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Michael Jackson

A new Michael Jackson bio-musical is heading to Broadway in 2020

The creative team for the Michael Jackson musical includes playwright Lynn Nottage and director/choreographer Christopher Wheeldon.

Tom Millward
Tom Millward

Columbia Live Stage and The Michael Jackson Estate have announced that a new bio-musical based on the life and career of the late music icon Michael Jackson is currently in development for Broadway and is expecting to bow on the Great White Way in 2020.

The bio-musical will feature a book by two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage, who made her Broadway debut in 2017 with Sweat. Her numerous off-Broadway credits include Intimate ApparelRuined, and By the Way, Meet Vera Stark, among others. She was last represented on the New York stage by the Public Theater's production of Mlima's Tale.

Tony Award winner Christopher Wheeldon is set to direct and choreograph the production. He is best known for his Tony-winning choreography of An American in Paris, which he also directed, and he made his Broadway debut in 2002 as the choreographer of Sweet Smell of Success.

The (currently untitled) musical will, of course, feature Michael Jackson's greatest hits, which could include the likes of "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough," "Rock with You," "Billie Jean," "Beat It," "Thriller," "Bad," "Man in the Mirror," "Smooth Criminal," "Black or White," "Heal the World," "You Are Not Alone," and "You Rock My World."

Michael Joseph Jackson was born on August 29, 1958 and died on June 25, 2009 at the age of 50. Over the course of his career in the music industry as "The King of Pop", he released a total of 10 studio albums, sold an estimated amount of over 350 million records worldwide and won 13 Grammy Awards. He also famously starred as Scarecrow in the 1978 film adaptation of The Wiz.

A musical revue by the name of Thriller Live has been running in London's West End since January 2009, which celebrates the music of Michael Jackson and The Jackson 5.

Casting, a venue and exact dates for the Broadway production will be announced at a later date.

 

Originally published on

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