
Jordan Markus as MJ and the First National Tour Cast of MJ.
Photo by Matthew Murphy.
By Constance Garcia-Barrio
“MJ, the Musical,” onstage at the Academy of Music, sparkles with stunning choreography, chart-topping hits, and eye-popping special effects to tell the story of the iconic Michael Joseph Jackson.
Born in gritty industrial Gary, Indiana, Jackson moved to Encino, California with his family in 1971. Apart from the fame he earned with his brothers as one of the Jackson Five singing group, Michael was a highly influential solo entertainer who has sold more than one billion records worldwide. He also earned the rare honor of being inducted twice into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The Tony Award-winning musical centers on the development of Michael’s 1992 “Dangerous World” tour. As the show starts, the actors portraying the people who were involved in the production drift onto the stage. The keyboardist and other band members take their places on a low platform, while dancers enter and warm up with pliés, swoops, and seemingly impossible stretches. Mirrors rolled onto the stage amplify the activity as everyone awaits Michael’s arrival.

The Cast as The Jackson 5 in the National Tour of MJ. Photo by Matthew Murphy.
Rachel (Cecilia Petrush), a reporter, and her cameraman enter to film a documentary about the tour. Michael has agreed to the tour to help shore up his family’s shaky finances. The Jacksons intend the documentary to be a fluff piece to boost sagging record sales, but Rachel aims to unearth some of Michael’s secrets.
Three actors play Michael, each representing a different stage of his life: Little Michael (Bane Griffith), Middle Michael (Jacobi Kai) — both excellent singers and dancers — and Present Michael (Erik Hamilton), an exceptionally gifted performer.
Using different actors for Michaels’ varying ages life allows the show to present the backstory visually. We see Little Michael and his four brothers goaded by their father, Joseph (Devin Bowles) to achieve a caliber of skill that will make them professionals. Joseph believes that this achievement will save them from being crane operators in the steel mill, as he is.
At one point, Joseph strikes Middle Michael. Several biographies of the singer state that Joseph beat his sons “for their own good.” Joseph also ridicules Michael, who’s fast becoming famous, because he has acne. Katherine (Anastasia Talley) convincingly conveys love and supportiveness. Toward the show’s end, we hear her magnificent singing.
Hamilton stands out, even in a cast of dancers that dazzle with their precision and stamina. He seems to crowd a dozen steps into a nanosecond, smoothly executing Michael’s signature moves like the moonwalk, the robot, the crotch grab, toe dancing and more. He also nails the emotional tone of each scene.

Jordan Markus as MJ in the First National Tour of MJ. Photo by Matthew Murphy.
“MJ” pays homage to performers who inspired Michael, like singer, dancer, and musician James Brown, and the Isley Brothers, some of whose moves Jackson borrowed for his repertoire. The audience hears rousing renditions of “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag” and “Shout.” Fred Astaire, whom Michael idolized during childhood, is also mentioned.
The songs leave the audience raving, and the colorful costumes also elicit “ohs” and “ahs.” When Michael makes a ceremony of opening the box that contains his iconic sequined white glove and putting it on, he draws cheers.
The scenic designer, Tony Award winner Derek McLane, and lighting designer Natasha Katz, also a Tony winner, spring surprises on the audience. At the outset, the action unfolds in an ample gray space that could be a repurposed factory building. However, in the first dance scene, graffiti in screaming colors is projected on the walls, transforming the space. In other scenes, neon lights and bright bulbs along the walls add startling visuals.
The plain backdrop also provides a surface for projecting vintage images of places like New York City’s Cotton Club, where musicians like Duke Ellington, Fats Waller, and Louis Armstrong played. As musicians, they pioneered in ways Michael would later follow.
The scene that shows Michael hopelessly hooked on pills that allow him to perform almost superhumanly, honing the tour to perfection, deserves special mention. The stage looks like a carnival gone mad. A Ferris wheel is painted in the background, while dancers wearing grotesque masks swirl around Michael. Dark-red light floods the stage and a shadowy menacing figure looms over Michael then grabs him. It is an arresting portrayal of the toll of addiction.
Michael scaled the zenith of fame, “MJ” shows, but monumental accomplishments and perfectionism can bring with them loneliness and unbearable pressure that drugs may assuage, some scenes suggest. Michael’s words in an interview with Oprah Winfrey seem to confirm this.
“You travel the world, you see things, you meet people, …but there’s another side,” he told Winfrey during the segment.
Michael, who suffered from insomnia, died after requesting and receiving from his physician Propofol, a general anesthetic used in surgery.
“MJ,” written by Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage, honors performers whose style influenced Michael. Still, he may also have shared a heritage with Black Philadelphians whose families came North in the Great Migration.
“[Singing was the cheapest way you could [have fun] because there was not much money in Black families,” Katherine, Michael’s mother, once said in an interview. In “MJ,” Philadelphians can hear music born of a shared legacy that Michael Jackson updated and lifted to the world’s stage.
With its 41 songs, crackerjack dancers, and good actors, “MJ” proves a worthy tribute to its subject.
“MJ” will be on stage at the Academy of Music through Sunday, January 19. For more information, visit: www.mjthemusical.com. Tickets can be purchased by calling (215) 893-1999 or online at: www.ensembleartsphilly.org.
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