A remarkable thing occurs just as the opening scene in “MJ the Musical” concludes.
It takes place in a dramatically lit industrial rehearsal studio crammed with dancers, backup singers, musicians, and technicians preparing for Michael Jackson’s landmark 1992 Dangerous World Tour. Roman Banks, the triple-threat performer playing the adult Jackson (MJ), walks onto the stage just as the familiar synthesized strains of “Billie Jean” begin, as if MJ travels with a personal soundtrack that announces his much-anticipated entrances. As the music transitions into the more upbeat “Beat It” and the dancers start to move, Banks-as-MJ steps forward and immediately becomes the focal point of a four-minute adrenaline rush-of-a-production number.
So effective is the illusion of a live performance by the actual King of Pop — complete with his singular look, signature moves, and immediately recognizable high register voice and vocal hiccups — that it is met by two distinctive and prolonged waves of applause.
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The first is an explosive reaction by an appreciative audience to a tremendous performance. But just as the ovation tapers, a second and wholly unexpected wave ascends. It’s a louder, longer, and more raucous aftershock, as if those in attendance have been propelled into a state of suspended disbelief by the bright lights, pulsating music, and a portrayal that is more personification than impersonation or imitation, and are applauding Jackson himself.
Other backstage biographical jukebox musicals the likes of “Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations,” “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical,” and “Jersey Boys” — where an artist or group’s musical catalog serves as the show’s score and drives a retrospective narrative about that artist or group — strive for but rarely achieve that state of suspended disbelief. They can only dream of that second wave of response.
Even here, in a production that works overtime to resurrect the man and his music, such a response proves unsustainable. This is due, in large part, to the nature of the jukebox musical as well as the nature of the man.
“MJ the Musical,” which opened on Broadway in 2021, chronicles the major milestones of and traumatic moments in Jackson’s life by way of flashbacks typically triggered during an interview with an MTV producer (Mary Kate Moore) during rehearsals. It’s through this device that we experience younger versions of MJ (Jamaal Fields-Green and Bane Griffith) and performances of old Jackson 5 hits such as “I’ll Be There,” “ABC,” and “Dancing Machine.”
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The show also provides insight into Jackson’s creative process and significant influencers, most dramatically captured in an extended prologue to “Smooth Criminal,” where Jackson dances with and reinvents the signature moves of Fred Astaire (Matteo Marretta), Bob Fosse (understudy Zion Mikhail Pradier), and the Nicholas Brothers (Chelsea Mitchell-Bonsu and Brion Marquis Watson). The elaborate production number that follows puts those moves on display.
The show is at its best when showcasing Jackson’s music in these lavish, thoroughly entertaining, and often mesmerizing production numbers, which are driven by a sizable, superb orchestra under Victor Simonson’s direction. They are bolstered by an exceptionally talented ensemble of singer-dancers and emboldened by Natasha Katz’s Tony Award-winning lighting design, Gareth Owen’s Tony Award-winning sound design, Derek McLane’s brilliantly conceived scenic design, vibrant eye-candy projections by Peter Nigrini, and spot-on period costuming by Paul Tazewell.
Tony Award-winning director Christopher Wheeldon’s background as a renowned choreographer in the world of ballet is put to good use in the orchestration and seamless staging of these musical theater moments.
But all too typical of jukebox musicals, these moments significantly overshadow the story being told between them, which then require drastic measures — such as the fictional and rather contrived MTV interview — to bring it to the forefront.
The storytelling isn’t helped by it being filtered through the Michael Jackson Estate, which sanctioned this musical and resulted in its focus on pre-scandal 1992 and its overly sympathetic portrait of the artist as a victimized young man. Sure, “MJ the Musical” addresses father Joseph’s (a dynamic Devin Bowles) abusive childrearing and MJ’s addiction to painkillers, but it offers nothing we don’t already know.
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Despite the best efforts of two-time Pulitzer-winning playwright Lynn Nottage, the telling of Jackson’s story seems forced at best and, at worst, heavy-handed. It often struggles to balance the verbiage that is biographical with that which simply serves as the connective tissue that takes us from one production number to the next.
“Listen to my music,” MJ tells the MTV producer as she probes for the insight and disclosure that is never provided. “It gives you all the answers you need.” If the creatives behind “MJ the Musical” heeded this advice and generated a show that was more musical revue and less imposed exposition, it would have ended the way it began: with a second wave ovation from an enthralled audience.
MJ THE MUSICAL
Book by Lynn Nottage. Directed and choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon. Presented by Broadway in Boston. At Citizens Opera House, 539 Washington St.. Through July 7. Tickets from $40. broadwayinboston.com
Bob Abelman is an award-winning theater critic who formerly wrote for The Austin Chronicle. Connect with him on Facebook.