u/Original_Engine_7548

So I adore the MJ musical. I never got to hear his music in a live setting and this is the closest I will get. Saw it 3 times. Twice in Australia and once in the U.S. I went in originally thinking it was going to be corny …and walked out seriously in love with it and made me dig way deeper into his catalog as in his unreleased stuff and demos etc. I felt like I discovered a whole new artist !

Even though it’s not him singing obviously, the band and the staging and lighting is incredible and give the songs justice, especially the Motown stuff.

Anyway need my excitement out somewhere..got a ticket to NYC for end of January and going to go a couple more times 🥰 hoping for a good audience . I had one terrible audience that didn’t shut up..they treated it like a sitcom and kept yelling stuff and laughing at weird parts ..it would take me out of the moment.

I haven’t seen the current guy playing MJ on Broadway so hoping he’s good. I had a fantastic one in Australia who obviously did his homework and was great. I had another Mj that…ehhh..wasn’t a huge fan of ..felt like he broke character a couple times and acknowledged the audience which was weird. But still had a good time.

Anyway! If you’ve gone to it., share your experience or celebrate with me haha now I just gotta come up with hotel money 😑

So the movie had a few different premieres…The US, Japan and Germany and the event in Gary.

Australia really loves MJ. It’s still the highest grossing movie here this year (although I know it’ll be overtaken more than likely by spider man or Toy Story soon) The movie did incredibly well here. It was number one for weeks. I think it’s still in a handful of theatres. It was in IMAX I’d say longer than other countries . I saw it in imax all the way til mid June!

I’m not joking when I say there’s constant MJ impersonator shows…easily one a month from different ones from across the world.

The musical was a HUGE success. Made tons of money when a lot are struggling here and lasted 18 months.

I would LOVE a premiere here. We get them in Sydney now and again.I feel like Australia has tons of love for him and it would be a perfect place :) here’s me manifesting it ;)

So I live in Australia. I was in the UK for 10 days. Came back the 10th. I got off the plane (26 hour journey!) and took a nap when I got home and then a shower and found a tick in my arm then. I immediately went to the ER to be safe since the area I visited has Lyme and I have no idea how long it was on my arm for. It didn’t look huge when I pulled it out but who knows. I had a tiny red mark after taking it out.

The did a blood test for Lyme and a culture. Culture came back negative but I’m still waiting for the Lyme result almost 14 days later. And then I have to take another Lyme test.

In the meantime, they put me on 10 days of Doxycycline. I finished it off yesterday and my arm still has a little red bump but nothing grew or spread and I feel fine . My GP is pretty clueless on this though . And the hospital is telling me to wait for the results and to get more blood drawn in a few days. Australia doesn’t have Lyme (so they say…) so everyone seems like they’re winging it tbh.

Does this sound like enough? Should I ask for more antibiotics or wait for results?

Found out today is the last day at the theatre near my house. Sold about 25 seats so far so not bad! However it’s still playing at a couple other ones in my city (once a day) after tomorrow. Is it still at a theatre near you?

I was in the UK for a week and I saw a bit of MJ love ❤️ made me smile !

Day one I went to HMV (music store ) to look around and there was an MJ vinyl display and a group of teenage girls came in and go “oh they got Michael Jackson here!”’ ❤️

The next day I went to a Michael Buble show and while he’s not from the UK, mentioned MJ 3 separate times during the show haha said his kids watched the movie 30 times and asking when is the sequel is coming 😂 then his kids sang the chorus to Man in the Mirror later on and everyone joined in and later on he sang the first couple of lines of it (as MJ haha but it wasn’t bad and wasn’t making fun) I was just excited to have my 2 favs combined.

Then as I was walking back to the bus from the show I saw this one maybe 12-13 year kid doing a whole MJ dance routine with moonwalk and all.

THEN at the York train station a day later , there was this maybe 3-4 year old kid decked out in a legit Billie Jean costume. I mean it was well made and he had a little sparkly glove and hat and everything. It was a really well made costume.

Then the next day ….and a group of teenage girls were singing “One More Chance” on a street karaoke thing.

It all just made me smile :) I love seeing him around, especially seeing kids gravitate towards it.

I had no intentions of going the 25th as I thought I was finished watching it after 8 times . But my mother in law wanted to see it and the 25th happens to be the day she can go. There was already a lot of tickets sold too.

Who else is going?

I know I’m VERY late to the party but this song is SO gorgeous. How did I just find out about it?! I love how different it is and his voice is just hauntingly beautiful in it.

Has anyone else stopped watching or been limiting yourself so it still feels “new”? I have a thing and I’m sure it’s nothing unique where if I watch or listen to something quite often, it grows tiring and looses that special or magic feel. Or it basically becomes white noise to me. And I don’t want the movie to do that any time soon :) I’ve done 8 so far and I think I’m good for now unless it magically shows up to imax again lol

I honestly don’t get how people can watch it on repeat or daily. Not because it’s not great but it would start to feel predictable I guess? hey if if you can, more power to you! Absolutely not knocking you ;)

I do this with his music too. I try to space the times listening to it or only in certain spaces like the gym so it feels like new or fresh music to me still even though I’ve been listening for 30 + years .
I’m trying to decide on one more watch in the cinema and then get the dvd in august so I can watch the documentary thing on it. Anyway anyone else pacing themselves?

So I did 8 watches. I actually feel satisfied with it to where it’s still feels magical and not overdone and wanted to give it time . Most showings were IMAX so I feel ruined for anything else haha

I said I was done because If I listen to the same song or watch the same movie multiple times in a short period it just becomes sort of white noise to me. I even space his music out for this reason. I don’t get how people watch this 20+ times but good for them 😆 I can’t do it. I want to keep it fresh in my brain :)

BUT just learned there’s a theatre about an hour from me that’s still doing shows in Atmos…I seriously thought that went away at the start of May! Now I’m contemplating. Is it as good as imax in regards to experience? I know this screen will be a lot smaller obviously. It looks like a smaller cinema space (about 4/5 rows) but I imagine that’s good for this sort of thing. Someone tell me their experiences with Atmos!

For all the older folks who were around …Genuine question. I was around in the late 80s and early 90s but too little to pay attention.

Did MJ not mention his vitiligo until the Oprah interview? Did he just gradually lose all his pigment and didn’t mention it til then? I remember as a kid just sort of accepting it and not caring. I know people were saying he bleached his skin and all that but did he explain why he was lighter before that or did people suspect vitiligo at all? Not blaming anyone or being negative. Genuinely curious on how it was handled!

In case anyone is interested, there’s some IMAX showings at Chadstone Hoyts this week until Tuesday :)

It’s still going quite strong where I am . Multiple showings a day in different formats at different theatres so it’s hard to tell now! I’m going to say mid July.

In the credits one of the songs listed was “Childhood”. When was this used? I’m assuming it was an instrumental bit.

Someone wrote about it causing catharsis somewhere else and it absolutely nailed it for me.

Now I always liked MJ since the early 90s. Always appreciated him. I wasn’t an intense fan but really liked him especially the song Keep the Faith . Not super emotionally invested as some are but followed his career from afar .

But it’s not just grieving him …it brought up strong positive feelings of watching premieres of his videos like black or white, watching the making of Thriller multiple times as I swear it was on every weekend on VH1 😆 or counting down to the Scream premiere, watching on HBO that one 1992 concert with my cousin and I barely knew who he was and more . I realised how many strong good memories I have wrapped up in him during my chaotic childhood. Just made me miss him a lot and not only that, my best friend passed last year way too young and she LOVED him. One of my earliest memories is her screaming at my old roommate and defending him . And I get sad because I KNOW she would have loved this so much. I’ve gone 6 times because it just feels like this is releasing some big feelings I didn’t know I had at all. I’d cry in my car for a bit….Maybe because I’m a huge hard ass but man it tapped in deep in my soul. The musical did something similar as well.

Who else experienced this? Almost like therapy.

I’ve been a fan since I was a kid in the 90s but there was a bit of a gap where he was in the background more , especially during 2005-2009.

Social media was around then. Did he have an official Facebook page or official MySpace and if so, what did they post? I know they did a bit on his own website and that seemed to be the main way to be in contact and in the know with fans it seems but curious on how his social presence was back then as it was a different world back then with it.

For me it was when his dad confronted him in his bedroom about doing the Victory Tour. His subtle facial expressions and overall look are so eerily MJ. This is when I truly forgot it wasn’t him.

I feel like this is the first time in years where something I have an interest is being recognised and talked about.

I don’t care about Marvel movies . Or Taylor Swift. Or Star Wars or Wicked or whatever is popular during the time. I’m never part of the “big conversation “ it seems haha The stuff I enjoy is niche and it’s ALWAYS been that way. My whole life. And I know he isn’t niche , he just isn’t talked or celebrated to this extent. Like after I saw the musical I was so sad I had no one really to talk to about it 😆

So seeing this blow up and seeing his music chart or being discussed on social media makes me happy. Finally something I am part of and been part of for decades is being talked about in a positive light you know?

I wonder if this is why so many people are watching it over and over as well. Like it’s finally their time to enjoy something.

Anyone else have this feeling?

I wouldn’t go to one because that absolutely isn’t my thing but it seems like this is such an easy way to draw in more people /bigger numbers and get fans together.

Do you think they’ll have one at the end of the run? 🤔