In the first of several such scenes in MJ, the new Broadway musical about one of the pop’s most explosive and, now, polarizing figures, a fictional MTV reporter tries to get Michael Jackson to open up. Jackson, played by Myles Frost down to the trademark billowy white shirt, curly ponytail, and feathery voice, demurs: “I want to keep this about music.” To which the reporter responds, “Is it possible to separate your life from your music?”
Returning to the topic later in the show, Jackson also tells her, “Listen to my music. It gives you all the answers you need.” Yet that original question hovers throughout the two and half hours of MJ, finally premiering on Broadway after a lengthy Covid-relayed delay. Bio-musicals have come to be a tourist-friendly tradition on Broadway. But from its equally beloved and debated subject to its often inventive structure, MJ is far…
