The Michael Jackson Musical Will Go On as Audiences Grapple with HBO's Leaving Neverland
Just last year, the Michael Jackson Estate and Columbia Live Stage announced a stage musical inspired by the life of pop star Michael Jackson. On the eve of HBO's new documentary Leaving Neverland, which premieres on March 3 and 4 and brings back to light horrific allegations of child molestation against Jackson, the show is still slated to go on, a spokesman for the show told Esquire.
"Yes, the Michael Jackson musical will open on Broadway next summer," Rick Miramontez said in an email on Saturday, confirming that the name will be "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough." A poster for the show is already up on 44th Street in Manhattan. "The musical is set in 1992, as Michael and the team are rehearsing for the Dangerous World Tour."
The rep wouldn't comment on the specific contents of the show, but setting it in 1992 places it before the allegations of child molestation Jackson faced before he died in 2009. In 1993, dentist Evan Chandler accused Jackson of molesting his 13-year-old son, Jordan. The pop star settled the case for a reported $25 million. A decade later, Jackson was accused of molesting 13-year-old Gavin Arvizo. After a lengthy and very public trial in 2004 and 2005, Jackson was acquitted of the charges.
Jackson was on the Dangerous World Tour when news of the Chandler allegations broke. In November 1993, Jackson canceled the remainder of his tour dates.
"As I left on this tour, I had been the target of an extortion attempt, and shortly thereafter was accused of horrifying and outrageous conduct," Jackson told The Los Angeles Times at the time. "I was humiliated, embarrassed, hurt and suffering great pain in my heart. The pressure resulting from these false allegations coupled with the incredible energy necessary for me to perform caused so much distress that it left me physically and emotionally exhausted. I became increasingly more dependent on the painkillers to get me through the days of the tour."
In Leaving Neverland, Wade Robson, 36, and James Safechuck, 40, describe in graphic detail years of abuse when they were children, which they say began in the late 1980s and early 1990s, before the Dangerous World Tour.
Shows inspired by real singers have been hits on Broadway- from "Jersey Boys," about the The Four Seasons, to "Beautiful: The Carole King Musical." And the set list for "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" includes many of Jackson's greatest hits, including “Smooth Criminal,” “Beat It,” and “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough.” Tony award-winning ballet star Christopher Wheeldon will direct and choreograph, and the book is by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage. The cast has not yet been confirmed.
“This is not a Cirque du Soleil show, nor a tribute show, nor a hagiography,” Nottage said in a January interview with the Chicago Tribune, referencing two prior Cirque treatments of the Jackson songbook. “We are endeavoring to tell the story of one moment in the life of a very complicated man whose life was very fraught.”
The accusations against Jackson have been public for decades, and Robson came forward for the first time with his story in 2013, but Robson and Safechuck's meticulous on-camera accounts in the HBO documentary seem impossible to ignore in the era of #MeToo and Time's Up. Artists who've long been considered untouchable are finally facing consequences. After years of accusations, it was the VH1 documentary Surviving R. Kelly and subsequent #MuteRKelly campaign that resulted in the singer being dropped from RCA.
Jackson's songs seem ubiquitous today, but the big question will be: Will audiences still be willing to pay hundreds of dollars on tickets for a Broadway show (a national tour kicks off in Chicago, as well) to celebrate Jackson's life in the wake of these latest accounts?
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