By Shor M. Masori in San Diego
From the first few numbers of MJ the Musical, one thing is clear: the show rises or falls on whether the actors playing Michael Jackson can make the audience believe, even for a moment, that they are watching the real thing.
At the San Diego Civic Theatre, they often did.
The touring production, presented by Broadway San Diego, gives audiences a look at Michael Jackson during rehearsals for his 1992 Dangerous World Tour through the lenses of MTV reporters. The frame lets the show move through different parts of Jackson’s life while still centering it on a precarious time for him. We see the child star, the young man becoming a solo artist, and the adult performer trying to build a show big enough to match the legend he had already created. For the Dangerous World Tour, the play shows MJ putting himself at great financial liability to try to make a ‘perfect’ performance to keep himself from irrelevance.
The strongest part of the production is the four performers who carry the different versions of Michael. Jordan Markus, as MJ, captures the voice, the movement, and the careful way Jackson carried himself between pain and whimsy.
Brandon Lee Harris plays Michael with a smoothness that helps the transition between the younger and older versions seamlessly. Harris and Markus’ voice acting was so in synch there were times my brother and I couldn’t tell who was singing as they transitioned between one another. Eric Wiltz, as Little Michael, is a standout. His voice is strong, his dancing is sharp, and at 9 years old he already understands how to hold a stage.
The show also gives Devin Bowles a demanding double role as Joseph Jackson, MJ’s father, and Rob, Michael’s manager. It takes a few minutes to adjust to seeing the same actor in both parts, especially because of how quickly he transitions between them in some scenes. Bowles separates them well through posture, voice, and manner. As Joseph, he brings out the pressure, discipline, and fear that shaped Michael’s childhood and future drive. As Rob, he becomes part of the professional world trying to keep the tour moving while sympathetic to MJ’s struggles.
The parents form much of the emotional center of the show. Joseph is shown as harsh and often abusive, pushing his children with little room for tenderness. Katherine, played by Rajané Katurah, is warmer, but the show does not let her off the hook completely. She is the voice of love in Michael’s life, but she also urges him forward and explains away some of Joseph’s behavior. The result is a family pressure cooker that keeps ambition, money, and pain at the center of MJ’s internal machinations.
The show presents Jackson as a perfectionist and a student. He watches the Isley Brothers, James Brown, Fred Astaire, and others, then folds what he learns into his own style. The show also pays tribute to Black musical history, with references and settings in the Cotton Club, Apollo Theater, and Soul Train.
The dancing is superb. Markus appears to glide across the stage as if the floor has no friction. The ensemble moves with the excellence the material (and MJ) requires.
The set helps carry the story through those different eras. A large window-like frame becomes a cityscape, a wall of graffiti, a performance space, and at one point a giant jukebox. My brother and I were both quite impressed with the projections and lighting. One of the best visual moments comes during a media-focused number, when the frame appears shattered and pieces of glass appear three dimensionally and on the projected wall to create moving depth.
The media is one of the show’s main antagonists. The musical touches on the tabloid stories around Jackson, including the hyperbaric chamber rumors, the skin bleaching accusations, and further questions about his changing appearance and off beat behavior. It connects some of that public scrutiny to real medical issues, including vitiligo and the burns Jackson suffered while filming a Pepsi commercial in 1984.
The show also addresses his use of painkillers, tying it to the aftermath of that accident and to the constant pain, physical and emotional, that seems to follow him. Those moments give the musical more weight. They also make the limits of the show clear. MJ is not a full accounting of Jackson’s life. By setting the story in 1992, during rehearsals for the Dangerous World Tour, the musical can stay with the artist before the later allegations and legal battles became inseparable from his public image. That may be dramatically practical, but it also means the audience is watching a carefully curated window into his life.
The audience did not come quietly. This was one of the loudest theater crowds I’ve ever been in. People cheered, called out, sang along loudly, and reacted to the performers as if they were at a concert. Most of that energy helped the show. Every so often, it became a little too much, especially when a group behind us thought they were in an episode of Mystery Science Theatre 3000 or watching Rocky Horror Picture Show with the amount they talked back to the stage. Still, the reaction showed the hold Jackson’s music and story continues to have.
The biggest cheers came for the songs everyone was waiting for, Thriller. The first act builds anticipation for it, and when it arrives, the crowd exploded. The show gives the number a slightly different start than many people may expect, and that choice helps subvert expectations and keep it fresh.
Another strong audience moment came when Michael speaks about wanting part of the tour to benefit AIDS causes. When cast members raised their hands to show how many had lost someone to AIDS, some people in the audience did too. It was a small moment that connected the stage to the room.
The Civic Theatre can sometimes make it hard to hear voices clearly over the music, and that happened here at times. The context and emotion still came through, but some lyrics and lines were swallowed. The production also uses a lot of bright lights and strobe-like effects, so be prepared for a light show.
By the end, the audience gave a standing ovation for several minutes. MJ the Musical gives fans the songs, the dancing, the glove, the hat, the moonwalk, and the thrill of watching performers try to recreate the precision that made Jackson famous.
It is also a show about a man who seemed afraid of becoming irrelevant, even after reaching a level of fame most famous performers only dream of. He is shown as someone always reaching for the next sound, the next move, the next effect, and the next way to make the audience feel that they had seen something worth remembering.
For anyone who loves Michael Jackson’s music, MJ the Musical is an easy recommendation. The song and dance alone is worth the ticket. For younger audience members like me who never had the chance to see Jackson live, the production offers an approximation of what Jackson’s shows may have felt like live. The show is not a referendum on Jackson’s life. It is a high-energy, carefully framed stage portrait of the artist in motion. For fans, that may be enough. For others, the frame may feel too narrow. Either way, the production makes clear why the music still fills a room.
Six performances are left:
*
Shor M. Masori is a freelance writer based in San Diego.