Thursday night (18 September), a very glittery be-hatted and single-gloved crowd turned up in their white socks and dancing shoes to see 'MJ The Musical' at Her Majesty’s Theatre in Melbourne. As opening nights go, it was a fittingly spectacular event befitting a world-famous musical, as directed and choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon.
In this story, we follow the narrative of an MTV journalist played by Penny McNamee ('Home And Away') and her hilarious camera man, played by Yashith Fernando. We’re following them in the lead up to 1992s 'Dangerous' tour, but we also bounce back and forth to the very beginnings of The Jackson 5, from their hit song 'ABC' to an early 'Soul Train' performance.
MJ as an adult is played by Ilario Grant in this ridiculously exciting and colourful four-time Tony Award and Olivier-winning production. Ilario literally inhabits MJ's adult body in this incredibly demanding role and brings a true vulnerability and truth to this story, all while singing, dancing and acting.
The public's earliest memories of this The Jacksons revolve around the 'Soul Train'/Motown years. They were so famous in the US that they had an animated cartoon in 1971 that aired early Saturday mornings for kids. This was truly major league for a family who lived in a humble two bedroom house in Gary Indiana, an industrial steel town at the time. It wasn’t Detroit. It wasn’t Chicago. It wasn’t known to be a music city at the time, but they made it to Motown. And then the world.
Image © Daniel Boud
Joseph Jackson (perfectly played by Derrick Davis) was an authoritarian and a tough as nails father who pushed his kids to make a buck and be a success, a strategy that certainly worked or we wouldn’t have this musical legacy today, although his role might well come with a trigger alert for anyone who grew up with such a parent. As everyone knows now, it came at a pretty heavy cost to his children.
The role of the family matriarch Katherine Jackson is played by Josslynn Hlenti Afoa. She is absolutely glorious of voice and brings heart and humanity to a sometimes unsympathetic role, always advocating for her husband, sometimes to the emotional and physical detriment of her children.
As the tale is told, MJ is all perfectionist on overdrive, caring only for creative quality and not worried about the expense of the tour, which is a problem to his management. Ilario brings the sweetness and innocence of MJ to his role, which also references his very special boy status as an artist who no one ever said no to, which ultimately contributed to MJ's early demise. There is a reference to his addiction to pain killers, but it’s not a central part of the story.
Image © Daniel Boud
During the show, we cycle through four MJs in various periods of his life and Little Michael is played by William Bonner, an 11 year old with all the moves. This kid brings a lot of soul and an incredible performance to this production. His real life father is Conlon Bonner, who plays both Tito and Quincy Jones in the show, so they play off each other and both have incredible voices. Perhaps because this show is so focused on the conflict and difficult relationship between fathers and sons, it’s lovely to know that they’re performing together.
For my money, the absolute stand-out of the many Michaels in this production is Liam Damons from Brisbane in his professional theatre debut. Keep your eyes on this actor. He’s going to do even greater things.
The monster hits are all covered in this show, including 'Billie Jean', 'Beat It', 'Bad', 'Man In The Mirror', 'Wanna Be Startin’ Something' and plenty more. There is a magical and gorgeously choreographed scene where MJ is dancing with his inspirational mentors of movement – Fred Astaire, The Cotton Club dancers and Bob Fosse.
The costumes, pyrotechnics and music for the entire show are vivid and note perfect. 'Thriller' is an absolute extravaganza – a feast for the eyes and ears, ending with an all-cast version of 'Black Or White' that saw a very happy audience up on their feet and showered in glittery confetti.
I highly recommend this big night out at the theatre, you can’t 'Beat It'.
