More of the Making of “MJ” the Broadway musical are coming out. The latest is from the musical theatre sound designer for the show, Gareth Owen.
Gareth Owen’s career in sound began when the night club he was handling the lighting for became a live music venue. Inspired to pursue a full-time job in the audio industry, he secured work experience with sound rental company SSE, which saw him hone his skills on the festival and touring circuits.
While working for SSE, Gareth met a sound engineer who was mixing West End musical Blues Brothers. He had been offered a tour with Deep Purple and was looking for someone to cover him so he approached Gareth. While working on Blues Brothers Gareth made more connections with people in the theatre world and was offered more jobs.
Realising he enjoyed that area of the audio industry, Gareth decided to focus more on theatre, resulting in his current role, musical theatre sound designer.
In a resent interview, Owen was asked what are his next projects. While listing the new “Back to the Future musical, Prince of Egypt both in London, he also mention he will be doing “Diana” (a musical about Princess Diana) and MJ, the Michael Jackson musical.
For MJ, he was instructed by the Estate to “Create us the best sound in Broadway history”.
While the show is due for July 2020, you can find more information HERE
The Estate of Michael Jackson released a statement regarding Lynn Nottage’s comments in different news interviews (actually the Estate only mentioned one of those). Despite the message of the Estate reassuring fans that Lynn is 100% behind the project and a huge Michael Jackson fan, the feeling online is divided. It will be best to hear this from the two Pulitzer Prizes winner herself.
MJVibe has tried to contact Nottage many times for comment but has not received any answer as yet.
It would be good if Nottage DID reassure fans via MJ Vibe, but I suspect she is now under strict orders to keep mum on the subject. It’s a no-win scenario with the press looking for sensation on one side, and the fans wanting to know the musical is in deserving hands. Much is made of her twice winning the Pulitzer, like that is any guarantee of one’s suitability to tell Michael’s story. It isn’t, as Margo Jefferson (also a Pulitzer winner) has blatantly displayed, but I will await feedback from the preview performances. I really WANT this musical to be a success for the sake of Michael’s legacy.