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Review: In ‘MJ,’ No One’s Looking at the Man in the Mirror

A review of MJ the Musical by Jesse Green | February 1, 2022

“There are a lot of strange stories making the rounds,” says a documentary filmmaker interviewing Michael Jackson.

Understate much?

Michael Jackson was such a magnet for strange stories that they nearly obliterated his gift. Yet in defensively brushing off the ones that don’t matter while pointedly ignoring the one that does, the new musical “MJ,” which opened on Tuesday at the Neil Simon Theater, may be the strangest Michael Jackson story yet.

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‘MJ’ Trips Into the Bio-Musical Morass

Juan Michael Porter II | February 1, 2022

MJ, the new Broadway musical about Michael Jackson’s life, is currently thrilling audiences at the Neil Simon Theatre for all the wrong reasons. The show follows MJ―who functions as our narrator―as he balances getting his Dangerous world tour off the ground with interruptions from a documentary filmmaker for MTV who wants an exciting scoop, and […]

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Dominique Morriseau Excavates the Glory of Blackness in ‘Skeleton Crew’

Juan Michael Porter II | January 26, 2022

As Black folks like to say, when Dominique Morisseau wrote Skeleton Crew, she put her whole foot in it. For those who aren’t in the know, that means the play is a spectacular blend of lyrical language, political analysis, and delightful humor that prioritizes Black lives and sensibilities over respectability politics. The play follows three […]

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