I'm not going to beat around the bush, it was awful. All of my production gripes aside this was just a really, really bad show. Which sold well two nights in a row for some reason which is beyond my understanding. If you are going to have students who couldn't write a grocery list let alone a play put on an original play, don't go for high art. Stick to simple stories, timeless stories, hell I would have welcomed a cliched romance story over that mess. The moment someone mentioned "alter ego" they should have gone back to the drawing board. I mean honestly I've seen some bad shows, but there was no amount of talent that could have saved this premise. For those of you who missed out. There were basically two stories. #1 The detective investigating Michael Jackson's death gets involved with a reporter who is covering the case, cheesy romance ensues. Plot #2 a hacked up biography of Micheal Jackson's life. With a couple of snippets thrown in to show the impact he had on the world. (gag me) The show was mostly songs which would have been fine had they used the songs to advance the narrative. The only time this happened was in "Scream" where Janet and Katherine Jackson, fed up with media and police scrutiny break down and sing this song. And even then while Katherine was acting out the part of grieving mother, Janet was thrashing around the stage like she was in concert. The whole thing was scattered. There wasn't enough plot development to support the songs whether they were relevant or not. An example of this is "Ease on down the road". After telling berry Gordy he is leaving Motown and a heartfelt rendition of "I'll be there" is sung, there is about six lines of dialogue before Diana Ross and Michael sing "Ease on down the road." The only segue into the song being
DIANA: Listen baby, they’re going to be making a movie version of The Wiz. I’m going to play Dorothy. I want you want in it? Hollywood, Michael.
MJ: Yeah! Children all over the world love that story.
DIANA: You and me in the movies. Michael, a black version of the Wizard of OZ—It’s a milestone in the industry.
MJ: Ok- Diana.
DIANA and MJ sing and dance to “Ease on Down the Road.”
And the whole play was like this. It was as if they made a conscience decision to toss out the story in order to fit more songs in. There was some attempt to give depth to MJ's character, hence the alter ego (The King of Pop) but it was so badly done it was just confusing. It was laughable. I did laugh, often, and so did the audience. What ever it was they were going for I'm pretty sure mocking laughter wasn't it.
I will say that the band was good. Too loud, but very good. The dancing was also some of the best I've seen at the school, it would have made a wonderful tribute concert if they'd just done that and forgotten about the "play". It's unfortunate for them that they had to come on the heels of Aida, because it was a vastly superior production in every way. They sounded better, the book was better, the set was better, they were better prepared and I'd even say they performed better. I'm not blaming the ensemble, it couldn't be helped, but having that comparison showed the inadequacies of the MJ show. At least they had Michael Bierden there. He was the MD for This Is It and he came on after intermission to tell a couple of stories about his time with Michael Jackson before he died. He was funny and endearing and a hell of a lot more entertaining than anything else that happened on the stage that night. In fact I bet he was the reason the show sold so well. Oh well I can honestly say now, more so than with any other show I've done at this school that I'm glad it's over and I hope to never have to work with those people again. ( Like I'd ever be so lucky)
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