David & Hannah Mirvish/MJ, book by Lynn Nottage, music supervision by David Holcenberg, choreographed and directed by Christopher Wheeldon, CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre, until Nov. 2. Tickets here.
How successful is MJ the musical? Let me count the ways.
The show opened on Broadway in 2022, was nominated for 10 Tonys, won four, and is still playing. It opened in London’s West End in 2024, was nominated for three Olivier Awards, won one, and is still playing.
And if you can believe it, the version that just landed in Toronto is part of a 71-city national tour that has been going strong since 2023.
To say that MJ is a triumph is an understatement.
Background
Jukebox musicals seem to be the name of the game these days. You take an artist’s songbook and build a show around it, either creating a fictional story like Mamma Mia around ABBA, or biographical depictions like Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, with all manner of variations between.
MJ is of the biographical variety, the subject matter being one of the most iconic and influential artists to ever reign atop the entertainment industry — namely Michael Jackson.
The inevitable question becomes, where on earth do you even begin to create a bio show about such a luminary?
It helps when you have a creative team that is artistic royalty.
The book writer, Lynn Nottage, has won two Pulitzer Prizes for Drama — Ruined in 2009, and Sweat in 2017.
As for the show’s director/choreographer Christopher Weeldon, he is simply one of the ballet world’s beloved darlings. Anyone who follows The National Ballet of Canada knows Wheeldon’s acclaimed full length works, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (2011) and The Winter’s Tale (2014).
I’d say this is overkill for a jukebox musical.
Incidentally, Wheeldon won both the Tony and Olivier Awards for Best Choreography.
Structure
Wheeldon refused to do a full cradle to grave biography. Instead he chose a single pivotal moment in Jackson’s life as an anchor, with the musical being structured around the 1992 rehearsals for the Dangerous World Tour.
This way, Jackson’s creative process is explored in real time and as rehearsals unfold, so do memories and flashbacks.
The overall premise is that Rachel (Kristin Stokes) and her camera man Alejandro (Kevin Cruz) are making a documentary to capture how Jackson’s ideas transform into reality. Thus, questions can be asked that make MJ reflect on his life story.
In other words, MJ the musical is a portrait of an artist that focuses on character and craft, and is not just a parade of events.
The Characters
In reality there are three Michaels.
Little Michael (Bryce A. Holmes) is the child prodigy, the star of The Jackson 5, working in Motown under Berry Gordy (J. Daughtry) and being dominated by his father Joseph (Devin Bowles).
Michael (Brandon Lee Harris) is the rising artist, from his late teens to his mid 20s, going out on his own, from group act to solo superstar, defining his signature and solo identity, and working with Quincy Jones. These are the years that produce Off the Wall, Thriller and Bad.
MJ (Jordan Markus) is the adult Michael who is the focus of Rachel’s documentary as he creates material for the Dangerous World Tour. He is the icon, the fully formed global entertainer who struggles with fame, pressure, and legacy, but most of all with the drive for perfection.
It is absolutely uncanny how all three actors resemble the real thing, particularly Markus as MJ — in speech and carriage and song and dance. The characterizations are quite remarkable.
Also on board is the Jacksons’ long suffering and bullied mother Katherine (Rajané Katurah) and of course MJ’s brothers, not to mention MJ’s beleagured staff, crew and dancers who have to contend with his endless changes, refinements and even his throwing out rehearsed numbers for new ones as the opening date looms.
And then there is his accountant Dave (Jed Resnik), who keeps reminding MJ of his over-spending.
The Choreography
The cast of this musical is supremely talented because almost 90% of them are playing more than one character. More to the point from Little Michael on up, they can perform Wheeldon’s own idiomatic take on Jackson’s signature movement vocabulary.
Credit is given in the program to the original co-choreographers who worked with Jackson to create the look, but what is quite remarkable is how Wheeldon has added more intricacies to every part of the body in motion, and that is saying something if you think about Michael Jackson dancing.
How can there be more? Nonetheless, the choreography is vintage Michael Jackson but on steroids and speed.
There is also an interesting insert at the beginning of the second act.
MJ is asked who his influences have been and he rhymes off Fred Astaire, Bob Fosse, the Nicholas Brothers, James Brown, Jackie Wilson, and the Isley Brothers, and at each mention, that artist is portrayed on stage.
I’m imagining that Wheeldon must have had so much fun choreographing these homages.
The longest segment is given over to a Fosse number that could have been created by the man himself.
This section gives the musical real substance.
The Production Values
This show dazzles on every level.
Between Natasha Katz’s lighting and Peter Nigrini’s projections, the stage seems ablaze in light and colour, and I can genuinely say you simply don’t know where the light sources end and the projections begin. That’s how slick the visual effects are. This is technology at the height of stagecraft.
Scenes dissolve easily in and out through Derek McLane’s moveable set pieces which the cast brings on and off with them, while costume designer Paul Tazewell has come up with some really clever ideas for changes.
For example, as The Jackson 5 progress through their career they go through jacket changes which happens seamlessly by one of their darkened fellow cast mates behind helping put a jacket on while taking the other off, making MJ the show with probably the fastest on-stage costume changes I’ve ever seen.
Sober Thoughts
Joseph Jackson had dreams of a career in music, and was even in a band at some point, but ended up being a crane operator in a factory in Gary, Indiana raising a family of nine children in poverty.
When this frustrated musician recognized the musical talent in his sons, he formed them into a musical group, carting them to endless talent contests until they got their big break and became The Jackson 5.
Even then he made them rehearse and rehearse beyond the point of reason, rendering Jackson Senior a bully and an abuser. No wonder Little Michael shouts out that he hates his father.
But, from this crucible of fire was forged an extraordinary talent with a singular identity that is instantly recognizable worldwide.
One has to admire the musical MJ for showing us Michael Jackson the consummate artist and his struggles with creativity, while mercifully not straying into the darker waters that tarnish his name.
Lynn Nottage’s book is a class act.
Final Takeaway
Lest we forget, there are the 25 revered songs from the Michael Jackson songbook performed to some of the showiest choreography you’ve ever seen, with each production number getting more extravagant as MJ move to its surprise ending.
The song integration itself is quite clever and each one echoes the mood of the moment.
Sometimes it’s as simple as a Jackson 5 hit song.
Other times it’s soul-searching like the Man in the Mirror, rendered even more haunting by MJ’s reflection in McLane’s actual circle of mirrors. The worst moment for MJ, however, is when pressure finally causes a breakdown that triggers a nightmare version of Thriller.
MJ is much more than a jukebox musical.
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