One of Broadway’s biggest and most divisive new productions will make its inevitable Australian debut, with the announcement that MJ the Musical is set to open at the Sydney Lyric Theatre in February 2025. Loaded with more than 25 of Michael Jackson’s hit songs and a bonkers amount of creative talent both on stage and off, the musical also conveniently sidesteps any references to Jackson’s history of child sex abuse allegations.
While audiences have been divided since MJ opened in New York in February 2021, there’s no arguing that it has been a success – the show has been seen by more than a million people on Broadway, and nominated for 10 Tony Awards, winning four. A US tour of MJ began performances in Chicago in August, and a London production will begin in March 2024, with a German production also opening in December that year.
With the book penned by two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage, the musical takes audiences back to 1992 and inside the creation of the iconic Dangerous World Tour, imagining that an MTV journalist and her camera operator are invited into the rehearsal room. Through Jackson’s imagined personal lens, the story delves way back to his early days as a child star in The Jackson Five and the influences that shaped him into a globally dominating pop star. Similar to the selective storyline of Elvis: A Musical Revolution, this jukebox tribute chooses to end the story when its titular celebrity is back on top of the world, turning a blind eye to the man’s troubled history of (allegedly) inflicting abuse and his eventual fall from grace.
With multiple actors playing Michael Jackson at various points in his life, the OG production was a breakout role for Broadway newcomer Myles Frost, with an undeniably slick production value and incredible choreography led by Christopher Wheeldon, an artistic associate of The Royal Ballet. Dotted with earworms like ‘Beat It’, ‘Smooth Criminal’, ‘Man in The Mirror’ and ‘Thriller’, it also takes audiences on a journey through the history and legacy of Black popular music in the States. However, as noted by The New York Times, Nottage compromised by “noting [Jackson’s] minor oddities while avoiding the most troubling accusations against him”.
MJ the Musical comes to Australia courtesy of producer Michael Cassel, along with original Broadway producers Lia Vollack, John Branca and John McClain; and support from the NSW Government through Destination NSW.
Casting for the Australian production will begin immediately. A waitlist to be first to access pre-sale tickets when they are released is now available at mjthemusical.com.au.