Thursday, May 21, 2026

Broadway’s Michael Jackson Chosen, Ephraim Sykes Was Tony-Nominated for Playing Temptation in “Ain’t too Proud”

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The Broadway Michael Jackson musical has a star.

Ephraim Sykes, who played David Ruffin in “Ain’t Too Proud” this past season, and was Tony-nominated, will take the role.

Lynn Nottage is writing the book and Christoper Wheeldon is directing the musical called “MJ.” The show begins performances on July 6, 2020 at the Neil Simon Theater.

Michael will also be portrayed as a child and teen, obviously. But the gist of the show is going to be all about “Thriller” and stop there, when Jackson’s life was at a high. It will likely not delve into anything after that.

But the music of “Thriller” and “Off the Wall,” plus Jackson 5 hits and Michael’s early solo hits like “Got to Be There” will make enough of a show. I wouldn’t expect anything fallacious or terribly factual. Like “The Cher Show” and “Tina!”, “MJ” is designed as a souvenir jukebox that will send audiences out dancing, not suing.

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009 and previously edited Fame magazine and wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. is articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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