London Theatre Review: MJ the Musical

It’s easy to grimace your way through a Michael Jackson tribute performance. Usually they’ll be wearing that sparkly glove and a battered trilby while awkwardly shuffling to the hits. It’s overdone, or at least I thought it was, until I saw Myles Frost as the ‘King of Pop’ in MJ. This is no tribute act.

The American star had me utterly fooled as he effortlessly commanded the stage as the iconic front man. There were booming vocals, hip thrusts galore and that all-important moonwalk. That’s without mentioning his mannerisms and ‘dainty’ speaking voice - it was as if Jackson himself was in the room.

Audiences can rest assured that this is two-and-a-half hours of good entertainment, set in the wake of the pop star’s Dangerous world tour in 1992. 

Flashbacks transport audiences to the Jackson 5 days, of childhood fame and their over-pushy father, before flowing through the rest of Michael’s youth, into adolescence and his rise to stardom. 

The story revolves around an MTV crew wanting to get to know the man behind the music, and while some controversial matters are left well alone, others are lightly addressed to not distract watchers from the most important part of this production, which is the music.

Opening number Beat It sees the guitar player from the band take centre stage for that memorable solo, originally made famous by Eddie Van Halen. Smooth Criminal showcases a neon-lit street as MJ and co dance in the back alleys of New York City, and some may need tissues at the ready for a moving tribute to Jackson’s relationship with his mum in I’ll Be There.

The great thing about the show flicking between different eras of Jackson’s life is that we also see other stars take on the lead role, most notably Mitchell Zhangazha, who portrays the singer as a young adult. Like Frost, he shys away from the gimmicky impersonations we’re used to, and makes it his own.

Zhangazha’s energy fills the stage, wonderfully bringing to light the excitement around MJ at that time in his career when Bad hit record shops. There’s also a small nod to Thriller which gets a huge cheer and perfectly sets up the main event when it arrives later in the show.

When it does, a young Michael sings slowly into the darkness, before bright lights kick in with the iconic title track which includes plenty of backing dancers wearing that renowned red suit from the ground-breaking music video. It’s staged around a creepy circus scene, and Frost manoeuvres his body in all sorts of peculiar ways to add to the complexity of the routine. It’s an extraordinary watch - strobe lights and curtain drops anyone?

Ultimately, you don’t need to be a Michael Jackson fan to love this performance. It’s a fantastic opportunity to sit and appreciate the star’s catalogue of timeless hits that continue to delight people across the globe. You can stop pretending to enjoy those cheesy tribute acts now, and take your group to see how a real pro does in the right key… it’s as easy as 1, 2, 3.