Wow, lots to unpack. Here are my thoughts on Act 2, and the show as a whole, as a continuation of my last post.
I think Act 2 was weaker than Act 1 and showed the general weakness of the show’s plot. The show’s story threads as a whole can be broken down into:
-An MTV reporter and her fanboy cameraman (who doesn’t do much to be honest) get permission to film two days of rehearsals for MJ’s 1992 Dangerous Tour, but she wants more of an inside scoop than just rehearsals. She wants drama.
-MJ is haunted by PTSD from his father’s career-long abuse in the name of making his sons perfect performers, consequently causing MJ to want nothing but perfection in the Dangerous Tour, even if at his own mental expense and possible bankruptcy.
-MJ’s tour directors are frustrated by his perfectionist-to-a-fault nature as they try to reason with him, while also concerned about his addiction to painkillers caused by the infamous 80’s Pepsi commercial accident where he suffered terrible scalp burns.
-Like I said in my first post, as the MTV reporter questions MJ throughout the show, the show uses his answers as segues to both go through his career from childhood to present and to show his father continually haunting him to be perfect.
The only issue is, these plots don’t entirely resolve. In the order of the above plot threads (some spoilers):
-The reporter overhears the managers talking about MJ’s painkiller addiction and is thrilled to have the scoop she wanted, but she soon bonds with MJ when he shows her how he sees the world via the song “Human Nature” (featuring a strange Hollywood paradise realm - I didn’t entirely understand what they were going for with it). Yet, near the show’s end, the reporter tells MJ that she needs to be honest in her MTV piece and that he needs to expect what’s coming. As far as the show implies by the end, MJ is still addicted and will get exposed on MTV by the reporter…?
-MJ’s father haunting him is the only thread that gets real resolution. It culminates in “Thriller”, which takes place in a wild literal circus in MJ’s mind that has his father become a dark circus master controlling him as a puppet, with zombies in decayed MJ costumes crawling around them. This ends with MJ facing a projection of his father’s glowing eyes on a big curtain, which he tears down - seemingly overcoming his father’s ever-looming pressure to be perfect as reality returns around him.
-As the culmination of the directors’ financial worries, MJ decides to mortgage his (in)famous Neverland Ranch to help fund the tour. He’s warned repeatedly that if the tour fails, he’s done for after such a risky move. This is never addressed again. The show ends with the launch of the Dangerous Tour, and I guess the audience is meant to assume all went well and he made the money he needed - but that happy ending isn’t done in a way that I’d say it felt wrapped up.
Generally, the show could use some tightening and clarifications story-wise, but there’s no denying the talent at hand, especially that of lead man Myles in his Broadway debut. His MJ impression, both in behavior and singing, is off the charts. The rest of the cast was stellar too, especially Ayana George as MJ’s mother (her duet with child MJ after his father first hits him, “I’ll Be There”, was incredibly heartwarming and her voice was insanely good).
Like I mentioned in my earlier post, some songs seemed squeezed in just to be there. A surprising number of them were used to convey a character’s feelings rather than being performed in the real-world moment, but they didn’t always entirely land, like “Stranger in Moscow”, which felt rather abrupt to show that MJ was feeling frustrated. But when those kinds of numbers did land, they made for some really interesting moments, like a mashup of “Earth Song” and “They Don’t Care About Us” during a press conference that had MJ try to bring attention to climate issues while the press only nagged him with tabloid-esque questions (this ended Act 1). Another neat example was the use of relatively deep cut “Money” as the Jackson family pressured MJ to join the Victory Tour.
Otherwise, songs were presented as performances in scenes set in the past, or as rehearsals in the “present”. Usually this worked well enough, but the very beginning of Act 2 was arguably the weakest moment story-wise because it was a rehearsal moment that was there purely just for show, without any insight into the tour’s development like the other rehearsal numbers had. It began with MJ rehearsing “Billie Jean”, which drove the crowd wild (and boy did we all go wild several times thanks to the stellar performances), but the song was cut surprisingly short (and sorely lacked the iconic drum-only dance solo that would traditionally end the song live on MJ’s actual tours). Then the brief “Billie Jean” transitioned into a tribute to some artists who inspired MJ. That tribute then evolved into a full performance of “Smooth Criminal” - which I think should’ve been shortened to allow Billie Jean to be longer - with the set transforming into a city street full of neon signs. I had a suspicion as to how all this theatricality would fit into the story, and sure enough, when the song ended, the tour managers came out to say “yeah, we can’t afford this” as the neon signs flickered out and were pulled away. A 10-ish minute theatrical intro to Act 2 was nothing but MJ’s budget fantasy, for the pure sake of having a theatrical moment that didn’t evolve the story. It felt like a very weak way to include those two classic songs and a grandiose set (one they’ve already promoted in photos).
Anyway, sorry for the long post. As a whole, this is definitely worth seeing for the performances, some amazing choreography, incredible audience energy, and solid arrangements of classic songs. But I do think the story needs tightening and more motivation, some outfits were too modern, and the reasoning for some songs’ inclusion should be more polished (and “Billie Jean” needs to be longer, at least with the famous dance solo). It was also disappointing that my favorite song, “Black Or White” (the biggest hit of the Dangerous era, I might add) was only used as part of the curtain call medley, though at least most of the song was used. Lastly, I think the music was way louder than a normal Broadway show and could’ve been lowered considerably.
It was a super fun time as a whole, and I’m excited to see how the show develops.
I’m sure more thoughts will come to me, but for now, that’s all, folks!
