Given how I recently watched POSE and that video clip of Pasadena Little Shop of Horrors, I thought MJ Rodriguez was going to be on Broadway when I saw the title MJ the musical. lol.
Really glad to see Christopher Wheeldon is choreographing/directing this musical. Loved his choreography in American in Paris, Brigadoon (City Center), and Nutcracker (Chicago Joffrey Ballet) so really looking forward to see what he'll do with this musical!
Well, it will be interesting to see how this goes. ( I have no interest - no fan of the Bio-Musical, no matter the subject.)
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Next, they’ll be making an OJ musical and it will sympathetic to OJ.
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If the estate had the even the slightest sense of business savvy, and wasn't just greedy for more money, they would of shelved this for 5-10 years and waited out the cycles of bad news. His music isn't going to become any less relevant in a decade, but a 5-10 years from now one can argue to judge the art not the artist, as enough time will have passed since his death and his alleged reprehensible actions. Add to that this is opening less than a year after "Leaving Neverland" won the Primetime Emmy Award for best documentary. If the estate thinks that they can "no comment"/if you want access you can't ask xyz questions their way out of the press for this, they are in for a rude awakening.
Well this is going to be an unmitigated trainwreck. What a poor decision to proceed with this, as happy as I am for the people who will get employment out of it. Definitely a miss for me.
Putting aside whatever small part of me is curious about the artistry of the creatives involved, the key thing in my opinion is that the producers are THE MICHAEL JACKSON ESTATE... i.e. the same people who enabled him, have tried to silence accusers, and have continued to profit off his alleged crimes. Life’s too short, and no show is that good. (I might go see it if they paid me. Maybe.)
If I can get a dirt cheap ticket to this, I’ll CONSIDER seeing it for 1 reason, and 1 reason only: Lynn Nottage. She is the only ray of hope that this project has, if they allow her any creative freedom, that is.
I don’t mean to disparage Wheeldon with this comment - I’m sure he’ll do some really good work with the choreography here, but I don’t see this project being salvaged by great choreography or great direction. I think the only thing that can salvage it is a strong book that has depth and nuance. Nottage is more than capable of providing those qualities, but only if she is given the creative freedom to do so, which is somewhat doubtful given that the MJ estate is running the show.
JBroadway said: "If I can get a dirt cheap ticket to this, I’ll CONSIDER seeing it for 1 reason, and 1 reason only: Lynn Nottage. She is the only ray of hope that this project has, if they allow her any creative freedom, that is."
I had hoped that Nottage would mitigate the tone-deaf nature of this project, but that interview in the Times did not fill me with confidence.
NOTTAGE It’s really hard to traffic in absolutes. Do I believe he was a pedophile? I don’t know that I can say one way or the other. I don’t think any of us can say with absolute certainty, because we’ve been presented with some information, but Michael Jackson is dead, he’s not in a position to defend himself. It does hurt my heart to think about the possibility that it could be true, and I pray that it isn’t true, and that’s all I can do. I’m not going to be a Michael apologist, but I can’t say 100 percent.
Kad said: "JBroadway said: "If I can get a dirt cheap ticket to this, I’ll CONSIDER seeing it for 1 reason, and 1 reason only: Lynn Nottage. She is the only ray of hope that this project has, if they allow her any creative freedom, that is."
I had hoped that Nottage would mitigate the tone-deaf nature of this project, but that interview in the Times did not fill me with confidence.
NOTTAGEIt’s really hard to traffic in absolutes. Do I believe he was a pedophile? I don’t know that I can say one way or the other. I don’t think any of us can say with absolute certainty, because we’ve been presented with some information, but Michael Jackson is dead, he’s not in a position to defend himself. It does hurt my heart to think about the possibility that it could be true, and I pray that it isn’t true, and that’s all I can do. I’m not going to be a Michael apologist, but I can’t say 100 percent.
I don't blame Nottage for wanting a paycheck, she's a female playwright of color. Even with winning the Pulitzer, its not as if producers are clamoring to mount and finance her work. If I had to bet, she is likely making more money on this project then she has on all of her prior work combined. Let d the the production officially open so she can cash the check and get royalties for life, and then she can trash the estate in a Riedel column.
Kad said: "JBroadway said: "If I can get a dirt cheap ticket to this, I’ll CONSIDER seeing it for 1 reason, and 1 reason only: Lynn Nottage. She is the only ray of hope that this project has, if they allow her any creative freedom, that is."
I had hoped that Nottage would mitigate the tone-deaf nature of this project, but that interview in the Times did not fill me with confidence.
NOTTAGEIt’s really hard to traffic in absolutes. Do I believe he was a pedophile? I don’t know that I can say one way or the other. I don’t think any of us can say with absolute certainty, because we’ve been presented with some information, but Michael Jackson is dead, he’s not in a position to defend himself. It does hurt my heart to think about the possibility that it could be true, and I pray that it isn’t true, and that’s all I can do. I’m not going to be a Michael apologist, but I can’t say 100 percent.
Agreed, and good points, but to me the even more telling subtext of that article was the (B.S.) assertion that regarding the latest furor over the allegations, the documentary, etc., and whether any of that would be addressed in the musical, they’ve had NO restrictions placed on them by the estate over what could or couldn’t be in the show (Ha!), but as to whether or not those areas would ultimately be included, all they could basically say was “Not yet.” Moving ahead with this project in such a manner is the absolute height of callous money-grubbing cynicism, and it undercuts whatever respect I had for these artists for anything else they’ve done in their careers up to this point.
This is gross. Even if the pedophile accusations aren't true there's no doubt MJ was a deeply troubled, traumatized person and the victim of abuse. His family estate wanting to make a cheery biomusical of this is gross.
bdn223 said: "If the estate had the even the slightest sense of business savvy, and wasn't just greedy for more money, they would of shelved this for 5-10 years and waited out the cycles of bad news. His music isn't going to become any less relevant in a decade, but a 5-10 years from now one can argue to judge the art not the artist, as enough time will have passed since his death andhis alleged reprehensible actions. Add to that this is opening less than a year after "Leaving Neverland" won thePrimetime Emmy Award for best documentary. If the estate thinks that they can "no comment"/if you want access you can't ask xyz questions their way out of the press for this, they are in for a rude awakening."
I 100 percent agree. They couldn’t have picked worse timing to do this. Extremely poor decision to do this now. Time usually muddies the waters a bit. They should have shelved this for at least 3-5 more years.
I also agree with Drama Mama ... I’m so sick of all these bio musicals. There are only a few people I can think of who I would be willing see a bio musical of .... Elvis, Sinatra, Prince, or Morrissey.
It reminds me of the initial success of the first reality tv shows ... and now half of network television is reality tv.
bdn223 said: "I don't blame Nottage for wanting a paycheck, she's a female playwright of color. Even with winning the Pulitzer, its not as if producers are clamoring to mount and finance her work. If I had to bet, she is likely making more money on this project then she has on all of her prior work combined."
While I'm sure Nottage's paycheck for this project is handsome, let's not pretend like this is her one shot to make a living in the theatre. Sweat was the second most produced play of the 2018-19 season, and finished a run in London earlier this year. Both Fabulation and By the Way, Meet Vera Stark were revived by Signature during their last season, Atlantic mounted The Secret Life of Bees over the summer, and Lincoln Center is producing an operatic adaptation of Intimate Apparel this coming February. Clearly, there are enough producers willing to "mount and finance her work" that she should be able to walk away from this project should she truly take issue with it.