Touring ‘MJ: the Musical’ at PPAC is a smooth criminal

PROVIDENCE – In 2017, The New York Times published a series of allegations against film producer Harvey Weinstein from women who claimed that he sexually harassed them. The viral #MeToo movement soon followed and opened the floodgate for similar claims against others in the arts and entertainment industries.

Their firings and forced resignations were dramatic and immediate. So was the cancellation of their art.

Within months, Goodspeed Musicals in Connecticut removed a production of Woody Allen’s “Bullets Over Broadway” from its fall lineup in light of sexual misconduct allegations against the playwright. The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., rescinded two announced solo exhibitions in the wake of sexual harassment and assault allegations leveled against painter Chuck Close and photographer Thomas Roma. Amid revelations of a history of homosexual assault, Kevin Spacey was cut out of the remaining season of his hit Netflix series “House of Cards” and his 22 scenes in the film “All the Money in the World” were re-shot with a different actor just prior to its release at a cost of $10 million.

The alleged acts were unconscionable. But is it possible to separate the art from the artist?

It is, if the 2021 Tony Award-winning “MJ: the Musical,” which is currently on tour and on stage at the Providence Performing Arts Center (PPAC), is any indication. But only because the production, which has been sanctioned by the estate of Michael Jackson, is an astoundingly entertaining masterwork of misdirection when it comes to the quarter-century of sexual abuse allegations aimed at the King of Pop.

The sleight of hand begins in the opening scene of the production, which takes place in a dramatically lit industrial rehearsal studio crammed with dancers, backup singers, musicians and technicians preparing for Jackson’s landmark 1992 Dangerous World Tour. Jordan Markus, an engaging triple-threat performer playing the adult Jackson (MJ), enters the room just as the familiar, synthesized strains of “Billie Jean” begin, as if MJ travels with a personal soundtrack to announce his every arrival. As the music transitions into the more upbeat “Beat It” and the dancers start to move, Markus-as-MJ – who has perfected the artist’s singular look, signature moves and immediately recognizable high register voice and vocal hiccups – steps forward. The music and the moves, not the man, become the focal point of a four-minute adrenaline-rush-of-a-production number that wins over the audience, as planned.

The show then goes about the business of chronicling Jackson’s musical legacy by way of flashbacks typically triggered during an interview with an MTV documentarian (Cecilia Petrush) during rehearsals. It’s through this device that we experience younger versions of MJ (the talented Bane Griffith; Quentin Blanton, Jr. and DeAundre’ Woods) and performances of old Jackson 5 hits such as “I’ll Be There,” “ABC” and “Dancing Machine.”  

The musical also provides insight into Jackson’s creative process and significant influencers, most dramatically captured in an extended prologue to “Smooth Criminal,” where Jackson dances with and reinvents the signature moves of Fred Astaire (Matteo Marretta), Bob Fosse (Croix Diienno) and the Nicholas Brothers (Zuri Noelle Ford and Brion Marquis Watson). The elaborate production number that follows puts those moves into practice.

Two-time Pulitzer-winning playwright Lynn Nottage’s often leaden biographical dialogue is at its best when simply serving as the connective tissue that takes us from one production number to the next. And the musical is at its best when showcasing Jackson’s skills in these increasingly lavish, thoroughly entertaining, and often mesmerizing production numbers. They are driven by a sizable, superb orchestra (under Nathanael Wilkerson’s direction), bolstered by an exceptionally talented ensemble of singer/dancers, and emboldened by brilliantly conceived and seamlessly executed lighting (Natasha Katz), sound (Gareth Owen), scenic (Derek McLane) and projection (Peter Nigrini) design. And the costuming (Paul Tazewell) is spot-on.

Tony Award-winning director Christopher Wheeldon’s background as a renowned choreographer in the world of ballet is put to good use in the precise orchestration and seamless staging of these thoroughly entertaining musical theater moments.

In short, it’s quite a show.

It has to be, for the world hasn’t forgotten the allegations that haunted Jackson until his death in 2009. “MJ: The Musical” is most certainly a smooth criminal, strategically designed to side-step those things, starting with the fact that its focus is on pre-scandal 1992 and serves up an overly sympathetic portrait of the artist as a victimized young man. Sure, the show addresses father Joseph’s (a dynamic Devin Bowles) abusive childrearing and MJ’s addiction to painkillers, but it offers nothing we don’t already know.

“Listen to my music,” MJ tells the MTV producer as she probes for the insight into his life that is never provided. “It gives you all the answers you need.” That is exactly what the creatives behind “MJ: The Musical” are telling the audience. And it works. The music is magnificent.

Bob Abelman is an award-winning theater critic who formerly wrote for the Austin Chronicle. Connect with him  on Facebook.