The King of Pop Takes Brisbane: Why MJ The Musical Is the Show of the Year

There are shows you watch. Then there are shows that reach into your chest and rearrange something.

MJ The Musical is the second kind.

The Olivier and Tony Award-winning production lands at QPAC's Lyric Theatre from March 27, 2026, and if the standing ovations that have followed it from Broadway to Melbourne are any indication, Brisbane is in for something genuinely extraordinary. Over six million people worldwide have seen this show. The preview performances are already sold out. The rest is selling fast.

At the centre of it all is Ilario Grant — a Broadway sensation who led the Melbourne season to critical and audience acclaim, and who now brings that same electric intensity to Brisbane. If you haven't heard the name yet, you will.

"My time in Australia with MJ has been amazing, and I feel so grateful to continue this journey in Brisbane. The audiences here have been so welcoming, and I'm really looking forward to meeting Brisbane locals, exploring the city, and sharing this show with a whole new audience."

But there's a second story in this cast announcement — one that's purely Brisbane's own. Liam Damons, who made his professional stage debut in this very production and has been reprising the role of teenage Michael in Melbourne, is coming home to open the Brisbane season. For a city that often watches its talent leave for the southern stages, there's something quietly satisfying about that.

"Returning home to Brisbane with MJ is incredibly special. This city shaped me as a performer, and to share this role here, in front of a hometown audience, means everything."

The production is set in 1992 — inside the rehearsal rooms of Michael Jackson's iconic Dangerous World Tour — and it's a cleverly constructed lens. Rather than a straight biographical retelling, it's a story about creative obsession, the cost of genius, and the gap between the man and the myth. The framing device is an MTV journalist granted rare backstage access, and through her eyes, we see a Jackson most people never knew: anxious, exacting, brilliant, and deeply human.

The book is by two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage (Ruined, Sweat) — not a celebrity ghostwriter, but one of the most serious dramatists working in American theatre. That pedigree matters. It's why the show has weight.

The creative team behind the production reads like an awards ceremony programme. Christopher Wheeldon OBE, Artistic Associate of The Royal Ballet, choreographed the show — and won the Tony and the Olivier for it. Set design is by Derek McLane (Moulin Rouge!), costumes by Paul Tazewell (Hamilton, Wicked — and an Academy Award winner). The sound design comes from Gareth Owen (Come From Away). The level of craft on stage is exceptional.

And then there are the songs. More than 25 of them — Beat It, Smooth Criminal, Man in the Mirror, Thriller, Billie Jean. Performed live. Reconstructed with full choreography. In the hands of a cast that includes original Broadway company member Oyoyo Joi alongside an ensemble that has, by every account, been stopping shows nightly.

MJ The Musical plays the Lyric Theatre at QPAC from March 27, 2026. Tickets at mjthemusical.com.au.