The songs and stories heard in MJ the Musical, coming to The Straz Feb. 25 – March 2, are from throughout most of Michael Jackson’s life and career. It’s set two days before the beginning of his 1992-’93 Dangerous world tour and that would not seem to be a random choice.
By the end of the tour, the first accusations of child sexual abuse had been made against Jackson. These and similar claims would dog Jackson the rest of his life, despite the fact that criminal charges made in 2005 resulted in not guilty verdicts. (Want more info? Google it.)
Rehearsals for the Dangerous Tour, then, may have been the last time focus on Jackson would concentrate on his music and performances.
Jackson already was tabloid fodder. His eccentricities were covered with as much cruel humor as hack writers and editors thought they could get away with.
Regardless, Jackson was still adored by fans around the world. Concerts sold out. Records soared quickly to the top of the charts. Video debuts were events, at least for MTV and its viewers.
Jackson, who died in 2009, still is adored by fans around the world. That’s why MJ the Musical exists.
Jackson’s meteoric rise to then-unimagined heights of fame in the 1980s came with all sorts of hemming and hawing from naysayers, attributing it to marketing, music videos, the sway of the masses, whatever.
Here are the real keys to Jackson’s success: great music, great performances and the strange (to many) notion that music could be a positive, even healing, force in the world.
Cue up Off the Wall, the album that sent Jackson into new levels of popularity. He would transcend even these with Thriller, but let’s start here.
Off the Wall was his first adult solo album. It featured songs by him or that he chose. He chose Quincy Jones to produce.
It was a monster. Press play on your music player of choice. “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough” is undeniable and the rest of the disc confirms that Jackson had hit artistic paydirt that translated into commercial gold. And multi-platinum.
Thriller followed in 1982 and left everything and everyone in its dust. His singles dominated radio. His videos dominated MTV after the network’s racist programming dictates were publicly pilloried.
Thriller suggested Jackson could do no wrong as a musician and performer. It also seemingly suggested to Jackson that he could be all things to all fans. Or that he should be.
The albums Bad (1987) and Dangerous (1991), though filled with hits, felt more calculated. Jackson seemed determined to achieve a precise balance of R&B, dance, balladry, rock and pop – a mix that would win over any and all listeners and silence all naysayers.
It didn’t work out that way. Both albums were huge hits – they could hardly have been anything else – but lacked the freshness, the spark of inspiration that made Off the Wall and Thriller essential.
Sure, Jackson wanted to sell a lot of records, but he seemed to need more than that. He wanted to heal the world. And he wanted the world to recognize him for that. And in that swirling mass of talent, ambition, ego, hubris, genuine love and paralyzing self-doubt existed Michael Jackson.
Jackson was by no means perfect as a human or even as an entertainer. He was an adult (although one wonders if he saw himself that way) and he made decisions, good and bad. But if anyone can be called a victim of their own success, it’s Michael Jackson.
Tickets are now on sale for the Straz Center’s 24-25 Broadway season, which includes MJ The Musical. For more information, click here.