MJ The Musical: The music? You just can’t Beat It

‘Study the greats and become greater’ is a note Michael Jackson wrote to himself. The line appears on the Act 2 curtain for MJ The Musical.

MJ The Musical at the Sydney Lyric theatre. Pictue: Daniel Boud

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“Study the greats and become greater” is a note Michael Jackson wrote to himself. The line appears on the Act 2 curtain for MJ The Musical and is dazzlingly put into action at the top of the second half.

Here we see MJ and three legends who influenced his personal style. Homage is paid to Fred ­Astaire’s supremely elegant line and whipping turns. Next to the Nicholas Brothers with their ­astonishingly physical brand of tap. Then the turned-in knees and toes, lowered head and tilted hat pulled low over the eyes that came from the one and only Bob Fosse.

Peacocking in sequins, Roman Banks as MJ sings Billie Jean and for a while all is well with the world and this musical. As it is when the show opens in a rehearsal room and, rousingly, with Beat It.

The idea is that MJ The Musical examines the mercurial King of Pop through the lens of final preparations for his hugely ambitious 1992 Dangerous tour.

Trouble soon enters, however, with Lyn Nottage’s strangely flat book, built around the conceit that a documentary team has been given permission to be in the room as long as it concentrates solely on Jackson’s music. (Yeah, sure.) “You could use some good press,” is how it’s explained to MJ, and from here on the book scenes tie themselves in knots trying to have their cake and eat it too.

One of the production’s strongest inspirations is to have people from the rehearsal morph instantly into family members and early mentors. Pictue: Daniel Boud

It’s like being in a parallel universe as child-abuse charges later made against Jackson are hinted at heavily but kept veiled. “What do you say about the recent allegations?” MJ is helpfully asked and the audience is left to join the dots.

It doesn’t help that the nosy-­interviewer device is tired, irritating and not always used logically (Penny McNamee has the impossible job of giving life to the ­reporter).

But if the temperature drops precipitously in dialogue scenes as lifeless information drops like a stone, British director and choreographer Christopher Wheeldon retrieves the situation by shaping the show into a muscular but dreamlike journey between present and past.

The rehearsal room, enlivened by live band and back-up singers, gives way to Jackson’s formative years and later stage performances (Thriller, Smooth Criminal) ­before heading back again seamlessly. Movement is Wheeldon’s first language and great strength.

One of the production’s strongest inspirations is to have people from the rehearsal morph instantly into family members and early mentors. Derrick Davis is particularly imposing in the double role of Jackson’s tour producer and his adamantine father Joe.

MJ The Musical examines the King of Pop through the lense of final preparations for his 1992 Dangerous tour. Picture: Daniel Boud

Splitting Jackson into three works too. Liam Damons, making a brilliant professional theatre debut after graduating from NIDA in 2023, is seen as Michael, the adolescent who will become MJ. There’s also Little Michael, the adorable William Bonner on opening night.

Damons turns up with the Jackson 5 as a vision in purple and gold (Paul Tazewell’s designs), singing and dancing on high beam. He makes a touching contrast to Banks’s guarded MJ.

Banks speaks in the singer’s familiar high, papery way and his dancing and singing are simulacra of Jackson’s. The show does briefly ask whether one can separate an artist’s work from the life. What is important – the singer or the song? For what it’s worth, MJ says he is the servant of art. That art was undeniably sublime. Whether it’s enough is for people to decide for themselves.

Tickets: $70-$300. Sydney Lyric Theatre. Bookings: Online. Duration: 2hrs 40mins including interval. Booking until June 22.