Jordan Markus plays 1992 Michael Jackson in Mirvish’s MJ The Musical, which follows the pop star before he embarks on a world tour.Matthew Murphy/Supplied
Title: MJ The Musical
Written by: Lynn Nottage
Performed by: Jordan Markus, Devin Bowles, Kristin Stokes, Brandon Lee Harris, Bryce A. Holmes, Michael Nero, Rajané Katurah
Directed and choreographed by: Christopher Wheeldon
Company: Mirvish Productions
Venue: CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre
City: Toronto
Year: Runs to Nov. 2
“Is it really possible to separate your life from the music?” asks a fictional journalist near the top of MJ, the energetic biographical musical that really, really hopes you’ll think the answer to that question is yes.
What follows is a 2½-hour nostalgia-fest that crams in all the hits: Thriller, Billie Jean, Beat It. Produced “by special arrangement with the estate of Michael Jackson,” MJ follows the King of Pop on the eve of his Dangerous tour in 1992, one of the last eras in which music was at the centre of the Jackson empire, and not the never-ending stream of tabloid speculation, settlements and scandal that so tortured the performer in his later years.
Throughout the musical, we get to know MJ as a Jackson 5-era kid, a teenage wunderkind and as an eccentric, feather-voiced enigma played by Markus, pictured.Matthew Murphy/Supplied
Since his death in 2009, Jackson’s image has only become more complicated – a number of journalistic works have suggested that rumours of the singer’s pedophilia may not have been mere rumours after all. In 2019, HBO’s documentary Leaving Neverland, in which two of Jackson’s alleged victims shared their stories, added to an existing slate of allegations regarding Jackson and his conduct around children, further tarnishing his checkered reputation. (His estate has vehemently rebutted the documentary and other accusations.)
Yes, Jackson’s legacy as a composer and performer is unparalleled, and yes, the dexterity with which he navigated a thorny music industry as a young Black man is nothing short of inspiring. But. But. But.
Leaving Neverland is a tough watch: The film adds yet another asterisk to Jackson’s long list of musical accomplishments. But MJ is somehow harder to sit through. Even under the circumstances – an estate-approved mega-musical with access to Jackson’s music, choreography, costumes and mannerisms – veiled references to the singer’s controversies are shockingly glib. “There are a lot of strange stories making the rounds,” says the journalist, who, in true jukebox musical fashion, is so underwritten you can almost see through her.
“Strange stories?” Yeah, you could say that.
Written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage, MJ’s book is actually one of the better jukebox musicals in the canon, in that it clips by reasonably quickly and that the songs are generally well-used to aid the storytelling. As a dramatic vessel for the Jackson catalogue – if not as a particularly rigorous portrait of Jackson himself – MJ could be worse.
We meet MTV documentarian Rachel (Kristin Stokes) on the cusp of a big break: She and cameraman Alejandro (Kevin Cruz) are about to gain access to the world’s most famous pop star (Jordan Markus) before he embarks on another world tour.
The stakes are high: Michael’s running out of money, and gossip about his appearance and personal life is starting to get to him. He chokes down pain pills between rehearsals, and lashes out at his dancers when they don’t meet his impossibly high standards. When he meets Rachel, he makes one thing clear: Under no circumstances is her documentary to be about anything other than the music.
MJ The Musical is most enjoyable when the ensemble is dancing under the guidance of choreographer-director Christopher Wheeldon.Matthew Murphy/Supplied
Of course, there’s a reason for his erratic behaviour, offers MJ: He’s deeply haunted by his childhood, and especially his father (portrayed by Devin Bowles, who also plays the singer’s tour manager).
Throughout MJ, we get to know three versions of the icon: a Jackson 5-era little kid (Bryce A. Holmes), a teenage compositional wunderkind (Brandon Lee Harris) and 1992’s MJ, the eccentric, feather-voiced enigma whose private Neverland residence includes a working train station. Similarly to the musical Fun Home, MJ sees the three Michaels interact and occasionally spar – as such, the singer’s tumultuous past is never more than a few dance moves away.
The story tumbles from there and borrows from every cliché in the jukebox musical playbook, and sometimes, the work succeeds in humanizing one of pop culture’s most misunderstood figures. In MJ The Musical, there are no villains, except for the media who report on Jackson’s every move. Time and again, the musical takes a beat to remind us how very little privacy Jackson had both in life and in death – journalism, the show posits, is the enemy, a point reinforced by Rachel’s repeated, bizarre breaches of journalistic ethics.
To Nottage’s credit, the three Michaels are fairly well-written (and very well-performed, particularly in the case of Markus and Harris), and about as deep as one could expect from a script whose investigation of Jackson’s character flaws points fingers at everyone but the man in the mirror.
MJ the Musical runs until Nov. 2 at the CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre in Toronto.Matthew Murphy/Supplied
MJ The Musical is at its most enjoyable when the ensemble is dancing – that’s no surprise, given prolific choreographer-director Christopher Wheeldon’s involvement with the project. Wheeldon has a knack for creating vivid stage pictures that capture Jackson’s most iconic moments without feeling like frame-for-frame remakes of his videos or tours. Like any big touring show these days, MJ also makes frequent use of snazzy projections and videos – Derek McLane’s set is appropriately opulent and grand inside the spacious CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre.
Ultimately, it’s Markus’s performance that makes MJ The Musical something close to tolerable. His impression of the legend is spot-on, particularly when he’s grooving to the music – he manages to capture Jackson’s trademark vocal tics, as well.
But. But. But. Even when MJ starts to loosen into less of a musical and more of a concert, the question hangs in the air: Is it possible to separate the art from the artist? In the abstract, yes – that’s why tribute acts exist, and had the producers of MJ not decided to pursue a biographical approach to Jackson’s catalogue, the ethical frictions of such a piece of theatre might feel less scratchy.
As it stands, though, MJ is a glittering, woefully incomplete ode to one of the most important entertainers in history. The music sounds great; the dancing might see you attempt a moonwalk on your stroll home. But it seems we’re doomed to reassess Jackson’s legacy every few years – I’m sure we’ll do this again when the estate-approved biopic Michael drops in 2026. Once more, we’ll have to ask, likely while humming Thriller under our breath: How can we honour this tremendous, haunted individual if we never hear his whole story?
