COVID-19: Michael Jackson musical postpones Broadway debut

A stage musical about Michael Jackson, the famed but late singer-cum-dancer, has postponed its Broadway debut until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Preview performances for the play entitled ‘MJ’ are now set to begin in March 2021 at the Neil Simon, a broadway theatre situated in the District of Midtown Manhattan, New York City.

Lia Vollack and the Michael Jackson Estate, both of whom are the play’s producers, were said to have announced the new dates on Wednesday — having initially scheduled it for July 6.

Previously called ‘Don’t Stop ’Til You Get Enough’, Jackson’s forthcoming posthumous musical was inspired by the late pop singer’s life and music, with his legacy lingering on after years of his death.

It was gathered that Lynn Nottage, a two-time Pulitzer Prize American playwright, would be writing the book using Jackson’s vast catalog of songs.

While Christopher Wheeldon, a Tony Award-winning choreographer of contemporary ballet, will direct and choreograph the play, Ephraim Sykes, a US actor, is expected to star as Jackson.

Jackson is believed to have died of acute propofol and benzodiazepine intoxication in 2009 while at his Los Angeles home, in a development that greatly shook the global music scene.

However, the Los Angeles detectives, who had probed his case, would later claim in 2019 that the widely acclaimed king of pop’s passing had been more than a case drug overdose.