Diane and I missed seeing MJ: The Musical but the soundtrack was just released. Although MJ: The Musical opened to mixed reviews in February 2022, it made money and the musical won four Tony awards including Best Actor in a Musical for Myles Frost in the title role as well as Best Choreography, Best Lighting Design and Best Sound Design.
Perhaps MJ: The Musical will show up next year with a touring company. Jukebox musicals tend to be popular with regional theater audiences. Are you a fan of Michael Jackson’s music? GRADE: B+
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Performer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | “Beat It“ | Michael Jackson | Myles FrostJohn EdwardsAyana GeorgeApollo LevineTavon Olds-SampleLamont Walker II | 2:45 |
| 2. | “Jackson 5 Medley (The Love You Save / I Want You Back / ABC)” | The Corporation | Christian WilsonDevin Trey CampbellJohn EdwardsApollo LevineLamont Walker II | 3:28 |
| 3. | “I’ll Be There“ | Berry GordyBob WestWillie HutchHal Davis | Ayana GeorgeChristian WilsonMyles Frost | 3:32 |
| 4. | “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough / Blame It on the Boogie / Dancing Machine“ | JacksonMick JacksonDave JacksonElmar KrohnHal DavisDon FletcherDean Parks | Myles FrostTavon Olds-SampleOriginal Broadway Cast of MJ | 5:32 |
| 5. | “Stranger in Moscow“ | Jackson | Myles FrostJohn EdwardsAyana GeorgeApollo LevineTavon Olds-SampleLamont Walker II | 2:17 |
| 6. | “You Can’t Win” | Charlie Smalls | Antoine L. SmithTavon Olds-SampleCast | 1:59 |
| 7. | “I Can’t Help It” | Stevie WonderSusaye Greene | Tavon Olds-SampleMyles Frost | 2:28 |
| 8. | “Keep the Faith” | JacksonGlen BallardSiedah Garrett | Apollo LevineTavon Olds-SampleJohn EdwardsAyana GeorgeLamont Walker II | 1:31 |
| 9. | “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’“ | Jackson | Tavon Olds-SampleMyles FrostCast | 2:33 |
| 10. | “Earth Song / They Don’t Care About Us“ | Jackson | Myles FrostCast | 3:36 |
| Total length: | 29:41 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Performer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | “Billie Jean“ | Jackson | Myles FrostJohn EdwardsAyana GeorgeApollo LevineTavon Olds-SampleLamont Walker II | 3:27 |
| 2. | “Smooth Criminal“ | Jackson | Myles FrostJohn EdwardsAyana GeorgeApollo LevineTavon Olds-SampleLamont Walker II | 2:31 |
| 3. | “Victory Tour (For the Love Of Money / Can You Feel It)” | JacksonJackie JacksonKenneth GambleLeon HuffAnthony Jackson | Quentin Earl DarringtonTavon Olds-SampleRaymond BaynardJohn EdwardsAyana GeorgeApollo LevineLamont Walker IIZelig Williams | 3:06 |
| 4. | “Keep the Faith (Reprise)” | JacksonGlen BallardSiedah Garrett | Myles Frost, Quentin Earl DarringtonCast | 1:49 |
| 5. | “She’s Out of My Life“ | Tom Bahler | Myles FrostTavon Olds-Sample | 2:58 |
| 6. | “Human Nature“ | Steve PorcaroJohn Bettis | Myles FrostWhitney BashorCast | 2:34 |
| 7. | “Bad / 2 Bad” | JacksonDallas AustinSwedienRene | Myles FrostCast | 1:30 |
| 8. | “Thriller“ | Rod Temperton | Myles FrostChristian WilsonQuentin Earl DarringtonJohn EdwardsAyana GeorgeApollo LevineTavon Olds-SampleLamont Walker II | 4:01 |
| 9. | “Man in the Mirror“ | Glen Ballard, Siedah Garrett | Cast | 4:07 |
| 10. | “Finale (Jam / Black or White / Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’)” | JacksonReneSwedienTeddy RileyBill Bottrell | Cast | 3:55 |
| Total length: | 29:58 |
Not a fan of his music, or of his creepy fascination with little boys.
Steve, I was always disturbed by Michael Jackson’s many surgeries…on top of everything else.
I liked a lot of his earlier music, especially his songs with the Jackson 5 and the solo albums produced by Quincy Jones, but over the years his behavior became progressively more alarming and after the mid-1980s I was disinclined to buy his records because I didn’t want my money going to fund his “predilections”. When it comes to MJ, you just can’t separate the dancer from the dance.
Deb, my appreciation for Michael Jackson’s music follows your arc. Loved the Jackson 5. Love the Quincy Jones albums. But my interest in Michael Jackson tanked with BAD which was a bad album followed by more and more dull albums with inferior songs. News of Jackson’s dark activities increased until the bizarre end.
Not in the least.
Michael, Juke Box musicals tend to do will and travel well for touring companies. We’ve seen MAMMA MIA! (ABBA), AIN’T TOO PROUD (The Temptations), GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY (Bob Dylan), THE CHER SHOW (Cher), MOVIN’ OUT (Billy Joel), ROCK OF AGES (glam metal bands), MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET (Johnny Cash, Elvis, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis), JERSEY BOYS (The Four Seasons), BEAUTIFUL (Carole King), TINA (Tina Turner), and WE WILL ROCK YOU (Queen).
Won’t watch this because I never was a fan of Michael and his music – with one exception:
In the early 1990s our granddaughter had many school problems so my late wife had an idea. She promised her that we’d take her to Florida for a 10 day holiday trip in the autumn holidays in late October – if she got good reports in English language.
And she made it!
So I booked a cheap flight (yes, there were some available), a car and 4 or 5 nights in a “Disney Villa” where we could use a shuttle bus to reach Epcot etc.
Of course the little girl wanted to see the Captain EO 3D movie and once was not enough so I accompanied her a second time – and enjoyed the 3D effects – and then my wife took her for a third viewing, both while the other partner was waiting outside …
It really was fantastic though I’m not such a fan of amusement parks, but Orlando …
Then we did a tour through South Florida, traveling home to Germany from Miami.
A really wonderful holiday!
Wolf, things might not be as wonderful in Florida today. The Covid-19 BA.5 variant is raging. The temperatures are in the 90s (same with the humidity) and rental cars–if you can get one–cost a fortune!
George, I know – and that goes for the whole USA, I’m sorry to say.
But 30 years ago it was really great so we continued to come, also I did many times come alone.
And when Hungary became part of the Visa Waiver Program I got my new wife to come to Florida too – and she really liked it so we repeated that USA visit three times as long as the € was worth so much (almost 1.5$). Now it’s almost parity, 1€ = 1.01 $ and don’t even think about how the USA “developed” under Trump …
Wolf, the number of tourists visiting Niagara Falls in 2022 remains lower than Pre-pandemic levels. My sisters who live in Florida tell me that tourist numbers are now approaching Pre-pandemic levels there.
I’m fairly indifferent to Jackson’s music with the exception of Billie Jean. The rest of my family loved him. My crazy sister’s little girl wanted to name her new brother Michael Jackson.
I too saw that Jackson show at Epcot that Wolf mentioned. I went with another one of my sisters.
It’s hard for me to get past the pedophile allegations. I realize he wasn’t convicted but I believe that’s more of a justice system issue rather than actual innocence.
Similarly, I used to be a huge fan of Bill Cosby. Now I view him as an extremely lucky predator and rapist.
Beth, I have similar feelings about Bill Cosby and Michael Jackson. Both had immense talent…but their demons destroyed them in the end.
And they didn’t wait till anything like the end to start indulging them…it’s horribly remarkable they were even able to buy their way out of trouble for so many years.
Todd, the pattern of “buying the way out of trouble” is happening in Cleveland with Deshaun Watson paying off the women he sexually harassed…allegedly.
What Deb said goes here too. You can’t separate the music from the behavior. Yes, I liked some of the early stuff in particular, up to THRILLER. But where is “Ben,” the love song to a rat?
I admit it would be nice to have that kind of power, where people would close bookstores for you and let you shop to your heart’s content in privacy, but there was something pathological about the guy. I liked the reference to another of his notorious episodes in Warren Zevon’s “Splendid Isolation”:
“Michael Jackson in Disneyland
Don’t have to share it with no one else
Lock the gates, Goofy take my hand
And lead me through the World of Self.
“Splendid isolation
I don’t need no one
Splendid isolation.”
Jeff, over the years I was more and more concerned about Michael Jackson’s constant surgeries. My students told me he was trying to turn himself into Diana Ross!
And she could recommend a few plastic surgeons.
My early impression of Michael Jackson, from his father’s overbearing control of the Jackson Five, was “sad.” That went away for a bit during the “Beat It” and “Billie Jean” era, but from the time his hair caught on fire to the end of his life, I just thought of him as sad. Whatever his mental illness was, for all his success he led an incredibly unfulfilled life.
Jeff, I had forgotten the “Hair On Fire” incident. Another bizarre chapter in Michael Jackson’s life!
I have one memory re: Jackson. When MTV was pretty new, a bunch of Megan’s friends came over to watch the premiere of THRILLER. It was 1983, I think.Watching those 12-year old girls watch that groundbreaking video was enormous fun. I think most of the rest of his career is better forgotten for me.
Patti, no doubt THRILLER, both the album and the MTV video, was a high point of Michael Jackson’s career.
To Hell with that child-molesting freak.
Bob, but Michael Jackson was a great dancer…like you!
I know some people (not many, but puzzling) who absolutely, for no real reason, refuse to believe he ever did anything inappropriate with a child (except just maybe dangling his infant child over a balcony).
Some of his music was pleasant enough, and the video that explicated “Beat It” did make a lot more sense in the early going, with a Jackson frustrated he couldn’t do anything to help end street violence than by its end, where he dances streetfighters into harmonious co-existence..
Todd, as other commentators have pointed out, Michael Jackson’s music declined in his later years as his celebrity soared.