Azaria Podplesky

Collins said Lauper’s soundtrack makes “Kinky Boots” high energy from start to finish. It’s not your typical musical, he said, thanks to the pop and rock tunes the “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” “Time After Time” and “True Colors” singer wrote for the show.

“MJ the Musical” shares a lot about Jackson, while also only covering a brief moment in his life. More highs and lows were on the way for Jackson, though he likely didn’t know quite how high or low at the time. It seems accurate to think that an older Jackson would have thought the same thing a younger Jackson told Rachel during the show. ‘Hopefully my music is what people hold onto, not this noise around me.’

I think the main thing that struck me as I watched the show was that it seemed like everyone was (you know I had to) truly having the time of their life onstage. That joy transferred to the audience, and I heard a few people around me softly singing from time to time, though not to a distracting degree.