In 2022, “MJ: The Musical” won a Tony Award for Maryland native Myles Frost on Broadway.
Now, D.C. audiences can finally see the acclaimed production at National Theatre through Sept. 8.
WTOP caught up with Jamaal Fields-Green, who now plays Michael Jackson on the national tour.
“It’s the Broadway production literally thrown on the road,” Fields-Green told WTOP.
“I saw ‘MJ’ on Broadway two or three months before they won the Tonys. During intermission is when I got my email from my agent for future replacements of MJ. I’m in the theater, sitting in my seat, just checking my emails and it said, ‘Future replacement for MJ’ while I’m sitting there. So in that moment I was like, ‘Well, I guess I’m studying for the rest of the show.'”
Set in 1992, the show unfolds in flashbacks as Jackson rehearses for his “Dangerous” tour.
“It is the second to last day of the ‘Dangerous’ tour rehearsal,” Fields-Green said.
“MTV comes into the building and through their interview with MJ, we go through his entire life from The Jackson 5 all the way to present-day 1992. Flashbacks to his childhood, to The Jackson 5, to his time as a teenager, then his transition out of the Jackson 5. Even flashbacks to a little bit of the ‘Off the Wall’ era and then the ‘Thriller/Victory’ tour era.”
He said it’s both exciting and daunting to portray someone as iconic as the “King of Pop.”
“The biggest thing is making sure I portray MJ as authentically as possible, because we’re not playing a character that was built from the ground up or out of thin air, this is someone that lived and walked and breathed on this earth,” Fields-Green said.
“The biggest thing is that it doesn’t come off like I’m impersonating him, but rather paying homage. Of course, I’ve got to get those dance moves down. … I do indeed moonwalk across the stage.”
The proverbial “jukebox musical” means you’ll hear all of your favorite MJ tunes, with the connective tissue of dramatic scenes penned by two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage (‘Ruined’ and ‘Sweat’).
“You’re gonna hear ‘Smooth Criminal,’ which is probably my favorite number in the show,” Fields-Green said.
“We start the show with ‘Beat It,’ which is the way to start off any type of show, just a great adrenaline rush and starter. ‘Billie Jean’ starts off Act 2 and I’ll leave it at that because what else can you say about that, it’s ‘Billie Jean.’ … We have ‘I Want You Back,’ definitely ‘ABC,’ we have ‘Dancing Machine’ of course, ‘Blame it on the Boogie.'”
Needless to say, Jackson was a complicated individual with a controversial life.
“What I like about the show is that it is very real,” Fields-Green said. “It is a celebration, but when you see it, you get to see the human being behind the icon. When you see the show, there’s definitely going to be some elements in there where you’re like, ‘OK,’ without giving anything away, but it’s definitely grounded in realism for sure.”
Regardless, there’s no denying MJ was one of the biggest superstars on the planet.
“He really was an alien,” Fields-Green said.
“We will never get another person like that in our lifetime at least. His attention to detail, the stuff that he was doing on stage vocally and physically is just crazy. … I would go on record to say that I think he might have been the biggest and best of all time. We’re talking about the total package in terms of entertaining and star quality. He had it: the dance moves, the singing, the music that’s catchy to this day.”
Listen to our full conversation here.
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