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As music plays, Michael Jackson musical a thriller at Fisher Theater – The Oakland Press
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As music plays, Michael Jackson musical a thriller at Fisher Theater – The Oakland Press

Near the end of “MJ The Musical,” Jamaal Fields-Green, as Michael Jackson, tells the fake MTV reporter (Cecelia Petrush) to “listen to my music.” It answers all the questions you may have.”

Not really. For all its sparkling, exuberant show, “MJ” also doesn’t tell us the full, or even true, story of Jackson.

But that doesn’t mean it’s not a great time.

“MJ,” which won four Tony Awards on Broadway, including Best Choreography, and runs through Nov. 3 at Detroit’s Fisher Theater, is one of THOSE jukebox musicals. There’s a reason why jukeboxes only play music, and the production team provides a case study of why it should be that way. Its script is one-story thin, relying on the usual tropes about the self-styled King of Pop’s life and career (post-traumatic stress disorder from childhood abuse, the isolating loneliness of mega-superstardom). Niggas can dine on historically inaccurate details and there’s nothing to really invest and care about.

Except when the music is playing and the actors are dancing.

“MJ” takes place during rehearsals for the Dangerous World Tour, Jackson’s second outing as a solo artist, which toured the world outside of North America from 1992-93. He also made his Super Bowl XXVII halftime appearance along the way. It was a success, grossing more than $100 million and spawning an HBO concert special, but it hardly compares in its legacy to the appearances of “Off the Wall,” “Thriller” or “Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever.”

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