I wasn’t from the generation that bought Michael Jackson’s music but I did review Thriller! a few times and was blown away by the iconic dance.  Waiting for Lynne Nottage’s take on Michael Jackson, the musical Just For One Day at the Old Vic about the 1985 Live Aid concert led me to chance upon the documentary on Netflix about the American parallel event.  Lionel Richie narrated The Greatest Night in Pop and I think this is the first time I heard Michael Jackson talking at length instead of singing.  I was struck by the gentleness of MJ, his childlike personality and his lack of ego amongst all that musical talent. 

To tackle the elephant in the room first, I liked Lynn Nottage’s comment that MJ the Musical would concentrate on the music and that she hoped the allegations of abuse were not true.  I find it problematic judging people who created historically great art for recent moral outrage, for instance Paul Gauguin and the sexual mores of Tahitians in the 19th century, Mozart and his scatology and Auden’s beautiful poetry marred by rent boy gossip.   I watched the documentaries made by Jackson’s accusers on Channel 4 and do not find their case proven.  So like the stance taken by director and choreographer Christopher Wheeldon, I will concentrate on reviewing the show and not the allegations of scandal.