While there is as much praise to distribute as there are performers, we must begin with Myles Frost, about whom we need to shake out the cliché and say a star is born. Who is this person? Why haven't we seen him on Broadway before? Astonishingly, Frost was not even the first choice to play Jackson. That would be Ephraim Sykes, who was performing on Broadway as Motown recording artist David Ruffin in the musical Ain't Too Proud back in the pre-COVID days when he was signed on to take the lead role of the MJ project.
We all know what stopped happening during the dark time, but life and careers did go on. By the time things started cranking up for Broadway's resurrection, Sykes had moved on to other projects and commitments. And, so, enter Myles Frost, about whom the initial press release had almost nothing to say beyond announcing his name and that he had been picked following "an exhaustive search for a uniquely talented performer." If it sounds like hype, so be it. But Sykes, whose professional acting résumé is quite short and mostly confined to a handful of television appearances, is the real thing, and not just a Michael Jackson mimic. When it comes to singing and, especially, dancing, Sykes repeatedly knocks it out of the ballpark.
Um, Mr, Miller, you might want to do some editing here...:-) |
