Review: MJ: THE MUSICAL at Ed Mirvish Theatre

“Have you ever considered,” says MTV reporter Rachel (Kristin Stokes) to the legendary Michael Jackson (Jordan Markus), “that what you’re trying to do is impossible?”

It’s the eve of Jackson’s Dangerous tour, which is spiralling out of control as he demands more technology and works his dancers to the bone, searching for an elusive perfection that will top anything he’s ever done before while scandal and rumours swirl around him.

But Rachel might as well have been referring to MJ THE MUSICAL itself, which tries to capture the larger-than-life man’s legacy, humanizing him and showing his imperfections, while dancing on the precipice of the bleaker end to his career and life (the spectre of mysterious “allegations” is raised several times, but never specified). 

It’s an impossible proposition. How can you appease both the fans and the haters (and the estate), delivering a fun piece of of entertainment examining and celebrating an incredibly talented and deeply troubled man accused of some particularly upsetting crimes? 

Credit where credit is due: Lynn Nottage’s book really, really tries in walking the line between hagiography and condemnation. But depending on your relationship to the artist, you may have to appreciate the sheer effort and talent on stage while feeling a bit uncomfortable.

The difference between a hero’s journey and a tragedy often lies in where the teller chooses to end the tale. Here, Jackson’s ennui over his 1992 tour’s opening gives us the framework for a look into his backstory and influences, asking the question of whether he’ll stick the landing of his beloved but expensive and hazardous “toaster lift” and make the tour for charity his most successful yet, or whether he’ll lose everything because of his increasingly overwhelming technical demands and his pill-popping habit. 

Comparisons to Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, which toured to Toronto last year are, perhaps, inevitable. Both jukebox musicals were about trailblazing Black musicians who dealt with racism and abuse; both start and end with the image of a reinvention tour that might make or break the artist; both have Pulitzer Prize winners as librettists (Katori Hall for Tina). Both fall prey to showing a life essentially as a montage, with little time to develop anyone. But Tina had less work to do to provide a triumphant, feel-good message.

Yet the organization and execution of Nottage’s script is cleverer, its pace swift and its transitions smooth (though not quite criminally so) as Jackson’s past chases his present. It’s abundantly clear how we get from adorable child Jackson (a winning Quentin Blanton, Jr.) being worked unceasingly by a cold father who insists he be nothing but the best, to teen and 20-something Jackson (Brandon Lee Harris plays him with an outward cool charisma and a simmering internal rage) demanding the establishment give him his due, to anxious, affected Dangerous Jackson, whispering his increasingly unhinged demands and reverting to pranks from a childhood he was never allowed to have to avoid reality. Often, more than one version of Jackson interacts, cementing these links. 

It helps that all iterations of Jackson effectively capture his vibe; Markus in particular gives us a fascinating look into Jackson’s fragmenting control and self-image, combining astonishingly fluid dance moves with moments of stiff rictus and unsettling tension.  

The songs are mostly performed not as musical theatre numbers intended to move the plot along, but as diagetic numbers being practiced for the tour or during Michael’s history with the Jackson 5. This choice works well, avoiding the feeling of popular pieces being shoehorned in or the plot depending on what material was available. Plus, the singers and dancers impress with dizzying choreography by Christopher Wheeldon that hits just about all of the patented MJ moves while feeling fresh, set to lush, theatre-filling arrangements (Jason Michael Webb) and adorned with flashy replicas of Jackson’s iconic outfits (Costume Designer Paul Tazewell) that draw cheers of audience recognition. It’s also directly connected to the show’s message: Jackson tells the MTV crew that he wants us to focus on the music and his creative process rather than his personal life, and as his character tends to control the narrative, that’s largely what happens. 

In fact, if there’s an antagonist in the piece, it’s the invasive press, all looking to use Jackson for money and vicarious clout like the abusive parent who trails Jackson’s thoughts throughout the show (an interesting bit of double casting has Devin Bowles effectively playing both Jackson’s violent, micromanaging father and as his sweet but frustrated tour manager). One number features a hellish press conference where Peter Nigrini’s projections of the shards of Jackson’s psyche appear three-dimensional, and reporters wear trenchcoats lined with newspaper headlines reading “BLAME!” Even slightly sympathetic Rachel, who ventures with wonder through Jackson’s dream of harmony, a Hollywood bathed in a rose glow that loses all colour at a snap, is at heart a vulture.

It’s in the occasional moment of true interiority where MJ gains some much-needed depth; in particular, a nightmare carnival with “Thriller” as the backdrop does double duty as overwhelming spectacle and metaphor for the man’s own demons. Jackson slowly and mournfully eases into the number alone, before the pace picks up, the world begins to encircle him again, and he’s consumed by his own creation. But while Jackson later purports to want to look at the man in the mirror and make a change, the stirring number featuring “Man in the Mirror” is heavy with irony, as neither the person nor the show really follows that advice.

But, in terms of the show, how could it and still exist? As Rachel says, trying to be all things to all people is impossible.

So, here’s the bottom line: If you have issues with the very concept of the musical, by the end, you’ll likely still feel that way. If you’re there to enjoy the musical force of nature that was MJ, it's likely that you will. 

And if you’re somewhere in between?

Well, some things are more than just Black Or White.