Review: MJ THE MUSICAL at Prince Edward Theatre

MJ the Musical is set in the days leading up to Michael Jackson’s 1992 Dangerous Tour. As the backup dancers feverishly practice their routines, and Michael’s tour manager and business manager agonise over the tour’s soaring costs, an MTV documentary crew shows up to question Michael about his career and past, hoping to dig up dirt for their next scoop.

Derek McLane’s set design conjures up a New York rehearsal room covered with floor-to-ceiling framed windows, but the set transforms as rapidly as Michael himself, from the colours and lights of the Apollo Theatre where the Jackson Five performed to the seedy glow of a Motown recording studio. The effect is instantly transportive and immersive, creating a world that’s as frenetically colourful and bombastic as it is unstable, much like show business itself.

Jamaal Fields-Green is phenomenal as Michael, capturing not only his singing and dancing, but also his speaking voice, mannerisms, and expressions, with a perfection that borders on eerie. His Michael feels both ethereally fae-like and vulnerably human. Mitchell Zhangazha as the younger version of Michael is equally riveting, buzzing with a youthful energy that makes him more tangible and less mythic than his older counterpart. The two play off each other beautifully, and some of the most powerful moments in the musical occur when they’re onstage together.

The documentary crew provides a useful framework for the musical to look back on Michael’s complicated and painful past, and the pivotal moments that led him up the present-day. The timelines of the story bleed into each other, with Michael standing on the sidelines and observing past events and even reacting to them, to poignant effect - there’s a particularly harrowing moment when Joe Jackson is beating the young Michael and the older version flinches as if he can still feel the blows. Characters shift between past and present as Michael’s memories resurface. Matt Mills in particular moves seamlessly between playing Michael’s caring tour manager Rob and his demanding, violent-tempered, and abusive father Joe, often switching between the two mid-sentence in a way that is terrifyingly jarring.

Of course, the highlight for any audience is the music. The musical transforms over 25 of Jackson’s greatest hits, including some lesser known ones, into performances filled with spectacle but also storytelling. The songs are woven seamlessly into the narrative, often in unexpected ways, that give us a peek into Michael’s mental state. ‘Thriller’, which plays out in a carnival of horrors, is born out of Michael’s fear of his father, with Joe appearing as a demonic figure. ‘Smooth Criminal’, performed with slick style against the backdrop of a neon cityscape, is interrupted by Michael’s business manager pointing out all the expenses the performance would incur. ‘They Don’t Really Care About Us’, originally written as an anthem against police brutality, is reframed as a backlash against the media that hounded Jackson throughout his career, with projections on the backdrop of shattered glass flying through the air while menacing hooded paparazzi crowd around Michael. In contrast, the ever-popular ‘Billie Jean’, performed solo by a moonwalking Michael, and the finale number of ‘Black and White’ performed by the cast, are simpler but equally effective in stirring and delighting the audience.

MJ the Musical explores the double-edged nature of fame: the loss of control over how one’s reputation is perceived, but also the desperate need to keep reaching new heights of success, which drives Michael’s determination to ensure the tour is unlike anything else he’s done before. It touches on Michael’s pill addiction and the rumours around face bleaching, but carefully skirts around the allegations of sexual abuse - perhaps a controversial choice, but unsurprising considering the narrative’s commitment to depicting Jackson as a tragic figure.

A new biopic about Michael Jackson forthcoming in 2026 (and starring his nephew Jaafar Jackson) suggests there’s a renewed interest in Jackson as a person as well as an artist. This is very much MJ the Musical’s goal: it’s an exploration of character above all while also being wildly entertaining. In that way, it’s instantly accessible for newcomers and those less familiar with Jackson’s music, but also evokes emotional nostalgia in die-hard fans.