Welcome back to my 'And the Tony Almost Went to...' series, where I take a deep dive into a show that was the (likely) runner-up in the Best Musical race of any previous Tony Awards year. This year's telecast will be airing on CBS tonight. So today, we'll be talking about 2022, which would be last year's ceremony.
MJ is a jukebox/biographical musical that follows the life and career of singer Michael Jackson. Centered around the making of his 1992 Dangerous World Tour, this show offers a rare look at the creative mind and collaborative spirit that catapulted Jackson into legendary status. Originally, this musical was set to have its out-of-town tryout in Chicago in the fall of 2019, but Michael Jackson's estate ultimately cancelled it due to schedule difficulties brought upon by an Actor's Equity Association strike.
The show was then set to open cold in New York in the summer of 2020, but got delayed due to performances all over the New York theatre district shutting down thanks to COVID-19. Following quite a bumpy road, MJ finally opened on February 1st, 2022 at the Neil Simon Theatre on Broadway. The original cast included Myles Frost as MJ, Quentin Earl Darrington as Joe Jackson/Rob, Whitney Bashor as Rachel, Gabriel Ruiz as Alejandro, Antoine L. Smith as Berry Gordy/Nick, Joey Sorge as Dave, and Ayana George as Katherine Jackson.
Prior to Tony season that year, MJ wasn't taken seriously as a contender by a majority of predictors for two reasons. One, the show received very mixed reactions from critics. Two, there was some controversy surrounding the subject of Michael Jackson due to posthumous child sexual abuse allegations made by Wade Robson and James Safechuck in the 2019 HBO documentary, Leaving Neverland. Although Jackson's estate personally declared that film to be a "tabloid character assassination." Whether anyone believed those allegations were real or not, the publicity from them at least boosted sales of his music. Commercially, MJ started to do very well at the box office, where it's continued to gross over $1,000,000 a week.
Not only that, but one of my colleagues at Gold Derby, Sam Eckmann, said in slugfests that he met people within the industry who liked the show way more than the critics did. The production received 10 Tony Award nominations for Best Musical, Best Lead Actor in a Musical (Myles Frost)*, Best Direction of a Musical (Christopher Wheeldon), Best Book of a Musical (Lynn Nottage), Best Choreography (Christopher Wheeldon)*, Best Orchestrations (David Holcenberg & Jason Michael Webb), Best Sound Design of a Musical (Gareth Owen)*, Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Natasha Katz)*, Best Scenic Design of a Musical (Derek McLane & Peter Nigrini), and Best Costume Design of a Musical (Paul Tazewell).
*denotes an award it won.
This actually reminds me of the trajectory the 2018 Queen biographical film, Bohemian Rhapsody, had at the Oscars. Despite not being a critical favorite and being plagued with controversy (for its sanitized depiction of Freddie Mercury as well as the behind the scenes drama with its credited director, Bryan Singer), the movie not only proved to be a commercial hit, but people within the industry liked it more. Which especially showed with how it kept overperforming in nominations and wins throughout that season. According to the New York Times' survey (which interviewed about 181 out of 650 voters) that year, about one-fifth of them supported MJ, which they uniformly praised as entertaining. Yet, along came a scrappy little show created by a different Michael Jackson...
The show was then set to open cold in New York in the summer of 2020, but got delayed due to performances all over the New York theatre district shutting down thanks to COVID-19. Following quite a bumpy road, MJ finally opened on February 1st, 2022 at the Neil Simon Theatre on Broadway. The original cast included Myles Frost as MJ, Quentin Earl Darrington as Joe Jackson/Rob, Whitney Bashor as Rachel, Gabriel Ruiz as Alejandro, Antoine L. Smith as Berry Gordy/Nick, Joey Sorge as Dave, and Ayana George as Katherine Jackson.
Prior to Tony season that year, MJ wasn't taken seriously as a contender by a majority of predictors for two reasons. One, the show received very mixed reactions from critics. Two, there was some controversy surrounding the subject of Michael Jackson due to posthumous child sexual abuse allegations made by Wade Robson and James Safechuck in the 2019 HBO documentary, Leaving Neverland. Although Jackson's estate personally declared that film to be a "tabloid character assassination." Whether anyone believed those allegations were real or not, the publicity from them at least boosted sales of his music. Commercially, MJ started to do very well at the box office, where it's continued to gross over $1,000,000 a week.
Not only that, but one of my colleagues at Gold Derby, Sam Eckmann, said in slugfests that he met people within the industry who liked the show way more than the critics did. The production received 10 Tony Award nominations for Best Musical, Best Lead Actor in a Musical (Myles Frost)*, Best Direction of a Musical (Christopher Wheeldon), Best Book of a Musical (Lynn Nottage), Best Choreography (Christopher Wheeldon)*, Best Orchestrations (David Holcenberg & Jason Michael Webb), Best Sound Design of a Musical (Gareth Owen)*, Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Natasha Katz)*, Best Scenic Design of a Musical (Derek McLane & Peter Nigrini), and Best Costume Design of a Musical (Paul Tazewell).
*denotes an award it won.
This actually reminds me of the trajectory the 2018 Queen biographical film, Bohemian Rhapsody, had at the Oscars. Despite not being a critical favorite and being plagued with controversy (for its sanitized depiction of Freddie Mercury as well as the behind the scenes drama with its credited director, Bryan Singer), the movie not only proved to be a commercial hit, but people within the industry liked it more. Which especially showed with how it kept overperforming in nominations and wins throughout that season. According to the New York Times' survey (which interviewed about 181 out of 650 voters) that year, about one-fifth of them supported MJ, which they uniformly praised as entertaining. Yet, along came a scrappy little show created by a different Michael Jackson...
Why Didn't MJ Win?: The previous ceremony honored a truncated season since it ended early on March 12th, 2020 due to COVID-19. Therefore, all the Best Musical nominees ended up being these middle of the road/lowbrow jukebox shows. In this day and age where people complain about lack of originality on Broadway (or show business in general), voters clearly had slim pickings to choose from that year. As this was the first Tony Awards to have covered a full length Broadway season since 2019, there were more new musicals with original scores in contention. Thus, the industry had something experimental to champion again. After all, a majority of Best Musical winners within the past decade fit that mold such as Once, Fun Home, Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen, The Band's Visit, and Hadestown.
According to the Times' aforementioned survey, A Strange Loop, which already won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Drama from its 2019 Off-Broadway run, was praised for its originality and raw honesty. While it also had its skeptics (some voters found the songs unmemorable, or the explicitness off-putting) it did benefit from the fact that there was no consensus about any of the other nominees. Although some industry veterans suggested that Tony voters who live outside New York were probably reluctant to support A Strange Loop because its sexual content would make it challenging to produce on tour. Yet, that did not appear to be a decisive factor as the show was favored by half of the voters surveyed. The other contenders (Girl From the North Country, Mr. Saturday Night, Paradise Square, and Six) had less support.
Going into the Tonys, A Strange Loop was predicted to win 5 awards by a majority of experts and users on Gold Derby. Yet, it kept underperforming throughout the night. Best Original Score went to Six, Best Orchestrations went to Girl From the North Country, and Jaquel Spivey lost Best Lead Actor in a Musical to Myles Frost. Thankfully, it still managed to win Best Book of a Musical for Michael R. Jackson. Although after MJ won more Tonys than most people expected, I started to wonder if it was going to pull a surprise win for Best Musical. Though in the end, A Strange Loop came through. In fact, it is now the fourth show in history to have won Best Musical and only one other award on Tony night. The previous three were Two Gentlemen of Verona (which only also took home Book for John Guare & Mel Shapiro) in 1972, Raisin (which only also took home Best Lead Actress in a Musical for Virginia Capers) in 1974, and 42nd Street (which only also took home Best Choreography for Gower Champion) in 1981.
After the Tonys, A Strange Loop never really caught on at the box office. It ended up closing at a loss on January 15th earlier this year after 293 performances. As of now, it is the first Best Musical winner to have not spawn a national tour since Passion back in 1994. Although A Strange Loop is getting ready to do a limited run in London from June 17th-September 9th. Meanwhile, MJ is still going strong on Broadway. That show already has more productions in the pipeline, including a U.S. tour and London transfer.
For the record, I'm never going to cover the Best Musical race of 2020 at all. It was a big mistake for the Tonys to move forward with giving out competitive awards to a smaller pool of contenders than usual. I think it would’ve been a much better idea to have just given out honoree awards to the shows that opened during the shortened 2019-20 season. In fact, a user on Gold Derby (who shall be nameless) told me in a private message that ”I don’t count last year as real Tony Awards. I call them the Fonys – fake Tonys and I refuse to think of them as winners.” Which I couldn't agree with him more.
According to the Times' aforementioned survey, A Strange Loop, which already won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Drama from its 2019 Off-Broadway run, was praised for its originality and raw honesty. While it also had its skeptics (some voters found the songs unmemorable, or the explicitness off-putting) it did benefit from the fact that there was no consensus about any of the other nominees. Although some industry veterans suggested that Tony voters who live outside New York were probably reluctant to support A Strange Loop because its sexual content would make it challenging to produce on tour. Yet, that did not appear to be a decisive factor as the show was favored by half of the voters surveyed. The other contenders (Girl From the North Country, Mr. Saturday Night, Paradise Square, and Six) had less support.
Going into the Tonys, A Strange Loop was predicted to win 5 awards by a majority of experts and users on Gold Derby. Yet, it kept underperforming throughout the night. Best Original Score went to Six, Best Orchestrations went to Girl From the North Country, and Jaquel Spivey lost Best Lead Actor in a Musical to Myles Frost. Thankfully, it still managed to win Best Book of a Musical for Michael R. Jackson. Although after MJ won more Tonys than most people expected, I started to wonder if it was going to pull a surprise win for Best Musical. Though in the end, A Strange Loop came through. In fact, it is now the fourth show in history to have won Best Musical and only one other award on Tony night. The previous three were Two Gentlemen of Verona (which only also took home Book for John Guare & Mel Shapiro) in 1972, Raisin (which only also took home Best Lead Actress in a Musical for Virginia Capers) in 1974, and 42nd Street (which only also took home Best Choreography for Gower Champion) in 1981.
After the Tonys, A Strange Loop never really caught on at the box office. It ended up closing at a loss on January 15th earlier this year after 293 performances. As of now, it is the first Best Musical winner to have not spawn a national tour since Passion back in 1994. Although A Strange Loop is getting ready to do a limited run in London from June 17th-September 9th. Meanwhile, MJ is still going strong on Broadway. That show already has more productions in the pipeline, including a U.S. tour and London transfer.
For the record, I'm never going to cover the Best Musical race of 2020 at all. It was a big mistake for the Tonys to move forward with giving out competitive awards to a smaller pool of contenders than usual. I think it would’ve been a much better idea to have just given out honoree awards to the shows that opened during the shortened 2019-20 season. In fact, a user on Gold Derby (who shall be nameless) told me in a private message that ”I don’t count last year as real Tony Awards. I call them the Fonys – fake Tonys and I refuse to think of them as winners.” Which I couldn't agree with him more.