Becoming MJ: ‘It’s the most difficult thing I’ve had to do in my life’
As journalism student Liam Damons prepares to make his professional theatre debut in MJ: The Musical, it’s apparent the production created ‘with the estate of Michael Jackson’ focuses on the glitz and glam component of the artist’s story.
Brisbane’s Liam Damons had never taken a dance class when he landed in Los Angeles, where he was to be thrown headfirst into the kind of rigorous training usually reserved for seasoned professionals.
The 20-year-old, who will make his professional debut as teenage Michael Jackson in the Sydney production of MJ: The Musical, which opens at the Sydney Lyric Theatre on March 8, does not have a musical theatre background. Until this came along, he was studying journalism at QUT University. “I love the storytelling aspect,” he says earnestly, sitting in the foyer of the Sydney Lyric Theatre. “That’s the reason I got into journalism in the first place, and I think of performing arts as journalism.”
It’s a sweet sentiment, but MJ: The Musical – the Tony-winning Broadway hit, which was created “by special arrangement with the estate of Michael Jackson” – is more a glitzy, immaculately choreographed puff piece than an expose.
Written by two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage, MJ is set over two days leading up to the first show of Jackson’s 1992 Dangerous world tour. One year before the allegations of child abuse first surfaced against the King of Pop.
By anchoring itself in the fevered world of tour rehearsals, it largely skirts the more troubling aspects of Jackson’s legacy, opting instead, for a thrilling showcase of the creative process of a demanding, impossibly ambitious artist. In brief: it’s for the fans, and if the Broadway crowd – who were practically levitating when this writer saw it last year – are any measure, they’ll be speaking in tongues.
The musical, which has toured nationally in America and made its way to the West End, has sold more than 1.5 million tickets globally, and made $US230m ($368m) at the box office, making it one of the highest-grossing musicals ever.
For Damons, the MJ experience has been a baptism by fire. “It’s been the most difficult thing I’ve had to do in my life,” he says.
“It was a leap into the deep end. My first ever dance class was with Rich + Tone – the Talauega brothers (choreographers who have danced with Michael Jackson and Madonna) – in Los Angeles. And my first singing lessons were in the lead-up to auditions.”
The MJ bootcamp – a relentless week-long training regimen designed to sculpt performers into Jacksonian machines – was as punishing as it sounds. Ballet, jazz, hip-hop, pilates, gym. Days running from 10am to 6pm, with sessions helmed by dance royalty, including Popin’ Pete, a pioneer of popping and locking. “They really prepared you as much as they could,” says Damon. “And now that I’m in the rehearsal period, I can see why.”
The role is personal for Damons, who grew up in South Africa before moving to Brisbane in 2013, and spent his childhood dancing to Jackson’s songs in the street with his friends. “It’s a full-circle moment, learning his dance moves,” he says.
“My dad brought us up with Michael Jackson,” he continues. “He went to the Dangerous concert and had all the DVDs and CDs.” His father, he says, has refused to watch any footage from rehearsals. “He’s saving it all until he comes to the theatre and watches it on opening night.”
Of course, stepping into Jackson’s penny loafers comes with its own brand of pressure. “It’s not easy to be kind to yourself when you’re playing somebody that wasn’t kind to himself,” Damon reflects. “That overlap – playing somebody who strove to be perfect and feeling like you’re not perfect yourself – it can do a number on you.”
That obsession with perfection is something that MJ’s director and choreographer, Christopher Wheeldon, understands intimately. Known for his edgy, contemporary ballets – his most recent, Oscar for The Australian Ballet – the director admits he was anxious about helming the musical. “When MJ came up, I thought, ‘Oh, good lord, this is so far from my comfort zone’,” he says.
“At first, it was quite an intimidating task,” he admits. “We wanted to anchor the show with a solid book and find ways to ensure the inspiration was very much Michael, without simply recreating his signature moves.”
The show’s structure – a series of flashbacks tied to Jackson’s Dangerous tour rehearsals – allows audiences to glimpse the intense, often creative process that defined the singer’s career. “The studio acts as an anchor, allowing us to explore Michael’s creative mind and fantasy,” Wheeldon explains. “But at its heart, the show is about the pressures of putting on a production.”
He observes a parallel between Wilde and Jackson, in “flying too close to the sun and the inevitable tumble that comes with that”.
“I think I’m fascinated by the passion that comes from being held back or oppressed, be it societal or by inner demons – in some ways I’ve experienced that myself, having gotten through a considerable amount of anxiety over the years and understanding that there is great strength and creative power in the emotions associated with insecurity and fear,” Wheeldon says.
“The fascination I had for Michael as an artist helped me overcome the challenges around my fears. I think discomfort can be a very potent creative tool if you’re willing to take the leap.”
It’s a pressure Wheeldon felt acutely when casting relatively untested actors in the show’s most demanding roles. The Broadway production’s original MJ, Myles Frost, had never worked professionally before he was cast at just 19. It was, by any metric, a gamble.
“The pay-off was so great,” Wheeldon says. “And it gave us the courage to take risks with other performers.”
Damons, despite his lack of formal training, had something undeniable. “There’s something so exciting about being on the cusp of someone’s career,” Wheeldon says. “Helping them fine- tune their talent and shape them into a role.”
For Damons, the learning curve has been steep. “The audition process was the most difficult thing,” he confesses. “I remember coming back to my hotel room in Melbourne after the first day and bawling my eyes out. You just have this sort of impostor syndrome.”
But now, a few months in, he’s come out the other side. “I feel like if I can do this, I genuinely can do anything,” he says. “It sounds corny, but it’s true.”
MJ: The Musical is at Sydney’s Lyric Theatre from March 8
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