He is one of the greatest entertainers of all time. Now, Michael Jackson’s unique and unparalleled artistry is heading to the West End in the multiple Tony Award®-winning musical MJ.
Centred around the making of his 1992 Dangerous World Tour, MJ goes beyond the singular moves and signature sound of the star, offering a rare look at the creative mind and collaborative spirit that catapulted Jackson into legendary status.
Created by Tony Award®-winning Director / Choreographer Christopher Wheeldon, and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage, MJ will open at the Prince Edward Theatre in March 2024.
Two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Lynn Nottage, pens a syrupy story heavily reliant on the doubling of MJ’s stern father Joseph and his present-day manager Rob, both played by a mercurial Ashley Zhangazha. Jackson is a perpetual victim at the hands of financially ravenous record producers or the vampiric media. All he wants to do is 'Keep the Faith' and 'Heal the World'. Some musicals are pure escapism: step inside and forget your problems. Here you forget Jackson’s problems too. Or at least his estate wants you to.
Yet many of the details of Jackson’s sad, strange, entirely tragic story are both well known and impossible to view today entirely outside the prism of the allegations that dogged the last two decades of his life. MJ The Musical is not exactly an apologia, but while it refuses to indulge the tabloid image of Jackson as a freak, it’s arguably guilty of magical thinking in casting him exclusively as a victim. But does this make his art – as so beautifully honoured here – any less intoxicating? I’m not sure in the end it does.
2024 | West End |
West End |
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