Post by amaya on Jun 2, 2024 21:27:40 GMT
OK, I've slept on it, and put my thoughts into a stream of consciousness list. SPOILER WARNING obviously.
Overall, I liked it, but not enough to go see it again unless there’s significant enough changes to warrant doing so. I also will always wonder what the pre-LN version of this show could have been, but I doubt we’ll ever know, so I’ll have to work on not dwelling on that too much.
There were plenty of Michael fans in the audience, so that was nice to see. I even talked to someone who saw the show in New York and said they loved it out there and that the actor there was a total dead-ringer for Michael (I’m assuming she was referring to Myles Frost. For some reason I didn’t think to ask for the name). At one point I even saw a kid dressed in a full Smooth Criminal outfit (though that was quite a while before the show so maybe they were from the matinee performance earlier that day?). So despite how some feel about the show, myself included, it was very reassuring to see people talking about and enjoying Michael in a positive light. Gave me hope that things will be fine for his legacy.
- The performances were all great. Roman Banks played Michael here and I thought he did a good job. Hard to say how his performance is compared to Myles Frost, but his movements looked fine to me. Roman’s speaking voice as Michael was perfect, though.
- During one of the Jackson 5/Jacksons flashbacks, the actors playing the brothers were pretty out of sync with their dancing. Not sure if that was by design or if the actors just fucked up.
- It was a little hard to tell what some of the actors were saying but I attribute that to my hearing going bad lol.
- Speaking of which, I probably should have worn earplugs throughout the show. I brought some but didn’t feel like putting them in because it didn’t sound that loud (until the finale).
- I was confused by the fact that some of the actors were playing dual roles but I caught on quickly. It seems that was by design as the tour manager characters also played Joseph and Berry Gordy, and it seemed like the musical was trying to parallel those two (will go into that a bit more further down).
- The songs themselves are fine, although I admit I was disappointed that they sang the O’Jays song “Money” and not the song “Money” that Michael did. They did blend lyrics from the two together though. Having some of the songs be shortened a bit was disappointing, though I already knew that would be the case since I listened to the Broadway cast album a while ago.
- The lighting and effects they used throughout were really cool. There were moments where I had to close my eyes though because the lights flashed REALLY bright and I thought I would be blinded. The way they transitioned between scenes was cool too.
- I think the weakest part of the musical is the plot. It starts off fine but fizzles out by the second act. The bit with the MTV producer finding out about the painkillers is just dropped and never brought up again. Either that was an oversight or it was deliberately done as a way of saying “Who cares? Remember the music!”. If it’s the latter, I can’t help but feel that it was done in a passive-aggressive way, especially since this show got re-written after LN came out. There’s also this running theme of Michael coming to terms with how Joseph treated him growing up and never really having a normal life. You see his one manager (Rob) talking to him about something (mostly financial stuff; the cost of the Dangerous Tour and how expensive it’s getting is a recurring point throughout the show) and then it transitions to Joseph (played by the same actor) saying something similar. So there’s a lot of symbolic/inner conflict stuff going on that’s being portrayed on stage.
- That said, there were some funny bits of dialogue that got plenty of laughs (Michael saying Prince will steal his stage toaster idea, saying Nirvana can’t sing or dance but they sell records like candy). I do recall some people chuckling at “not meant to be funny” moments like the news reporter talking about Michael’s hair catching fire while filming the Pepsi commercial (though that’s probably because it is such a bizarre thing to have happen) and Joseph asking “how soon can he go back to work?” after the burn happened. It wasn’t a LOT of people, but still.
- The audience overall was pretty great. Applauding where appropriate, whooping whenever he took stuff out of the suitcase for the Billie Jean segment, singing along during the finale bit. There’s a scene where Joseph smacks little kid Michael that made everyone uncomfortably silent/tense. There was an “oooo” when a doctor told Joseph he can prescribe Demerol to Michael after the Pepsi commercial incident happens. Like I said before there was some phone shenanigans; heard maybe two cell phone jingles but no full-blown ringing or talking on phones so it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. Saw at least two people doing other stuff on their phones though so it’s like… is common courtesy really that dead?
- I also don’t know how to feel about the ending. It’s just… kinda sudden. It’s overall a positive one, but there’s a twinge of sadness/uncertainty to it. Then again, given how Michael’s life turned out after 1992… the sadness bit makes sense. The uncertainty aspect comes from the fact that you don’t know if he ever fully forgives Joseph or not. I guess that’s up to the audience to decide.
- It does end with him popping out of the toaster to start the Dangerous Tour which made the audience in my theater go nuts, but then there’s like this fizzle/fade out transition to close the musical that almost looks like an old-school TV turning off, so I’m not sure if that was done to look cool or to imply something. Or maybe I’m looking too deep into it, I dunno.
- After the Dangerous Tour toaster scene the show ended with the whole cast singing a medley of Jam, Black or White and Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ that everyone got on their feet for, so that was at least there to send everyone home happy.
Overall, I liked it, but not enough to go see it again unless there’s significant enough changes to warrant doing so. I also will always wonder what the pre-LN version of this show could have been, but I doubt we’ll ever know, so I’ll have to work on not dwelling on that too much.
There were plenty of Michael fans in the audience, so that was nice to see. I even talked to someone who saw the show in New York and said they loved it out there and that the actor there was a total dead-ringer for Michael (I’m assuming she was referring to Myles Frost. For some reason I didn’t think to ask for the name). At one point I even saw a kid dressed in a full Smooth Criminal outfit (though that was quite a while before the show so maybe they were from the matinee performance earlier that day?). So despite how some feel about the show, myself included, it was very reassuring to see people talking about and enjoying Michael in a positive light. Gave me hope that things will be fine for his legacy.