Michael Jackson Goes Broadway
Yep. The word is out from numerous sources, including Rolling Stone and Pitchfork. Though no one seems to know much, except that the man himself will participate somehow; how exactly is also very much a mystery. Typically Michael Jackson.
Really, though, it was bound to happen. The kitschy over-the-top “Thriller” was meant to be staged as a theatrical escapade: prisoners in the Philippines have already performed its dance routines, and innumerable Bollywood films have ripped them off too. But the “Thriller” music video was, like so many other ambitious Michael Jackson productions, not just dance moves; it was an episode, a mini movie with a story. And frankly, the elements of gaudy American musical theatre were already there, especially in its melodramatic and alienating effects. But does it contain enough material for a two-act performance? Some sources claim the short story of the original video should suffice for an hour and a half, if other elements from Thriller and even Off The Wall are included. Supposedly we shouldn’t be surprised to discover new representations of “Billie Jean” and “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough.”
Frankly, I’m a fan of the video and the album as a whole. It still stands up as a great dance pop record, sold over fifty million copies worldwide and turned Michael Jackson into a household name, one of the few truly global artists. And there is a certain ferocity to “Thriller,” despite its campy nature; the guy turns into an animal onscreen. We laugh, but it’s actually kind of Kafkaesque. Michele Wallace writes an excellent essay on black modernism and Michael Jackson, describing his music’s self consolidated identity and its racialized relationship to the white liberal media and public. Broadway may not do justice to academic questions, and raises simpler ones, like how exactly will they transform young Michael into a werewolf on stage? And what will it mean for a bunch of forty or fifty somethings to watch their favourite 80s superstar returned to his original alienating persona, Weremichael? Personally, I’m just glad the guy’s doing something again, even if it means returning to his earlier work.
Michael Jackson – Billie Jean
Michael Jackson – Thriller
