The Michael Jackson Musical: 'MJ'

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The new, but previously well-attended, “MJ” reported a capacity of 63% and a gross of $603,989 across seven performances.


Although the Broadway League is not releasing figures for individual shows this season – a break from longstanding tradition – last week’s upward swing no doubt reflects strong box office results from two recently opened productions: MJ, the Michael Jackson musical, and last week’s big opener The Music Man starring Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster. Though the latter received mixed reviews from critics, box office and advance sales are thought to be strong.
 

The new, but previously well-attended, “MJ” reported a capacity of 63% and a gross of $603,989 across seven performances.
I know MJ is new, but the fact that it has a higher capacity than Phantom of the Opera, the longest running Broadway show in history, is… wow.
 

https://www.ebony.com/entertainment/mj-the-musical-glitters-like-a-glove/

MJ the Musical Glitters Like a Glove

  • By Miles Marshall Lewis
  • | February 9, 2022“If I’m not there to receive these ideas, God might give them to Prince,” Michael Jackson said once (to the director of This Is It, the documentary about rehearsals for his ill-fated farewell tour). A variation of the line plays as a punchline in the new Broadway musical MJ The Musical, one of several pieces of dialogue taken straight from his interviews or song lyrics. Score one for authenticity.

    Prince and Michael Jackson are the highest tentpoles of Black pop superstardom from the ’80s and ’90s this side of Whitney Houston. But when Prince released his first album, Jackson had already been used to number one hits, Beatlemania levels of fame and popularity for nine years. MJ shares the dramatic highs and lows of Jackson’s historic career up through 1992 rehearsals for the Dangerous World Tour, staging some of the most well-known African-American music on Broadway since Motown: The Musical or Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations.
MJ, written by Pulitzer-winning playwright Lynn Nottage, begins with the star doing a dynamic run-through of “Beat It” with his dancers and quickly settles into the plot: an MTV reporter searching for a deeper story than Jackson’s media-averse, soundbite answers reveal. Lead actor Myles Frost (of Netflix’s Family Reunion) nails all of the vigorous choreography and plays a mid-30s M.J. mainly by balling both fists, leading with his forehead (head down, eyes up) and speaking soft as a feather.

The MJ story finds its pathos in Joe Jackson, the late patriarch of the Jackson family, whom the play largely redeems as much as Lifetime’s recent authorized Janet Jackson documentary attempts. The play paints Papa Joe—who passed away four years ago—as a notoriously unforgiving taskmaster, but Nottage serves a twist by making the link between Michael Jackson’s demanding perfectionism (running his dancers through the motions) with his father’s unrelenting expectations.

The production acknowledges the original video choreography of Michael Peters, Gregg Burke and Vincent Paterson in MJ’s program. But with Halloween’s annual “Thriller” flashmobs desensitizing us all a little bit to those amazing moves, it’s refreshing that a few alterations were made (to “Thriller” in particular) by the musical’s director-choreographer Christopher Wheeldon.

Most major milestones of Michael Jackson’s overly documented lifespan are accounted for here: the Jacksons’ flight from Motown; producer Quincy Jones nicknaming him “Smelly”; the Off the Wall Grammy Awards snub and Thriller retribution; the Pepsi commercial disaster; even his growing addiction to Demerol afterwards. What’s only alluded to (predictably) are his child molestation allegations, which resurfaced even recently as the subject of HBO’s Leaving Neverland (2019).

Produced “by special arrangement with the Michael Jackson estate” according to the Playbill, no holds were barred reproducing his famous wardrobe choices (courtesy of designer Paul Tazwell) and his even more famous discography—solo hits (“Thriller,” “Bad”), Jackson 5 hits (“ABC,” “I’ll Be There”), The Wiz hits (“Ease on Down the Road”), outtakes (“Price of Fame”), fan favorites (“Smooth Criminal”) and not-so-favorites (“TabloidJunkie”). Though the whole enterprise sometimes feels like an excuse for dancing in the aisles, Michael Jackson’s fans certainly won’t leave disappointed.
 
"The Estate were very helpful, of course, in helping me find things that were perhaps a little less available online."


That line haunts me... - Does that mean The Estate has given him acces to concert materiale we have never seen before? I wonder what the estate has really. I just hope the archive and digitalize everything they have - and convert it to best possible quality.
 

Myles Frost, who plays the title character in “MJ,” has missed several weeks of performances in February due to a minor injury, the production confirmed Monday.
0018_Myles-Frost-and-cast-in-MJ_photo-by-Matthew-Murphy.jpg


Aramie Payton, one of the understudies for MJ, had been performing in the role from Feb. 4 through at least Feb. 26, he wrote on social media. Frost is expected to return to the production this week.


“Due to a minor foot injury, Myles has been out of the show, and Aramie has performed the role of Michael Jackson, along with understudy Darius Wright. Myles is expected back as ‘MJ’ this week,” the production said in a statement to Broadway News.
 
"The Estate were very helpful, of course, in helping me find things that were perhaps a little less available online."


That line haunts me... - Does that mean The Estate has given him acces to concert materiale we have never seen before? I wonder what the estate has really. I just hope the archive and digitalize everything they have - and convert it to best possible quality.
They most likely have almost every concert on tapes.
 
They most likely have almost every concert on tapes.

When you say every concert - is that all BAD concerts, DWT and HWT? Or was Victory and Triumph also recorded?

I just hope they have as much as possible. They should really preserve it well and make sure it is converted to the highest possible quality - maybe 4K. Then they could release a live performance on youtube every onci in a while.
 
When you say every concert - is that all BAD concerts, DWT and HWT? Or was Victory and Triumph also recorded?

I just hope they have as much as possible. They should really preserve it well and make sure it is converted to the highest possible quality - maybe 4K. Then they could release a live performance on youtube every onci in a while.
I'm not sure about Victory and Triumph tours. The footage that was shown on the jumbotrons during the concerts was recorded on tapes most likely like on Bad, Dangerous and History tours so someone probably has them. Remember that they were recorded on tape so they can't make them HD. Only concerts that are on film can be.
 
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But Wembley was on tape right? - I can live with that quality if they release Victory, Triumph and more BAD concerts. - Maybe with Stevie Wonder. The full concert where TWYMMF was live - and SC. - The concert with Titianna kissing MJ during TWYMMF.

I would of course prefer HD, 1080p og even 4K and Atmos Dolby sound. - BUT since that is not very likely to ever happen, I will be satisfied with a Wembley-like quality release if they just release some concerts....

Live performances is what made MJ the biggest star in the world - yet only 2 have been released, low budget releases noone outside fan circles know exists. - Make some J5, The Jacksons, BAD and Dangerous concerts available on Netflix and Youtube. - People wanna see MJ live.
 
But Wembley was on tape right? - I can live with that quality if they release Victory, Triumph and more BAD concerts. - Maybe with Stevie Wonder. The full concert where TWYMMF was live - and SC. - The concert with Titianna kissing MJ during TWYMMF.

I would of course prefer HD, 1080p og even 4K and Atmos Dolby sound. - BUT since that is not very likely to ever happen, I will be satisfied with a Wembley-like quality release if they just release some concerts....

Live performances is what made MJ the biggest star in the world - yet only 2 have been released, low budget releases noone outside fan circles know exists. - Make some J5, The Jacksons, BAD and Dangerous concerts available on Netflix and Youtube. - People wanna see MJ live.
They can look a lot better than Wembley. That was from a low quality VHS copy. Most concerts they have are probably master tapes. They could look like the Dirty Diana New York 88 performance we have or like Yokohama. Dangerous Tour concerts could look even like Bucharest if they are from master tapes.

Wembley and Bucharest are on their official Youtube channel so many know about them now.
 
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Wembley and Bucharest are available on Youtube - and I really think it's a great way in for many new fans.

So MJ could benefit from having more concerts available. If people see his live concerts, they might wanna check out the musicvideos etc.
So I think in the long run it would also be economically a good idea to make more concerts available. But if you only look on 5 years periode, it might not be a good economical decision, but over 20+ years I have no doubt it will be a good decision and make many more people interested in MJ and his videos, concerts and songs.
 
I'm not sure about Victory and Triumph tours. The footage that was shown on the jumbotrons during the concerts was recorded on tapes most likely like on Bad, Dangerous and History tours so someone probably has them. Remember that they were recorded on tape so they can't make them HD. Only concerts that are on film can be.
This is why I'm still holding out hope for Munich 1992 in it's entirety, either via leak like Oslo, Bremen, and Copenhagen, or via an official release like Wembley 88.
 
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