For those of my generation who were far too young to attend a Michael Jackson concert, aside from tribute artists of varying quality, there has never really been a way to experience the music of the ‘King of Pop’ live to the artist’s highest standards. While that remains true both now and likely in the future, MJ the Musical is the next best alternative. At least for its limited run in Australia, it spends the next few months in Brisbane before heading to Perth in June. The production offers authentic casting, next-level set designs, several dozen Michael Jackson songs spanning his career, and more than a few “wow” moments during its almost three-hour runtime.
With many artists receiving ‘disco musical’ treatments of their works over the last few decades, there were several ways MJ the Musical could approach its narrative. In my opinion, they did it in a manner that was arguably the best, and while disjointed at times, kept this viewer immersed from start to finish. Set during rehearsals for the 1992 Dangerous World Tour, the narrative uses the two-day window at the tail end of them as a device to trace Jackson’s trajectory from a harsh childhood in Indiana through the rise of the Jackson 5 to his solo career and the perfectionism and eccentricity that defined it.
Rather than a straightforward biography, the show unfolds as a series of flashbacks triggered by the rehearsal process itself. Props and personnel from the present-day room transform seamlessly into people and places from Jackson’s past. This approach is surprisingly easy to track and keeps the storytelling kinetic. The show never feels the need to pause for exposition. The decision to portray Jackson across multiple life stages creates a timeline in which past and present coexist on stage, each working seamlessly with the other.
The narrative of MJ the Musical wisely zeroes in on the tension between Jackson’s artistic vision and the forces that sought to control him. It threads his father’s unrelenting discipline through to the creative battles of his adult career. At its best, the show feels less like a jukebox musical and more like a concert combined with a character study. The use of MTV journalist Rachel as the audience’s guide into Jackson’s world frames the musical realistically and grounds the flashbacks. This makes them feel more purposeful than they might have otherwise. In the first act, this approach works well. The journalist’s probing questions open doors into Jackson’s memories and motivations. However, by the second act, the framework begins to feel underdeveloped. The journalist recedes into the background, leaving her narrative arc with less of a conclusion and more of a “we are done for the day” feeling.
More notably, the framing brushes up against the subject of Jackson’s painkiller addiction without ever truly reckoning with it. The show raises it as a concern from those around him and hints at it in passing. However, the thread is never fully explored. Instead, it dissolves back into the spectacle of the next production number. This is a missed opportunity. Here was a storyline that could have added genuine dramatic weight and human complexity to a show that, for all its visual brilliance, instead skates across the surface of its subject’s inner life.
Then there is, of course, the elephant in the room as it is hard not to have such thoughts come to mind when watching MJ the Musical. By anchoring the story in 1992, the production positions itself just before the first allegations against Jackson of abuse in 1993, and well before the other accusations that would follow in subsequent decades. It’s a deliberate and, depending on your perspective, either pragmatic or evasive choice. As an estate-approved production, the show was never going to put its spotlight on the darkest corners of Jackson’s legacy. To expect otherwise would be naïve. Instead, it engages meaningfully with the abuse Jackson suffered at the hands of his father. This narrative thread carries the emotional force it deserves. The controversies of his adult years are addressed more briefly in passing moments or references.
The show’s most overt statement on the matter comes through its treatment of the media. The media is cast as a relentless, almost predatory force throughout. This culminates in a defiant first act closer that explicitly frames press speculation as persecution. That was arguably my favourite number due to both the incredible stage design and costuming, as well as the addition of ‘Earth Song’, easily my favourite Michael Jackson number., but the idea isn’t lost. It’s a position that will sit comfortably with some audience members and uneasily with others. Your own feelings on the subject will guide you. However, it is important to note that this is a celebration of his music. If that is what you are after, you may be relieved to know it doesn’t delve too heavily into the controversies of his later years. And to be fair, such content wouldn’t likely lend itself well to this musical approach.
Ultimately, a production like MJ the Musical lives or dies on the strength of its casting, and in Brisbane, much of the brunt falls on the shoulders of Ilario Grant, who doesn’t just fill Michael Jackson’s shoes and white glove, but inhabits them completely. Having first carried the role on Broadway, Grant is no stranger to it and has refined his performance to strike a balance between the artist’s soft-spoken mannerisms, uncertainty, and playfulness, and the vocals and choreography that made Jackson big in the first place. His vocals are powerful, his dancing is breathtaking, and by the time he glides into “Billie Jean” or “Smooth Criminal”, any awareness that you’re watching an actor rather than the man himself has long since evaporated.
The supporting cast of MJ the Musical matches Grant’s energy at every turn. J. Daughtry deserves particular recognition for his dual portrayal of Joseph Jackson and tour producer Rob – two authority figures who bookend Jackson’s life with very different mannerisms towards him, switched on and off almost instantaneously. Liam Damons, a Brisbane local making his professional theatre debut, is a genuine revelation as the young adult Michael, portraying a human caught between worlds, still wrestling with identity and artistry before the mythology consumed the man. Penny McNamee brings warmth and good-natured persistence to the MTV journalist role, grounding the production’s more fantastical elements, while Conlon Bonner does slick work doubling as Tito Jackson and Quincy Jones. The ensemble, meanwhile, deserves to be spoken of as a collective force of nature. Not only do they offer powerful vocals, but they also have stellar, in-sync choreography that deserves admiration in its own right.
If you’re going to build a jukebox musical, it helps to have one of the most extraordinary songbooks in pop history at your disposal, and MJ the Musical deploys its arsenal with both generosity and intelligence. Dozens of songs make the songlist from the full arc of Jackson’s career, from his earliest years with the likes of ABC and I Want You Back – to easily some of his masterworks such as Billie Jean, Beat It, Bad, and Thriller – although the focus on the Dangerous tour did mean some iconic songs, such as Heal the World, were not included. While not always seamlessly incorporated into the narrative, they do a solid job at doing so, whether through incorporating a song into a rehearsal session, a figment of MJ’s imagination, or a motif well before the song is actually performed. The transitions between book scenes and full production numbers feel natural for the most part, however, so the show maintains its momentum even as it shifts between intimate family drama and stadium-scale spectacle.
The live band deserves recognition as one of the production’s secret weapons. Tight, dynamic, and occasionally visible on stage as part of the gaggle of folks in the rehearsal room, the musicians breathe fresh energy into songs that billions of people already know by heart. Plus, not a person in the room seemed to want to leave after the curtain call until the musicians had finished their extra piece. The arrangements are faithful enough to satisfy devotees and work well with all other elements of stagecraft to give them the right amount of oomph.
On a technical level, this production is a marvel, and it’s in the seamless collaboration between its design elements that MJ the Musical most clearly announces itself as a world-class piece of theatre. Scenic design sometimes feels less like a technical masterpiece and more like technical magic, transforming the workmanlike rehearsal room into Jackson’s childhood home, a Motown studio, a glittering concert stage, and back again with split-second fluidity that never once breaks the show’s rhythm. The digital projections are also first-rate, and while I might question the song’s purpose, They Don’t Care About Us, the staging, choreography, and projections behind it are easily a highlight for me. In this scene, as the first-act press conference reaches its climax, a smashed screen fractures into floating shards of glass, each resembling a real shard with shifting projected news headlines and other imagery, a sequence that is a bold narrative statement and a staggering piece of ingenuity. The costuming is also a feat, capturing the styles of the time, and is very much “Very MJ”. What impresses most is that none of these elements competes for viewers’ attention. Instead, they work together to create a multifaceted sensory experience that is genuinely cinematic in its scope and precision.
For those of us who never had the chance to see Michael Jackson perform live, MJ the Musical may not replicate that experience exactly, but it comes remarkably close to capturing the essence of what made him a once-in-a-generation artist. It is a production that succeeds as a celebration of the music itself, powered by a phenomenal cast. Its narrative isn’t flawless, and the questions it chooses not to answer will linger differently for every audience member, but within the framework it has set for itself, it delivers a theatrical experience that is as kinetic and uncompromising as the man it portrays. Whether you leave humming the classics, or wrestling with the complexities of legacy and myth-making, one thing is certain: across its almost three-hour runtime, MJ the Musical earns every moment of the standing ovations it received. That’s right, ovations, plural. For the first time in any performance I have attended at QPAC, there was a first-act standing ovation! If you are after the next best thing to a Michael Jackson concert, this is it – and its limited Brisbane season is not one to let pass you by.
Final Score for MJ the Musical
Ticketing information for MJ the Musical can be found via the musical’s official Australian website. Having already performed in a number of Australian states, it is now being performed at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre’s (QPAC) Lyric Theatre in Brisbane, before heading to the Crown Theatre in Perth in June 2026.
We would like to acknowledge Michael Cassel Group for providing review tickets to facilitate this review during the Brisbane opening night.
