Michael R. Jackson's new musical 'White Girl in Danger' to premiere Off-Broadway in March 2023 — Page 6

In the Playbill for White Girl in Danger, Michael Jackson talks about wanting to widen the complexity of Black characters, but other than Clarence at the end, the characters didn't strike me as very complex. Keesha was singularly focused on getting a central story, and outside of her desire for more visibility, I can't tell you anything about the character. There never seemed to be anything more to her relationship with her mother, the various Megans, the boyfriends, or the other Blackgrounds.

I get that it's satire and for most of the first act it was extremely funny, but by act two with all the role reversals and an intentionally insane amount of plot twists, there wasn't enough consistency in the characters for the story to be followable.

There's a really good musical here, but about an hour of material needs to be cut, and at a certain point, the characters have to have more three dimensional relationships with each other for this to mean anything or for the ending to feel connected to the rest of the story.

BoringBoredBoard40 said: "^ you landed on something that I think is the shows the biggest sin.

Most of the characters are just cliches running around spouting tropes as dialogue, nothing is being played for real and thus none of the characters have depth and it is impossible to lock onto or care for anyone or anything actually happening"

Exactly! You don’t care about anyone

Satire needs a lightness of touch, if you are doing a full length piece. Absolute high camp, can work on a sketch show, but it outstays its welcome fast and you just do not care.


I’ve never seen direction so heavy handed, and utterly wrong headed on a professional stage. It was like watching community theatre, when they’ve reversed for months and all been roaring with laughter at each other. The women in the show, were all wildly gesticulating and constantly transferring their weight from hip to hip, or endlessly shuffling their feet. It was like watching people with no professional training, it was just constantly forced and a visually messy.


There have been rumours that rehearsals have been very fraught, and that there has been a fair amount of drama from the author. Anyone know the details?


This seemed like a piece that had never had a reading, never mind a workshop

But why does he hate Beyoncé?

RippedMan said: "But why does he hate Beyoncé?"

My understanding of the take is she takes up too much of the conversation around Black artists and Black made art, so there isn't enough oxygen left in the room for anyone else to get talked about. He wants a greater diversity of Black artists discussed.

I don't think in a vacuum, he really dislikes anything about Beyoncé, in the same way he doesn't really dislike Tyler Perry. It's a provocative statement to get a more nuanced point across (at least that's the goal).

I’ve got a ticket to this in May, but these early reviews have me thinking about jumping ship. I’ll wait until opening to decide, but with so few available slots, idk if this will end up being worth my time.

I saw this over the weekend, and I absolutely loved every second. Bizzare and totally unhinged in the best possible way. I was terrified going in that I was going to be bored hearing it was over three hours but I was not ready for it to end. I loved the direction and choreo (although it still seemed a bit sloppy - but I think I saw the third performance so I completely understand why.) James Jackson's Clarence really was a standout to me, especially after seeing him in Loop. I am certainly going back later in the run to see how this madness has settled.

It felt very Charles Busch meets Saved By the Bell meets Critical Race Theory and I was all about it.

There is zero universe that this show ends up on Broadway

Thanks for all these reports beauties. Any merch? I just love the cover art so much.

Impeach2017 said: "I think it's hilarious that they actually had a ringer in the audience!"

I think this happened when I saw it too. Someone at the second act was laughing super obnoxiously at every single thing that happened in a way that didn't really make sense. And I say this as someone who actually really enjoyed the show.

Agreed. I can’t imagine 3 hours of camp. That’s how I feel about the Play Goes Wrong type shows. They should be 90mins.

> And although I don’t consider myself to be a prude, I’m not sure I needed to see two dildos make an appearance.

they've trimmed a dildo; that's encouraging.

BoringBoredBoard40 said: "boy what a phenomenal mess this is

aimless, self-serving and phenomenally confused about what it is actually trying to say, additionally the design or what is being called a design is ugly, shapeless and under-budgeted.

I can not believe this is from the same person that wrote Strange Loop except for the very long rant at the end from the character that from the second you see them is clearly Michael's Id. Who goes on a rant about Beyonce and anti-wokeness and slams Obama and Kamala Harris which ok you are welcome to those stances but when you don't really offer up anything as a substantive counter suggestion it is just very off-putting

I would go as far to say it might be the worst thing I have seen in almost 15 years of theater-going, had I not attended as a guest of a friend I would have bolted at intermission.

Also Saved By The Bell is not nor has it ever been classified as a soap opera and the fact the entire first act was built on this misunderstanding drove me crazy, also just taking real names and adding white to the end is both lazy and makes no sense considering the reveal at the end of the show

I highly doubt this gets fixed in 3 weeks and boy is it going to set some careers back, the only person who comes out looking decent is Tarra Conner Jones who has some solid songs (even if one is a very weird Dreamgirls rip off) and an actual story arc that somewhat makes sense

Also, considering how many workshops and readings this has had (according to the program insert) why is this as long as it is and as messy, and with TWO major off-broadway theaters involved?

TLDR: 3 hours. 3 different dildos."

Please stop. First off, a majority of what you said is objectively wrong. He doesn't slam Kamala or Obama, and the Beyonce line is a commentary on BLACK CULTURE, which you don't seem to be keen on. The entire show is a parody if you were paying attention to your self exclaimed " worst show in the past 15 years". You must not have seen any shows with black characters. The song you called a "rip off of dream girls" is a purposeful amalgamation of many songs that would be sung by black characters who have had to play the stereotype that Nell Gibbs is fashioned after.

I'm not sure how much experience you have with working in professional theater, but from my personal experience, it's normal for shows to need a lot of work after a many workshops. I've been asked to comeback and work on shows several times that are still incubating over several years, and they are mostly hectic.

Developing a shoe takes time and money. If you want to see a high budget spectacle then go see a Disney show or a movie musical. In tired of people coming in and complaining about production value when they clearly don't know **** about theater production.

ADDITIONALLY, stop telling people you'd have left at intermission. Stop going to shows then. There are too many people who can't afford to see shows (largely black and brown people). You don't deserve to see any theater, periodt.

I'll agree with you on the larger monologue. IT belongs in an entirely different show and it's too precious, as are some other points in the show. Those things can br worked out. That's why it's in previews, and off Broadway. Its in a growth stage.