Two seriously Bad days!
Music of black origin has an incredible legacy of artistes going back many decades. As a black kid growing up in the UK during the 60’s and 70’s, The Jackson 5 were one of my favourites and let’s be honest who wouldn’t fall in love with a cute 9 year old black boy with a beautiful Afro who sang and danced like nobody else I’d ever seen before. That drew us all in, my whole family was hooked. Wind forward to 1992 and the acclaimed ‘King of Pop’ is in rehearsal for his Dangerous (album) world tour. Welcome to MJ The Musical (Prince Edward Theatre), two unforgettable days of trying to be perfect.
Many people have said many things about Michael Jackson and whatever your view of the person and his complexities and much discussed lifestyle, I doubt anybody would argue about him being one of the all-time greats when it comes to pop music entertainment. This pulsating production shows how he would push himself, and those around him, to the very limit in trying to achieve the, unachievable perfection. It was physically, mentally and emotionally brutal but the results were incredible. I still remember the first time I saw that unforgettableThriller video and how my dad, mister phlegmatic or fast asleep from working on the railway, was leaping out of his comfy armchair and imitating zombies! We watched it so my times we had learned the lyrics in less than one day.
This show captures that energy and inimitable talent with a cast led by Jamaal Fields-Green who plays the role of Michael as though it were a paean to his idol. The sparks fly when he dances and the voice is MJ incarnate, just close your eyes and imagine. Before taking on the role, he talked of the “huge responsibility of playing Michael Jackson on stage” and what he does is capture the essence, so it feels like there is an authenticity in his performance rather than an impersonation. The set pieces are spectacular on Derek McLane’s set which has the sole intention of making every song a hit in sight and sound. Chuck in Christopher Wheeldon’s scintillating choreography and you get the impression that they too are trying to achieve what Jackson was in that rehearsal studio. My own personal favourite being Earth Song which took the whole experience to another level. Closely followed by the “zombie song” as my dad used to call it.
The other characters are an interesting bunch with Lydia Sterling particularly impressive as his ma and Mitchell Zhangazha a precocious and incredibly loveable young Michael. However, the inclusion of Rachel (Philippa Stefani), a reporter, and Alejandro (Fraser Stewart), a cameraman, are strange because this show is all about entertainment and not an attempt to delve into the controversial side of his life and as such those characters are pointless because there is no attempt to seriously explore the seamier side of the story. And if they had it would have jarred and been completely out of context.
However, in terms of unashamed big-time, big hits entertainment it is Bad, so Bad in fact that MJ himself, the original Bad boy, would have loved it.
MJ The Musical – www.london.mjthemusical.com
