'MJ: The Musical' Brings Michael Jackson's Story To Broadway

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- "MJ: The Musical" opened on Broadway Tuesday night.

As CBS2's Lisa Rozner reports, despite Omicron hitting Broadway hard, the show has been powering through previews since December.

Before the curtain rose in the Neil Simon Theatre, Michael Jackson's children joined the cast and fans of the King of Pop on the red carpet.

"It's just a time for this show right now. It's so much love," said actor Antoine L. Smith, who plays Berry Gordy and Nick.

"It's a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, contextual story that has depth and meaning and truth," said actor Quentin Earl Darrington, who plays Joe Jackson and Rob.

"It's gonna be a great night in the history of Broadway tonight," Spike Lee said.

Myles Frost received a standing ovation for his Broadway debut as the star of "MJ: The Musical."

"I want it to be the MJ show that y'all were expecting it to be and even beyond that," he said.

As CBS2's Ali Bauman reports, opening night was a long time in the making. The musical was supposed to premiere in 2020.

"It gave us a lot of extra time to really shape the book. I got to work a few times with the actors through Zoom," director and choreographer Christopher Wheeldon said.

Jackson's estate is one of the leader producers.

The show is set in 1992, just before the singer's "Dangerous Tour" and one year before the first public allegation of abuse against him, which the script does not include.

It's written by two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage.

"We wanted to focus, you know, microfocus on his artistry and who he was as a musician," she said.

Nottage has said she wants it to be a musical everyone can come to, regardless of how they feel about the late pop star.

The jukebox musical promises powerful singing and dancing to dozens of Jackson's songs.

And for the first time in Playbill's 138-year history, four commemorative Playbill covers honor Black History Month. They were created by illustrator Nate Giorgio, a friend of Jackson's who created a series of paintings for him in the '80s.

"For the first time, people will be sitting in a Broadway theater, looking to their left and looking to their right and wondering what Playbill did the person next to them get," Playbill Vice President Alex Birsh said.

"He was a big part of my childhood, and even after that, a cultural hero to me," actor Geoffrey Owens said.

"What he's done for everyone on that stage and Black artists across the world and artists period across the world, it's truly unreal to think about," said actor Ramone Nelson, a swing in the show.

The hope is this show helps give Broadway the boost it needs.

The latest numbers from the Broadway League show attendance at shows for the week ending Jan. 23 at 75%, but most shows need much higher attendance to be successful.

CBS2's Lisa Rozner contributed to this report.

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