MJ The Musical officially opening on Broadway Summer 2020- Page 2

[BroadwayGuy12]

Posted: 10/10/19 at 1:13pm

bdn223 said: "I don't blame Nottage for wanting a paycheck, she's a female playwright of color. Even with winning the Pulitzer, its not as if producers are clamoring to mount and finance her work. If I had to bet, she is likely making more money on this project then she has on all of her prior work combined."

While I'm sure Nottage's paycheck for this project is handsome, let's not pretend like this is her one shot to make a living in the theatre. Sweat was the second most produced play of the 2018-19 season, and finished a run in London earlier this year. Both Fabulation and By the Way, Meet Vera Stark were revived by Signature during their last season, Atlantic mounted The Secret Life of Bees over the summer, and Lincoln Center is producing an operatic adaptation of Intimate Apparel this coming February. Clearly, there are enough producers willing to "mount and finance her work" that she should be able to walk away from this project should she truly take issue with it.

[Bigserver1]

Posted: 10/10/19 at 1:24pm

I mean "Leaving Neverland" was already taken...


This sounds like a trainwreck. Hard pass for me (as is the case for most Bio musicals, personally).

Updated On: 10/10/19 at 01:24 PM

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 10/10/19 at 1:30pm

Personally, I don’t know why it took the Finding Neverland documentary to finally sway public opinion on him. I like his music, but the sainthood some have attributed to him has long baffled me. I can somewhat separate the art from the man, but this musical just seems inappropriate and ill-timed.

[bdn223]

Posted: 10/10/19 at 1:40pm

Bigserver1 said: "I mean "Leaving Neverland" was already taken...


This sounds like a trainwreck. Hard pass for me (as is the case for most Bio musicals,personally)."


The only real bio musical I would really want to see, as most come off as revues with a barebones plot, is Britney Spears, but only if a majority of the plot takes place in 2007. Call it Lucky, as the song is literally foreshadows her life story, ironically enough. It is when the Bio Musicals are based around a specific tragedy/period of darkness in a musicians life that they seem to work.

[Fredrich Yeager]

Posted: 10/10/19 at 4:32pm

https://www.thebroadwaybeat.com/all-news/mj-the-musical-offers-discount-to-anyone-who-can-look-at-themselves-in-the-mirror-afterwards

/satire

[Sho-Tunes-R-Us]

Posted: 10/10/19 at 4:48pm

The Cirque du Soleil Las Vegas MJ spectacular ONE has been running for several years now. No reason why the tourists won't keep MJ Broadway going for a healthy run. The fans are still rabid worldwide.
I've seen ONE in Vegas. Not to my liking, but mos def big and splashy. And popular.

[trpguyy]

Posted: 10/10/19 at 5:10pm

poisonivy2 said: "His family estate wanting to make a cheery biomusical of this is gross."

Who said it was going to be cheery? 

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 10/10/19 at 5:45pm

I’m curious about Wheeldon being attached to this. Wasn’t it noted AAIP brought in other directors to do most of the heavy lifting, direction wise? I remember reading they brought Bart Sher over to Paris, due to Wheeldon struggling. Can he really be trusted with another major show like this?

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 10/10/19 at 6:14pm

Nottage being attached to this brings nothing to the table for me. She’s a hired gun. You won’t see her sensibilities in this. The family will cut the b@lls off of anything interesting she writes. Her sanitized answer to the pedophilia question show where interests lie-with not offending the Jacksons. Didn’t Domingo have a hand in that hideous Summer book. I had high hopes for that based on his pedigree.

Maybe COSBY!! is next.

[Phantom of London]

Posted: 10/10/19 at 6:38pm

The producers need to be smart and savvy, by which I mean by bringing the opening forward to May, at least they then stand a reasonable chance of making the Tony cut off.

[SouthernCakes]

Posted: 10/10/19 at 6:48pm

They’re clearly aiming for next season

[GreasedLightning]

Posted: 10/10/19 at 7:02pm

Phantom of London said: "The producers need to be smart and savvy, by which I mean by bringing the opening forward to May, at least they then stand a reasonable chance of making the Tony cut off.” 

I’m willing to bet the producers know the Tony cut-off date and planned this intentionally after that........

[bk]

Posted: 10/10/19 at 7:23pm

It wouldn't matter if they'd waited five years, because the exact same outraged people in this thread would be posting then and let me tell you how little that matters in the scheme of things.

But it's fun to judge a show prior to knowing a single thing about it, not to mention judging a person based on what you've read.  I'm not a judge and I'm not a jury - I have no idea if the allegations are real or not real.  I have no idea if this will be a good or bad how - these kinds of things are not really my cup of  tea, although I did enjoy Beautiful.

But part of me hopes that it's a hit - just to watch the exploding heads right here on this message board.

[bdn223]

Posted: 10/10/19 at 8:48pm

bk said: "It wouldn't matter if they'd waited five years, because the exact same outraged people in this thread would be posting then and let me tell you how little that matters in the scheme of things.

But it's fun to judge a show prior to knowing a single thing about it, not to mention judging a person based on what you've read. I'm not a judge and I'm not a jury - I have no idea if the allegations are real or not real. I have no idea if this will be a good or bad how - these kinds of things are not really my cup of tea, although I did enjoy Beautiful.

But part of me hopes that it's a hit - just to watch the exploding heads right here on this message board."

No one is saying it won’t be a hit, we are just saying for his alleged victims sake, we hope it isn’t.

[bk]

Posted: 10/10/19 at 8:57pm

bdn223 said: "bk said: "It wouldn't matter if they'd waited five years, because the exact same outraged people in this thread would be posting then and let me tell you how little that matters in the scheme of things.

But it's fun to judge a show prior to knowing a single thing about it, not to mention judging a person based on what you've read. I'm not a judge and I'm not a jury - I have no idea if the allegations are real or not real. I have no idea if this will be a good or bad how - these kinds of things are not really my cup of tea, although I did enjoy Beautiful.

But part of me hopes that it's a hit - just to watch the exploding heads right here on this message board."

No one is saying it won’t be a hit, we are just saying for his alleged victims sake, wehope it isn’t."

By "we" you mean you and the other ten people in this thread who are having your outrage moment?  I am glad that you used the word alleged, though.

 

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 10/10/19 at 9:06pm

Phantom of London said: "The producers need to be smart and savvy, by which I mean by bringing the opening forward to May, at least they then stand a reasonable chance of making the Tony cut off."

May won't help. The Tony cut off date for 2020 is April 23. 

[Olivia11]

Posted: 10/10/19 at 9:22pm

Meh. Pass.

[brian1973]

Posted: 10/10/19 at 9:38pm

I’m sure there are more than enough fans to make this show a success. 

I understand the whole thing is ‘problematic’ to say the least, BUT he has never been found guilty of these crimes, and yet many accusers have been found to have lied, including the 2 men in the documentary. I don’t know if he was innocent or guilty... and the thing is we will never know for sure so there is a chance he MAY be innocent. 

If there was going to be a ‘Cancelling’ of Jackson , it would have happened by now, and yet his music is still regularly played on the radio and tv. 

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 10/11/19 at 1:01am

I’m guessing “ Inappropriate Touching “ was taken as a name for this musical 

[Fan123]

Posted: 10/11/19 at 3:39am

I'm not sure how this works, but might Nottage, Wheeldon and possibly others be vulnerable to legal action for breach of contract or something along those lines, if they tried to get out of doing the show now, and maybe even if they said things publicly which could be construed as 'sabotaging' it? Might there also be some kind of legal 'expiry' date for their obligations to the show? If so, maybe that's one reason why the estate would want to get the show going ASAP, as they'd probably never get creatives of the same calibre involved with a project like this again. I might be completely wrong though, no legal/industry expertise here.

[Dolly80]

Posted: 10/11/19 at 5:17am

I know a couple of people involved in this show and they both say that the work that’s being done is beautiful, and the whole team really believe in this show. Maybe they are foolish, but I for one am intrigued to see what it’s like.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 10/11/19 at 5:29am

Too soon?

[magictodo123]

Posted: 10/11/19 at 6:02am

For some reason, I don't know why, my brain went to...maybe this is a trail run to see if Bombshell could work on Broadway. Marilyn was also a deeply troubled, complicated famous person. Otherwise, I don't know why this is even a thing. 

[Playbill_Trash]

Posted: 10/11/19 at 8:41am

“Man in the Mirror” would have been a great title. Take that as you will, but it just would have been a much better title.

Maybe they’re skimping on the bulbs for the marquee because their budget is mostly for hush money?

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 10/11/19 at 9:14am

Fan123 said: "I'm not sure how this works, but might Nottage, Wheeldon and possibly others be vulnerable to legal action for breach of contract or something along those lines, if they tried to get out of doing the show now, and maybe even if they said things publicly which could be construed as 'sabotaging' it? Might there also be some kind of legal 'expiry' date for their obligations to the show? If so, maybe that's one reason why the estate would want to get the show going ASAP, as they'd probably never get creatives of the same calibre involved with a project like this again. I might be completely wrong though, no legal/industry expertise here."

While they may have some sort of non-disparagement clause in their contracts, there are very few times (quite possibly never) when there is any sort of iron bound "you can not break this contract under any circumstances" clauses used in entertainment. No even remotely sane producer is going to want to keep a member of the creative team who is truly unhappy (do you think you'll get even half-assed work from a person who is essentially a slave to the production?). Nottage and Wheeldon are both far enough along in their careers that they would know not to sign a contract without an out clause.