‘MJ the Musical’ is saddled with the impossible task of bringing Michael Jackson back to life
Three different actors play the King of Pop in the touring version of the Tony Award-winning Broadway show.
The Michael Jackson touring Broadway show MJ the Musical, which opened at the Academy of Music last week and runs through Jan. 19, has more than its share of hurdles to surmount.
For starters, it needs to suspend disbelief and convince the audience that they’re watching Michael Jackson, one of the most electrifying, incandescent entertainers of all time.
Secondly, MJ clearly intends to recalibrate the story of Jackson’s life away from any focus story on the allegations of pedophilia that emerged in 1993 and shadowed him for the rest of his life, and after his death in 2009.
Two time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage sets her story in 1992 during rehearsals for Jackson’s “Dangerous” tour. It looks back from there, examining the toll taken on Jackson from growing up with a domineering and abusive father who instilled an unhealthy pursuit of perfectionism in him.
MJ addresses Jackson’s eccentricities — from his friendship with Bubbles the Chimp, to stories of sleeping in a hyperbaric chamber. But while we hear about the King of Pop’s interest in the Elephant Man’s bones, in this sanctioned production created “by special arrangement with the estate of Michael Jackson,” the elephant in the room is kept conveniently off stage.
On Thursday night, a third surprise arose. Jordan Markus, the actor and singer who performed as an alternate MJ on Broadway and is taking center stage in the touring show, missed the performance due to illness.
» READ MORE: There is a new MJ in ‘MJ the Musical.’ And here’s how he transforms himself for every show
Three different actors play Jackson in MJ. One is the child star of the Jackson 5 Motown years, another is the newly mature Jackson of the 1970s and 1980s, and the lead is the 1992 Jackson, who feels the self-imposed pressure to stay ahead of, as he puts it a light-hearted moment, “all these hip-hop acts and bands like Nirvana who can’t even sing and their records sell like candy.” There’s also a cute joke about Jackson’s rivalry with Prince.
With Markus unavailable Thursday, understudy Erik Hamilton, who normally plays “Middle Michael,” stepped in to take the lead, while cast member Jacobi Kai took Hamilton’s place.
Bane Griffith, in turn, played “Little Michael,” quite convincingly as a child star who can’t understand why his father is so hard on him. When he brings “I Want You Back” and “ABC” to life, record producer Berry Gordy tells him he sings “like you’ve been living with heartbreak all your life.”
Hamilton does fine in the lead role, and was supported by a talented team of musicians and dancers, with creative choreography by director Christopher Wheeldon and the brother team of Rich and Tone Talauega.
Kai portrays Jackson during the making of Thriller with Quincy Jones and on the 1984 “Victory Tour,” the family’s brightest star is pressured into taking his cash-strapped brothers along for the ride. The O’Jays Philly soul classic “For the Love of Money” sound tracks that section.
Many of Hamilton’s numbers delivered thrills, from “Smooth Criminal” to “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’” to a surprisingly spry “Black or White.” But the show gets long-winded in the second act, with too much time given to an MTV interviewer probing Jackson’s emotional truth and a short-sighted business manager intent on cutting tour costs.
How much the show suffered in Markus’ absence this critic cannot say. Perhaps the actor will make Jackson come alive in more scintillating ways. But as I watched Hamilton and Kai put on solid, workmanlike performances, I couldn’t help but think they were saddled with an impossible task.
People have been heaping praise on Timothée Chalamet for doing the difficult job of bringing Bob Dylan to life in A Complete Unknown. But that pales in comparison to the assignment the MJ actors face. How can you possibly expect anyone to light up the stage with enough otherworldly grace and sparkling star power to make you believe he’s Michael Jackson?
MJ the Musical
(Community/Arts) The Michael Jackson touring Broadway show MJ the Musical has important hurdles to surmount, including bringing Michael Jackson to life. Running time: 2 hours 30 minutes with an intermission.
⌚️ Through Jan. 19 at Academy of Music📍 240 S. Broad St. 🌐 ensembleartsphilly.org
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