a lot of flak for not directly addressing in the script the allegations of child sexual abuse against Jackson.
I found that made sense in terms of the plot’s timeline, however, and the way Jackson’s entourage talk around a number of the star’s issues was interesting in what it communicated about the silences that surround power. (I also thought Nottage did a great job writing both intelligently and accessibly about the process of making art.)
MJ is, in most ways, just a normal Broadway musical biography. As a visiting MTV journalist interviews Jackson in the rehearsal room, he gives an edited account of his life.
Three actors play MJ in the piece and the oldest, Myles Frost, is just uncanny in terms of capturing the King of Pop’s dancing, voice and ineffable star quality. He somehow never veers into impersonator territory however. (Quentin Earl Darrington is another standout, morphing back and forth between playing a tour manager and Joseph Jackson, MJ’s abusive, taskmaster of a father.)
I went into MJ unsure that I could “enjoy” a musical that was too celebratory of the musician given all the questions that surround his life, but I ended up giving myself over to director and choreographer Christopher Wheeldon’s energetic production. Those hits! Those moves! I didn’t end up having any qualms about standing and cheering for Frost and the impressive ensemble at the end.
A New York Times piece on the weekend explored Drabinsky’s return to Broadway in light of his own (very different) problematic past, and noted that few Broadway producers “have been under a harsher spotlight” on the way to an opening night.
I’m not sure how that aligns with the fact that Democrat politicians are supporting Paradise Square en masse. Joe Crowley, the former Queens congressman who was famously defeated by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in 2018, is a co-producer, as is Obama Foundation board member Robert Wolf.
On opening night, New York Mayor Eric Adams gave a preshow speech referring to Drabinsky by his first name. Others in attendance, according to the Broadway Briefing newsletter, included former mayor Bill de Blasio, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries and even New York Attorney-General Letitia James.
That’s quite a warm welcome back for a man who, four years ago, was unable to travel to the United States.
The Broadway critics weren’t quite as welcoming, however, and so this original musical without a big-name star that hasn’t yet taken off at the box office is going to need strong word-of-mouth and a boost from Tony Awards nominations to stick around.
It was a pleasure to come home from my trip and go straight to review what turned out to be a Critic’s Pick: Orphans for the Czar at Crow’s Theatre (which I continued to tweet about enthusiastically today).
Many more promising shows are opening in Toronto this week. I’m currently set to review: It-playwright Annie Baker’s The Antipodes at the Coal Mine Theatre on Wednesday (on to May 15); Room, a musical adaptation of Emma Donoghue’s book, which opens at the Princess of Wales care of Mirvish Productions on Thursday (to May 8); and The House of Bernarda Alba, a new production of Federico Garcia Lorca’s last play, directed by Soheil Parsa, which opens at Buddies in Bad Times on Saturday (to April 24).
I say “set to review” because things are still tricky out there. The show I was planning to see on Friday – Two Minutes to Midnight at the Assembly Theatre – has delayed its opening night to next week after a member of the creative team tested positive for COVID-19.
Opening elsewhere:
- British Columbia and Alberta are trading a couple of productions back and forth this month.
In Wonderland, Anna Cummer’s popular three-actor adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s Alice stories that originated with Calgary’s Alberta Theatre Projects, is currently on tour in Richmond, B.C., visiting the Gateway Theatre. It runs April 7 to 16 and is being presented in English with traditional and simplified Chinese surtitles.
Meanwhile, the Arts Club’s recent production of Kim’s Convenience has travelled to Calgary’s Alberta Theatre Projects from Vancouver. It runs April 13 to May 1.
- The Stratford Festival officially kicks off this week as director Donna Feore’s pandemic-delayed production of Chicago has its first preview on April 6 on the Festival Theatre stage. As per usual, the big musical of the season has a long preview period; I won’t be reviewing until opening night on June 3.
- KOQM, a new show written and performed by poet and oral storyteller Shalan Joudry, opens this week at Neptune Theatre in Halifax (runs April 5 to 17). This Nestuita’si Storytelling production’s title refers to an ancient tree that overhears generations of stories by fictional L’nu (Mi’kmaw) women. Two Planks and a Passion Theatre artistic director Ken Schwartz directs.
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