April 13, 2025 • 47 mins
In this powerful episode of The Jermaine Plane, Jermaine D’Vauz sits down with actor and performer Roman Banks, the star of MJ the Musical, for a vulnerable and moving conversation about purpose, artistry, and channeling greatness. Roman shares what it takes to embody one of the most iconic figures in music history — not just through dance and performance, but through spirit, presence, and intention.
Together, they explore the emotional and physical preparation behind portraying Michael Jackson, what it means to honour someone’s legacy, and how faith, belief, and hard work come together to create something truly magical. From stories of manifestation and early influences, to deeply personal moments on stage, this episode is a celebration of passion, purpose, and the power of believing in something bigger than yourself.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'm Jamaine Divas and this is the Germaine Plane. It's
a space to reconnect with the music and memories that
shaped us, not just the songs we loved, but the
stories behind them and the people we were when we
heard them. I've got to have honest, fun and reflective
conversations with artists like take That, Ricky Lee, Samanth the Jay,
(00:20):
just to name a few, diving into the moments, the meaning,
and the emotion tied to it all. Because when we
look back at what moved us, then we start to
understand who we are now. This show is about connection, reflection, healing,
and coming home to who we've always been. I'm so
glad you're.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Here, flying back in time. This is the Domain Plane.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Hello, my friends. MJ the Musical is currently playing at
the Sydney Lyric Theater, celebrating the music, moves, and story
of the King of Pop, Michael Jackson. Now if you
know me, well you know I'm probably the Biggestchael Jackson
van of all time. I was so relieved when I
got to see this beautiful production because Ossie audiences are
(01:08):
getting just a true, beautiful depiction of the man that
I've looked up to for so long. And the man
who plays MJ in this musical is Roman Banks. He's
an American singer, actor, and dancer who made history by
being the first black man to play the title role
in Evan Hanson and Broadway. And you might have seen
him on High School Musical, the series The Musical if
(01:31):
forgot that right on Disney Plus. When I tell you
my chat with Roman, it was not like any other
interview I've had. This was quite a quite a sacred conversation.
If you think about how can you play the humanity
of the man behind the glove? How do you do that?
(01:53):
Roman credits his magic and his powerful performance to a
divine interaction. I really want you to enter this conversation
with an open mind, and I encourage you to have
a mission to understand Michael Jackson. In a mission to
understand how a connection with the divine you can give
(02:17):
you the tools you need to make a magical performance,
because this is what you're going to get with Roman Banks.
Enjoy and let's why. All right, Roman Banks in the studio,
how are you man? And I'm doing good.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
It's a pretty day here in Sydney.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
It's a beautiful day. A you enjoying Australia, Yes, yes,
very much. So how long have you been in Sydney,
pol Now?
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Yesterday made it? Actually today makes it two months?
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Two months? Okay, right, yeah? Any favorite bits of Australia
so far?
Speaker 3 (02:46):
The beaches have been really cool. Last week I went
to Gordon's Bay and that was so so nice. Oh
my god, my soul wasn't enriched by that visit because
we've been spending so much time in the theater and
so like just having a day where I actually got
to do something outside of work was really fulfilling. And food.
(03:08):
No one, you know, while they were trying to convince
me to come to Australia, no one mentioned the food,
and I told them, since I've been there, I've been like,
why didn't you guys start with that. I'm such a
If anyone had been like, by the way, the food incredible,
might like I would have been like, I would be like,
oh my gosh, okay, well then now I'm a lot
more excited to go, you know. And so that's been
(03:29):
a really beautiful surprise, like just going to all these
like restaurants, but also just holes in the wall and
just being like, oh man, this is good. This is good.
I'm still working on my breakfast places. That's not something
that Australians love too much like Americans do. But I
mean dinner and lunch. You guys, you guys got to
know the lock. It's quite impressive.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
I was talking to Derek Joseph in the musical and
he was saying, He's like, what we consider organic in
the US is just like what normal food is here
in Australia. So I mean, it's it's an interesting thing.
It's something we take for granted in Australia quite a bit.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Yeah, and you should be able to take it for granted,
like normally non processed and like non heavily.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
You know.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
I guess sourced foods shouldn't be that should be like
pretty accessible. That shouldn't be some sort of not to
like took a hard turn. But I'm like, yeah, you know,
like it should be something we take for granted. We
shouldn't have to like look up a bunch of stuff
about what ingredients we can't pronounce her and our foods.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
You know, I get it. I get it. Man. Let's
talk about MJ the musical. Let's do it now. Firstly,
I just want to say Michael Jackson has been the
biggest inspiration of my life. Yeah, this man is my
He's my wife hero when it comes to you know,
his artistry, his presence, his magic. It's shaped so much
(04:58):
of who I am. And for such a long time
I never thought I would. Well, obviously, I just accepted
that I'd never see him live. I'd never seen the
man live. And it sucks. It sucks, right, it sucks.
But I have to say, then I watched you perform,
(05:18):
and I watched you do Billy Jean, and for the
first time I feel like I felt his presence.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
And for the first time I knew what it would
have felt like to see Michael Jackson live.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
So hearing that, what does that mean to you? Like
to know that you have created an experience? And just
so I can say, I want to preview Nite with
a lot of Michael Jackson fans from Perth, from so
many different areas. He took Australian group, there was a
Facebook group that they all falling down. These people never
(05:54):
seen and some of them never seen him live. And
to know that people can that close of an experience
to see Michael, how do you feel about that? To
know your performance can bring people with that close.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
You know, it just makes me feel like it just
makes me feel really grateful, you know, like I never
I always set out to just show people the man.
Like I was like, we have so much performance footage
of him, we don't really know what it'd be like
to be in a room with him for two hours.
And I was like, I don't want anyone to come
to the show and I'm talking, or I'm taking a
(06:30):
sip of water or I'm walking around stage and they're
taken out of the experience by anything I'm doing. I
was like, I want I want the words and the
storytelling and my body language to be just as thrilling
and exciting as Billy Jean, you know, because I don't
want the experience to stop where it's like, oh that now,
(06:52):
I feel like I'm oh well, now, I don't feel
like that was oh well now, I feel like, you know,
I wanted it to all be start to end and
experience like you're witnessing just the energy that Michael would
walk around with. And so when I hear things like that,
it's very much confirming of the work that I've been
(07:13):
able to put in because you know, The best advice
Michael ever gave in all my research that I've done
is that you know, you're not supposed to think on stage,
You're just supposed to feel. And as somebody who is
a chronic overthinker, I that was a really hard concept
for me to swallow for a long time. But I
(07:34):
get why he worked so hard in rehearsals. It was
just so he could go on stage and literally just
experience everything around him. Essentially, we're watching the same twenty
to thirty moves, but it's through feeling that that refined
move set becomes electric. And it's why he can do
(07:55):
the same routine for twenty years and we're on the
edge of our seats as if we've never seen it before,
because he allowed himself to feel and to invest. And
so I love that people can come to the show
and feel that way. And sometimes even people are like
recording something in the show and I look back and
I'm watching it and I'm like, wow, that looks very exciting,
you know what I'm saying. And so I get to
(08:18):
feel that magic too sometimes, and you know, I'm grateful
to be a vessel.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
I think there is something that I noticed, actually there
was a lot of things I noticed when I was
watching you perform that I was like, wow, like you
managed to tackle the magical ingredients that he has in
his performance. One thing that I loved about Michael when
he'd perform was that it's almost like when he gives
you the move, he takes it back, so it's like
it's like a snake attack, like a chuck and he
(08:45):
gives it back. And I felt that when I watched
you perform.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
Tell me more about that.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Yeah, So it's it's kind of like a teasing kind
of thing. The moment Michael hits a move and Yeah,
puts it away. You don't have time to react, Like
by the time you've seen it, he's taking it away,
which makes you good. I need more. I need to
experience more.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Oh, I've never thought of it, like, Yeah, you definitely
so true.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
You embody that, you embody that that teasing nature that
Michael brings on stage.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
Wow, thank you, that's so rich. That's so rich. I
I'm so happy to hear that from you because I
can see how much you appreciate the man just you know,
and the way that you have gone even about today.
And I there are so many YouTube videos that I've
put in point two five to be like how did
he go into it? How did he hold it? How
(09:34):
did he come out of it? Because it is so hard,
especially as like a non train dancer, Like it is
so hard to digest. Yeah, like's it's so fast, it's
so fast, And I mean I'll watch the same I've
watched Whimbley like maybe over one hundred times. Yeah, and
I'm still finding new stuff because once once the breakdown
(09:59):
of its in my body, I can understand, Oh that's
how it feels. And it's so funny. Like I'll surprise
myself because my brain has like seen something so many
times that I'll be like, how do I do that?
Like thinking about it, I don't know how to do it?
And then I'll like be grooving on stage and like
my body will go into it because it's seen it
so many times.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Yeah yeah, and.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
Then I'll be like, wait, is that the thing that
I was like struggling with like earlier this week, Like it's.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
It's so I know exactly what you're talking about it
because it's it's almost like there's a language that you speak.
It's a bodily language. Yeah, And when you try to
study the technicality because he was a technical person. But
when you try to study the technicality without that that
kind of transcendent kind of language involved, you don't get it. No,
it's the moment you feel that it and then.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
You're like, oh here it is, yeah, and then it's fun,
you know. And that's the I think that is why
I've been able to do this show so many times
and so have fun. It is because every time I
see Michael do a number, it's different. And so I
want people, especially because we get a lot of return
visitors to our show, and I want people to be like,
(11:06):
oh my god, he didn't do that last time, you know,
I want people. I want those people to still have
a fun show too, And I like to switch it up,
not for the sake of switching it up, but just
because I think the world of Michael is to constantly
invest and to constantly refine and sharpen, and I can
never include his whole move set in a show anyway,
(11:28):
so might as well keep trying to like do new
things and feel it out.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
How did you How did you embody his off stage behavior?
Because there were so many times I saw one moment
which really sorted out to me where you were kind
of just like Michael would kind of when you talk,
you kind of feel feel the world around him. What
was that process like for you studying the off stage,
because this is where a lot of this is what
separates you from I would say, like a tribute performer
(11:54):
or like an impersonator, right because they are very much
focused on what they've seen the videos. On the stage,
you had to embody Michael as a person and his physicality,
his movement. What was that process like for you?
Speaker 3 (12:06):
Yeah, it was, I mean anything I could get my
hands on. I studied, Like I will say, I do
have like a loose cutoff of ninety five ninety six
because you know that's like post rehab and.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
Like street color.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
Yeah, it starts going to another era and it you know,
it's another appearance change when he does the short hair
for the MTV Awards. But so I let myself kind
of do eighty two through ninety five, and like anything
I get my hands on, interview, pictures, video, short film,
(12:45):
movie like you name it, I look at it. And
so that was really helpful for just understanding his body
language just in casual talk, like there's that making of
the black or White video. That's that's always been really
informed because he's literally on a set, and so it's
nice to see his body language is very different when
(13:05):
he's in a professional environment, you know, versus when he's
in a you know, environment with people he knows. So
like watching him in the studio with like Quincy and
and you know, the people who he helped make bad with,
versus like when he met Princess Diana, Like there's a
very poised hands behind the back, slow nod, you know,
(13:28):
like maybe I don't know, just like it's everything's a
lot slower. Yeah, when it's in the presence of someone
he's not very familiar with, very respectful, a lot of
lip biting and smiling. And then like when you put
him in the presence of someone he's you know, constantly
been with, whether that's his brothers or whether that's very
Gordy or that's chan It, it's a little bit more loose.
(13:52):
It's a little bit more relaxed. And so I try
to bring those nuances to the role, like how I'm
gonna speak to the reporter versus how I'm going to
interact with my cool like my collaborator and my choreographer
and it's just so it's all more believable, you know,
Like I just once I walked through the door, I
don't want you to lose the experience, you know, And
(14:13):
I was it was funny when I joined the show
because the creatives were a little bit on the fence
about that, because there were things I wanted to change
where I was like, this is a moment where I
was watching the show on Broadway or wherever I was
watching it, where I was taken out of the experience.
And I think it's because we play more into the
caricature of who Michael Jackson is rather than Michael Jackson himself.
And so I sat them down, I was like, I
(14:36):
don't think I want to do that in this portrayal,
and they were like, oh, Like They're like, who are
you to come in here and tell me? But I
think when they saw all of it together, I think
they were like, oh, like, we see what you mean.
And that's because like, I love acting too. I don't
just love singing and dancing like I love acting. I
love the power of storytelling. And so it was very
(14:58):
important to me that once I stood on stage that
I never felt like a larger than my portrayal, and
I just felt like an honest human being walking in
the energy of Michael Jackson. And so it feels really
good when people are like, yeah, the way you held
your body weight, or the way you like let your
(15:19):
hands go through the space around you, you know, or
the way you would just walk around or even laugh
like it all reminded me of him, and I'm like,
thank you for seeing that.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
Mmm, you know, I love that. Let's talk about your
early early experiences. Now, I've done a lot of research
on you. You said your mom introduced you to the
Jackson five.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
Yes, she did.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
Yeah, take me back to that time growing up. What
was the music like in your household that included the
Jackson five?
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Man, I remember like getting up for breakfast, my mom's
in the kitchen and then it's like Twitter. Tw that
was our jam like Mike and Robin. Yes, Robin, Oh
my god, Because the first album I ever remember being
played around the house was the Ultimate Jackson Vibe Collection.
(16:07):
So Rock and Robin, The Love You Save, I Want
You Back ABC got to be there. Like all of
those things in form my early childhood so much so
that I didn't really I knew Michael Jackson was, but
like I didn't really recognize his individual music until I
was like a teenager because we were just such a
Jackson five family growing up. And that's because my family
(16:31):
loved the Jackson five. There's pictures of my mom, dad,
and and uncle, I guess my mom and uncle and
her family with just these huge afros. And that's for
multiple reasons when you know, we're black family in America
in the seventies. But also like my mom, you know,
she kind of looked like Michael Jackson, like I got
(16:52):
to this huge afro, big smile, you know. And my
mom saw the Jackson five and concert and Pencacle of Flow.
She got to go backstage.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
Yeah, she didn't. Like I think she was probably as
far as from Michael as you are from me right now. Wow.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
My stepdad got to go to the Bad tour and
one of his biggest regrets he was he had gotten
too drunk during the concert to go backstage and meet
because he was there with Sony. He worked with Sony
at the time. Wow, and they you know, his boss
was like, We're gonna go backstage and meet Michael and
they were like, you can't come you're a little bit
(17:34):
too far gone, right, but yeah, needless to say, you know,
like they you know, Michael Jackson, they grew up with
Michael Jackson. And I think because Michael was such a
big part of my mom's childhood. It always she'll tell
you it makes her really sad how angry his music
(17:57):
began to feel the older he got, you know, but
because and it's kind of we talked about it in
the show, like Michael says, you know, they were expecting
sweet little Michael. Yeah, and you know, I think he
had a lot to say about the world around him
and even the way the world treated him. It's not
a surprise that his music got more gritty and more real.
(18:18):
And I think that's I think that's responsibility to the artists.
You have to you have to speak on You should
be honest, You should speak on the world around you.
And it's extreme and you know, and they don't care
about us. Yes, that's a call out to the world
around us. And I missed that kind of honesty, that
truth in music.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
Where people childhood another great example of of just you know,
autobiographical nature in a song. Yeah, I just want to
go back to your mum being at Pensacola for a second,
because this is me being a Michael Jackson fan.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
There's a huge coincidence that your mom saw him there
because he prepared for the band tool rehearsals in Pensacols
And now you're doing a musical which is based on
Michael's tour rehearsals in Dangerous Yeah, isn't that crazy?
Speaker 3 (19:06):
That is kind of crazy. I didn't put that together, Yeah,
because Pensacola was that's where they did the big turnover
from Yokohama in Japan, right.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Yeah, they did the first leg and it was pretty
much just the victory to ours.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
Yeah, and then he wasn't happy with it because he
was saying, oh, the US is going to be like
all eyes around me for my first solo tour.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
So then they said, okay, let's completely revamp this show
up and they did all in Pensacola to a place
that wasn't air conditioned apparently.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
So I just love one. It's nice to get the
nerd out of her mincl details with some money, but
it's also I love that. It's so hard to fathom
you have the biggest album in the world, the best
selling album of all time, and he still had such
a victory tour was also the best selling tour in
(19:54):
history up until that point, and it was still he
still had so much other feeling to prove himself. It's
just it's just really a testament to his artistry that
everything the whole world is telling you by metrics alone,
this tour is going to be successful regardless. We already
know you as performer, we already love you as a performer.
(20:15):
And he's stressing out about like this has to be
Everyone's going to be expecting this thing, this has to
be amazing, when like it's already in his bag. But
I just love that. I love that, like you are
at the top of your game. You've already broken on
the records, You've already got the eight Grammys in one night. No,
the world's never seen anything like you, and you're trying
(20:36):
to outdo yourself. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
I mean that The whole Bad era for me was
just such a such a such a moment. I think,
I think you've got his prime, You've got his work
ethic at its absolute top. And also you could see
you could see the pressure that he was feeling because
he wanted bad to be like to be better than thrillized.
Speaker 3 (20:54):
He did. He wanted to outsell them.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
Yeah, so, speaking of bad, I'm going to just put
up this picture quickly on the screen behind me. Okay,
which one's your uncle?
Speaker 3 (21:02):
My uncle is actually not in this, but he my uncle.
Where's the red beret?
Speaker 1 (21:08):
The red find this? Yes?
Speaker 3 (21:11):
So if you pull up the video, he's over his
if we're speaking literally, he's over his left shoulders, but
on the video he's on his right side, so he's
like left shoulder, right side. And it's so funny. We
start bad in our show with the word is out
You're doing wrong, you know, And that's kind of video
where they do the little scuff stuff and that's exactly
(21:34):
where my uncle is like right over his side and
then they hit the you know.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
Yeah, he would Is this your uncle hanging? Let me
let me see if I can bring this up. I'm
doing this alive.
Speaker 3 (21:42):
So yeah, I love it. I love diving in and
he would love this. I'll have to send this to him.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
Is that him there? Yes? That is right there.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Yes, it's like a leather brain, the coolest look.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
Oh my god, I'm incredible, and.
Speaker 3 (21:57):
Its kind of feels like a nod to Princess Raspberry,
because obviously this's is supposed to be a collaboration with originally.
But yeah, no, he said, my uncle talked about me
him and he said he had these huge hands. And
then I think he said I think Michael said, like,
you remind me a lot of teet on my brother,
I think to my uncle, and then he's like, yeah, yeah,
(22:17):
you you feel He was like, I want you to
be close to me because you remind me my brother,
and so that's why he was over his shoulder in
the video.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
Yeah, I've got a story to share with you about
me and Michael because it actually works very well with
your uncle's experience. I met Michael really when I was
sitting three years old with my twin brother. So he
was in Perth for the history tour and we're at
the hotel hotel lobby and all these fans were there
and me and my twin were with only like the
youngest people there, right, So we were at the front.
(22:46):
And then Michael comes out of the elevator with the
underage like his old team, right, and he looks at us,
and the moment he sees us, all these fans just
stampede in front of us. Wow, my brother got not
to the ground. It was a whole thing, right, And
my mom was with us, and she was just like, well,
(23:07):
that's it, boys, Like you know, that's the only kind
of chance, you know, we have with Michael to see him.
And then security parts the crowd and here comes Michael
Jackson running to me and my twin brother, right, so
we're there. He was kind of I don't remember any
of it because I was three years old, but we
go to the side and and then I'm I'm there
(23:29):
with him, and my mom was just kind of watching
the whole thing happen. And he asked me what my
name was, and I said my name's Jermaine and then
he picked me up and hugged me and yeah, and
he was like that's my favorite brother's name and yeah
and so so so that happened. Then we like apparently
we were dancing for him and all that type of stuff. Yeah. Yeah,
(23:49):
it was wild. So there you go. So that was
that was my experience with Michael. And I know, but
you know what, like when I think back on it,
I'm like, gosh, what a what a man who has
such compassion and care for children, Because I like it
could have easily just been, oh, well, we're off to
our next place, don't worry about it. But obviously he
(24:11):
saw my brother and I get you get trampled on
or you know, all this type of stuff, and he
made sure that we were okay and we had a
good time with him. So I'll always have respect for
him because of that. Yeah, let's go back to Let's
go back to you. You said you love acting. Yeah, Now,
when I looked up your story, the only thing I
can think of when it comes to you is magic.
(24:32):
Magic really happens to your roman. You spoke about manifesting
your dream roles, Yeah, Hamilton, and Evan Hansen was one
of them. Yeah, and you wondered, could I be the
first black person to play Evan Hansen? And it happened?
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (24:47):
Right? What makes magic happen for you? What is like?
Is it the mindset, the hard work, the luck? What
is it for you that way where you can dare
to make those dreams?
Speaker 3 (24:56):
Yeah? I mean I'll tell you something that I'm always
very hesitant to tell people just because of you know,
the culture around God and spirituality. But it's just it's
my story. And then you know, I love sharing with
people who I feel like will be open to receive it.
When I was in when I was a young boy,
(25:21):
I was very involved in the church and like my
youth like teenage kind of church experience, and you know,
they were speaking a lot about like purpose and like
finding your purpose, like praying about your purpose, and you know,
I really really wanted to pursue whatever I've like God
had planned for my life, like I wanted it to
(25:42):
be aligned because I was like, oh, like growing up,
you see so many adults who just are purposeless, like
they might have a job, they might you know, like
what they do, but there's not a real sense of
like I do what I love, this thing gives me life.
And I was like, life's too short for me not
to tap into whatever that is. So I was praying
a lot when I was like eleven twelve, God, what's
(26:03):
my purpose? Real my purpose? And I watched I Am Legend.
I'd want to be a firefighter originally, and I watched
I Am Legend with Will Smith and I remember coming
off of that movie and I was like, man, that
looks kind of fun to do, like acting, like the
way he's just carrying this movie with this dog, Like
I was like, I want a German shepherd. And I
was like, I think I might want to try acting
one day. And so I'm praying, I'm praying, I'm praying
(26:25):
them movin. And I'm sitting in bed one day and
I'm eleven years old and I'm eleven or thirteen. I
always get those two confused, and out of the blue,
I just hear this, like feel, this very strong voice
in my head go You're gonna be a famous actor.
And I was like what, And it was so unlike
(26:47):
anything I'd ever like felt. And I went to my
mom and I was like, what was that God? I
was like, Mom, how do you know when God talks
to you? And she was like, Oh, it can happen
in so many ways. It can be through somebody else.
It can like some people actually might hear your voice,
or sometimes it's a very strong, like overwhelming feeling. And
so she's like, sometimes I get confirmed through other people.
And so I was at school the next month and
(27:08):
I was coming home every day to my mom because
I was like, today at school, this teacher or my
friend or this person I never talked to told me
I should think about acting, or told me I should
consider acting or they could see me as an actor.
And so there is a part of my life that
has always just worked out. And I think it is
(27:30):
because I'm operating within my God given purpose. And sometimes
people hear that and they're like, Okay, yeah, whatever, but
they are If you talk to my best friends who
have seen this whole journey play out, sometimes they are
just dumbfounded because they're like, how how did that even have?
Like what? But it's like one and I because God
(27:50):
told me that, I basically took it as okay, let
me just work my butt off and trust. So what
I do is I will work as hard as possible
at something that I feel like I need to do.
But I also will trust in God that he will
arrange the opportunity for me to do so. And so
(28:16):
I've manifested my whole professional career and I believe I
will continue to do so. And even the opening night
of Even, on my Broadway debut of Evan Hansen Davin Hansen,
I'm wearing a Michael Jackson shirt. I'm wearing a Thriller
shirt in the photo that I took with my mom
after I came off stage. Wow, you know what I'm saying?
(28:38):
So it's like it's all connected, and I'm sure I'm
connected to whatever the next job is that I'm going
to do that I don't know about yet, you know.
But it's the same way, you know, Michael said his
music comes from God. I think that magic quality comes
from me being connected to the fact that, like, I know,
(28:58):
this is talent given to me to ultimately showcase to
the world how good God is and how gracious he
is and how beautiful life can be if you allow
yourself to be open to the plans He has for you.
And so that's a part of why I feel like
I've been able to access that wavelength that Michael would
(29:19):
go to when he would perform, because I truly feel
that when he talks about like feeling like the Holy
Spirit is over him, like while he's performing, like I
know exactly what he's talking about, and I know how
he was able to dance until he couldn't walk, Because
when you're operating in that energy, it's above you. You
(29:39):
really can surrender to music and performance the same way
you can surrender to like the Holy Spirit. And I
think that's why, you know, Michael never took credit for
his ideas. He would pray. He said, you know, God,
give me a song. I want to That's how he
prayed about the melody for heal the World or not
(29:59):
here the we are the World? We are the world. Yeah,
he prayed to it. He talks about getting down on
his knees and praying about God, give me a song
for this, and he got we are the World and
he said, you know, they say, where did these ideas
come from? He says God every single time. And I
don't think it's a coincidence that the best melodies and
some of the most iconic songs of all time he
credits to God. And I think it's about opening yourself
(30:22):
up as a channel to be used as a vessel.
And so that's I pray every night for a go
one stage. I say, God, use me as a vessel
to showcase your brilliant and I literally have written down
in my notes I say, you know, you are a
vessel for Michael's creation and God's spirit. So I say,
surrendered to the freedom. And I think that's why, you know,
(30:46):
people are able to come and have these sort of
spiritual experience and I've had spiritual experiences with Michael on stage.
You know, it's happened only a handful of times, but
I very much felt it, and I very much feel
like he visits us on that stage sometimes and it's
always as magical for me as it is for whoever's watching.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
That's really beautiful, It's really beautiful.
Speaker 3 (31:09):
Thanks. I never get to share like that. I'm excited
that I got to.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
It's an honor. Thank you so much for that.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
I think the gift that you have, the talent and
the consciousness that you have, is almost like you're in
the intersection of art and divine, the human and the divine.
I know Michael talks about that a lot, and I
think given the work that you've done before and the
work you're doing now, he really embodies that. He really
embodies that that presence and thanks man.
Speaker 3 (31:37):
I had to tell you a crazy thing. His spiritual
advisor came to see the show in La My God,
and she walked up to me after it and I said, hi.
She was a very serious woman, Jello. She's short, short,
but very serious woman. And she walked up to me
and she said hello, and I said hi. I didn't
know what she was and she said, Hi, nice to
(31:59):
meet you. I was Michael's spiritual advisor, and she said,
his spirit is all over you. And she just said,
I just wanted to let you know that, you know,
I spent a lot of years advising Michael. You know,
he was a very spiritual man. And she said, I
feel his presence over you, and it just it was
(32:22):
like one of the most sobering moments I've ever had,
like on tour, because that was the cool part about La,
Like you never knew who was in the audience because
that's where he lived, and there were people, I mean,
like the stories. I was getting a safe story. The
interactions were unbelievable and that out always just and I
got her number. We barely texted, but I just like
(32:44):
she was like, get my number, and that was just
I just didn't I didn't even know he had a
spiritual advisor. So when I met her and just like
the you know when someone walks with a certain gravita, Yeah,
that's exactly how she was. And so well, you know,
I don't I don't see myself as any sort of
you know person where like only I would get this treatment,
(33:07):
you know, while playing this role. I just believe I've
opened myself up to it, and I think.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
I think that is definitely something like you said before,
a lot of people don't tend to acknowledge is the
fact that people just think that, you know, life is
just how it is, right, This is how I was raised,
this is this is the place that I'm in, This
is the industry. I mean that, this is you know,
me working in media. It was always simply, well, this
(33:38):
is where you are, this is where you fit in
this world. That's it, right. And it was only until
I started to meet people like yourself, people who do
have a sense of spirituality and goals and purpose and motivation,
that it's like, this is a conscious effort. This is
a very much a I believe so much in knowing
you already have it right and then allowing the universe,
(34:01):
allowing the divine to actually make it happen. Yeah, and
it kind of does. I mean MJ. MJ the Musical
a perfect example of this. You could ask anyone in
my life who my biggest passion is, and above my
career and everything that it's Michael Jackson. The moment I
heard MJ. The Musical came here, I was like, something's
going to happen here. Yes, I'm going to you know,
(34:22):
something's going to happen. I can feel it already, and
I'm going to act like I already already have it. Yes,
and these opportunities came about hosting the Red Carpet for
you today. I can't wait. I didn't know that was happening.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
It was like I was like, I didn't know that
was happening. You're holding space that moment, the Red character.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
I love it. What do you hope audiences feel about
Michael when they leave the Sydney Lyric Theater.
Speaker 3 (34:50):
I feel like I just has always been the same answer.
I just want them to see a man. I think
it is really hard to look at from five to fifty,
from the little afro into the pale white skin with
the straight black hair and see a person. Is he
a man? Like? It's even for myself when you look
(35:14):
at just the sheer level of accomplishments, everything he was
able to do, and all all of the transformations that
his physical appearance took, there's something about it that feels
larger than a man, you know, And and the fact
that his magic can't and won't be replicated makes him
feel like a bit divine in that way, and it's
(35:37):
he I think even more so because he never claimed
to be you know what I'm saying. But even scientifically,
like fame and depiction wise, he's only second to Jesus
Christ in terms of fame, Like that is that is
scientific information. And so I think getting caught up in
(35:58):
the mania and the celebrity of him and the mystique
that he wanted to bring to the world in the magic,
it's just hard to be like, that's a human being,
you know. But that's what I want people to see,
you know, I want people to see that like this
guy was a human being who just wanted to make
a change. And like you know, you talked about people
(36:20):
letting life happen to them and the world putting them
in boxes, and it's like, what would what would what
would the world be like if Michael Jackson accepted life
for how it is? Like what would we have been
robbed of? And how many people's brilliants have we been
robbed of? Who have accepted life for how it is?
(36:41):
I mean, what if not to get crazy deep, but
what if, like Harriet Tubman, accepted life for how it was?
You know what I'm saying, think of that the world
is meant to be challenged our thought patterns, what we
express ourselves as is meant to be challenged. And Michael
knew that, And I think Walt Disney knew that, Henry that,
Steve Jobs knew that, and suddenly the world has forever changed.
(37:04):
So it's like, yeah, I always look at Sometimes people
look at me and they're like, you asked too many questions,
are like you take too many chances. But it's like no, Like,
I think we've just been conditioned to a world where
we feel like we shouldn't want to mess with the
status quo, we shouldn't ask so many questions, we shouldn't
question what's in front of us. But I think every
(37:24):
great person I've ever looked up to has always done that.
And so in that vein, yeah, I want you to
see Michael as a human being who looked at the
world and expected more of himself and his brother and
his sister and his family, and yeah, and I want
you to know that you can do it too. That's
(37:45):
the most inspiring part of the musical to me, where
it's like Michael was the only person sometimes he was
the only person in the room who believed in his vision.
The people he was making Thriller with They said, Michael,
how many singles do you want on this record? And
he said, I want all of them to be single
and they laughed at him. Quincy Jones laughed at him,
and he's helping him make the album. But Michael wasn't joking,
(38:08):
you know what I'm saying. And it's like, yeah, sometimes
you are the only person who needs to believe in
your vision. And that's what Michael taught me. So like
sometimes I'm like when I joined Evan Hanson and I
was a nineteen year old who had never worked professionally
in theater before. Everyone in that building said, you're going
to debut as Jared, You're going to debut as Connor.
You're going to debut as one of the lesser roles
(38:31):
because it's your first time on a Broadway stage and
they'll want you to start with something more simple and digestible,
you know. And I was like, no, I'm going to
debut is Evan. Like day one, I was saying that
to people and they were like, here goes this kid
who doesn't know anything about how the business works, telling
us what he's going to do. And then I debuted
is Evan. You know what I'm saying, and it was
(38:52):
just there's sometimes there's just a knowing yea, you know
that you just that and it's not to offend anybody.
It's not to you know, it's not to make anybody
feel bad about themselves or the way they see the world.
It's just to stand fully in your own knowing of
what you are capable of. And I think that's what
Michael tapped into. And so I want people to see
(39:13):
that when they see the show, and I want people
to know that they possess the same capability.
Speaker 1 (39:20):
Ryman, if you could say something to Michael after everything
you've learned, oh, everything you've embodied, what would it be.
Speaker 3 (39:30):
I've never been asked that question before. I think I
would just say thank you and I'm sorry. Thank you
for everything you gave us, and I'm sorry for what
we did with it. We spent so much time picking
apart and ridiculing and inspecting instead of assisting what I
(39:56):
think is one of the greatatest things we've ever been
given artistically. And that's not to say that like no
part of his life deserves, you know, questioning and ridicule
and inspection, because there's a lot of complications about Michael
Jackson and the way he chose to live his life.
(40:19):
But I mean to see a guy at the top
of his game, the biggest moment of his career. He's
come out off the precipice of bad and thriller and
to go out on to the world and make a
foundation and then to donate to do a tour purely
(40:40):
to donate money to charity. I can't There isn't a
celebrity alive today who would perform such a selfless act.
And I'm like, what if we did more to support
the vision of how he saw the world? The Earthstone
came out in nineteen ninety two, and I'm going home
(41:00):
and watching David Attenborough document glaciers of ice melting into
the ocean, Like why why didn't we do more to
aid the vision that he was trying to get us
to understand about, you know, a sensible world where all
people can live in peace and protection of the world,
(41:20):
that which we live in can serve the children who
come after us. And instead we're focused on the color
of his skin, you know what I'm saying, Like, if
it's weird, yeah, let it be weird, But like, let
us focus on the goal and there's a moment in
the show where he's having a press conference and everyone's
yelling at him about like how much is the tour?
(41:41):
Where's bubbles at? You know, like all these like crazy things,
and he's like, you know, can we focus on the message.
I'm trying to do this. I'm trying to open this
foundation for heal the world, and my goal is to
love our planet, foster racial tolerance and global unity. Huge statements,
and I just it makes me sad that we live
in a world that's more focused on the headline than
(42:04):
like actually helping out what the headline's about. We'd rather
report on a situation than actually ate the situation itself.
And so I would just say thank you for what
you tried to get us to understand about the world
and what you tried to give us. He devoted his
whole life to performance. It's it makes me so sad
sometimes when I think about it, because from five to fifty,
(42:28):
you gave the world everything you had and you still
had one of the most heartbreaking endings of all time.
And it's just it's just not a lot to show
for what you gave every fiber of your being too.
And I would just I would say thank you for that,
and I would just say I'm sorry, I'm sorry we
didn't treat you better. I'm sorry that you know you're
(42:51):
your most loved fifteen years after you're gone. You know,
I hope there's some sort of world in which he's
able to see the love coming back about his music.
And I think he always knew it would because he
had that kind of brain where he was just like,
I'm going to make this thing, and it's going to
be studied forever, it's going to be it's gonna last forever.
I think he knew. He was very intentional in everything
(43:14):
he did, and I think he knew his work would
be studied decades and it's probably maybe centuries after he's gone,
who knows, But you know, I would say sorry that
there weren't more of those day to day flowers to
where he couldn't just go out in the world and live.
But it also taught us so much. So I think
(43:35):
more than anything, he knew why he was here and
he knew what his purpose was. And I think that's
why we got so much in fifty years. It's because
he was tapped in and he knew it came from God,
and he knew what his purpose was and I think,
I mean, he did more in one lifetime than people
could do in three. So it's just reminder of me
(43:56):
to just stay tapped, taste, stay tapped into the source,
tons of the source. And yeah, that's what I would say.
I would say, thank you, I'm sorry, and I've had
I've actually never told this story out loud before. There's
one moment I felt his presence on stage. I've only
felt it a handful of times, and it was during
(44:16):
Man in the Mirror when I'm looking out the eyes
and I felt it almost felt like it went through me.
And I said, oh my.
Speaker 1 (44:23):
God, my god.
Speaker 3 (44:24):
I said, what do you want me to tell them?
What do you want me to show them? And he said,
show them that I tried my best. And that has
always stayed with me because that's as as simple as
it was. He tried his best and that, you know
what else can you say?
Speaker 1 (44:45):
Yeah, as a fan, as a fan who is witnessing Michael,
seeing the talents, seeing his abilities, yeah, seeing his struggles,
seeing how the world treated him. Yeah, and also as
a fan, how we had to stand through that, we
had to push through. We also had to there were
(45:07):
times where we had to question our faith and dedication
to him. Yeah right, yeah, and we had to do
our work to go no, no, no, no. We know the purpose,
we know why he's doing what he's doing. For you
to say that, it means a lot. It means a
lot to the fan community, and it means a lot
to anyone who understands just how cruel the world can be.
(45:29):
Something else, And so I think you are telling I
think you are telling the world that Michael's tried his best.
I really do think. Thank you, Roman, Thank you so
much for your time. I think people should be more
bold and more brave to believe in themselves. They should
tap into a higher power to give them that confirmation,
(45:53):
to give them that dedication, to give them that belief.
And I think you're a true testament to that. THANKI
thank you so much for your time to me. And
then you have it. That was my chat with Roman
Banks playing MJ from MJ the Musical, And gosh, what
a special chat that was. I mean, as a Michael
(46:14):
Jackson fan, it was a true treat to just have
someone who completely understands the notion of who Michael Jackson
is and the whole reason why I do these interviews
in these chats, and the reason why I'm doing this
podcast is just because it's so important to come back
to yourself. It's so important to come back to the
(46:34):
things that make you passionate, that make you happy. And
for me, Michael Jackson was that he was my childhood
and he was the inspiration for so much of our generation.
And it's just so wonderful to see these productions bring
his life back into the world. I really applaud Roman
(46:55):
for sharing me his spiritual journey and just the amount
of transcendence that he required to be able to pull
this role up so so well. Roman's message is clear,
believe in your vision even when no one else does.
You really need to check out this musical, MJ the
(47:16):
musical currently playing at the Sydney Lyric Theater. Thank you
so much for joining me. Thank you Roman for being
on the show. I'll chat to you next week and
in the meantime, fly high.
Speaker 2 (47:26):
Flying back in time. This is the Jimmain Plane.
I'm Jamaine Divas and this is the Germaine Plane. It's
a space to reconnect with the music and memories that
shaped us, not just the songs we loved, but the
stories behind them and the people we were when we
heard them. I've got to have honest, fun and reflective
conversations with artists like take That, Ricky Lee, Samanth the Jay,
(00:20):
just to name a few, diving into the moments, the meaning,
and the emotion tied to it all. Because when we
look back at what moved us, then we start to
understand who we are now. This show is about connection, reflection, healing,
and coming home to who we've always been. I'm so
glad you're.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Here, flying back in time. This is the Domain Plane.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Hello, my friends. MJ the Musical is currently playing at
the Sydney Lyric Theater, celebrating the music, moves, and story
of the King of Pop, Michael Jackson. Now if you
know me, well you know I'm probably the Biggestchael Jackson
van of all time. I was so relieved when I
got to see this beautiful production because Ossie audiences are
(01:08):
getting just a true, beautiful depiction of the man that
I've looked up to for so long. And the man
who plays MJ in this musical is Roman Banks. He's
an American singer, actor, and dancer who made history by
being the first black man to play the title role
in Evan Hanson and Broadway. And you might have seen
him on High School Musical, the series The Musical if
(01:31):
forgot that right on Disney Plus. When I tell you
my chat with Roman, it was not like any other
interview I've had. This was quite a quite a sacred conversation.
If you think about how can you play the humanity
of the man behind the glove? How do you do that?
(01:53):
Roman credits his magic and his powerful performance to a
divine interaction. I really want you to enter this conversation
with an open mind, and I encourage you to have
a mission to understand Michael Jackson. In a mission to
understand how a connection with the divine you can give
(02:17):
you the tools you need to make a magical performance,
because this is what you're going to get with Roman Banks.
Enjoy and let's why. All right, Roman Banks in the studio,
how are you man? And I'm doing good.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
It's a pretty day here in Sydney.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
It's a beautiful day. A you enjoying Australia, Yes, yes,
very much. So how long have you been in Sydney,
pol Now?
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Yesterday made it? Actually today makes it two months?
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Two months? Okay, right, yeah? Any favorite bits of Australia
so far?
Speaker 3 (02:46):
The beaches have been really cool. Last week I went
to Gordon's Bay and that was so so nice. Oh
my god, my soul wasn't enriched by that visit because
we've been spending so much time in the theater and
so like just having a day where I actually got
to do something outside of work was really fulfilling. And food.
(03:08):
No one, you know, while they were trying to convince
me to come to Australia, no one mentioned the food,
and I told them, since I've been there, I've been like,
why didn't you guys start with that. I'm such a
If anyone had been like, by the way, the food incredible,
might like I would have been like, I would be like,
oh my gosh, okay, well then now I'm a lot
more excited to go, you know. And so that's been
(03:29):
a really beautiful surprise, like just going to all these
like restaurants, but also just holes in the wall and
just being like, oh man, this is good. This is good.
I'm still working on my breakfast places. That's not something
that Australians love too much like Americans do. But I
mean dinner and lunch. You guys, you guys got to
know the lock. It's quite impressive.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
I was talking to Derek Joseph in the musical and
he was saying, He's like, what we consider organic in
the US is just like what normal food is here
in Australia. So I mean, it's it's an interesting thing.
It's something we take for granted in Australia quite a bit.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Yeah, and you should be able to take it for granted,
like normally non processed and like non heavily.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
You know.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
I guess sourced foods shouldn't be that should be like
pretty accessible. That shouldn't be some sort of not to
like took a hard turn. But I'm like, yeah, you know,
like it should be something we take for granted. We
shouldn't have to like look up a bunch of stuff
about what ingredients we can't pronounce her and our foods.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
You know, I get it. I get it. Man. Let's
talk about MJ the musical. Let's do it now. Firstly,
I just want to say Michael Jackson has been the
biggest inspiration of my life. Yeah, this man is my
He's my wife hero when it comes to you know,
his artistry, his presence, his magic. It's shaped so much
(04:58):
of who I am. And for such a long time
I never thought I would. Well, obviously, I just accepted
that I'd never see him live. I'd never seen the
man live. And it sucks. It sucks, right, it sucks.
But I have to say, then I watched you perform,
(05:18):
and I watched you do Billy Jean, and for the
first time I feel like I felt his presence.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
And for the first time I knew what it would
have felt like to see Michael Jackson live.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
So hearing that, what does that mean to you? Like
to know that you have created an experience? And just
so I can say, I want to preview Nite with
a lot of Michael Jackson fans from Perth, from so
many different areas. He took Australian group, there was a
Facebook group that they all falling down. These people never
(05:54):
seen and some of them never seen him live. And
to know that people can that close of an experience
to see Michael, how do you feel about that? To
know your performance can bring people with that close.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
You know, it just makes me feel like it just
makes me feel really grateful, you know, like I never
I always set out to just show people the man.
Like I was like, we have so much performance footage
of him, we don't really know what it'd be like
to be in a room with him for two hours.
And I was like, I don't want anyone to come
to the show and I'm talking, or I'm taking a
(06:30):
sip of water or I'm walking around stage and they're
taken out of the experience by anything I'm doing. I
was like, I want I want the words and the
storytelling and my body language to be just as thrilling
and exciting as Billy Jean, you know, because I don't
want the experience to stop where it's like, oh that now,
(06:52):
I feel like I'm oh well, now, I don't feel
like that was oh well now, I feel like, you know,
I wanted it to all be start to end and
experience like you're witnessing just the energy that Michael would
walk around with. And so when I hear things like that,
it's very much confirming of the work that I've been
(07:13):
able to put in because you know, The best advice
Michael ever gave in all my research that I've done
is that you know, you're not supposed to think on stage,
You're just supposed to feel. And as somebody who is
a chronic overthinker, I that was a really hard concept
for me to swallow for a long time. But I
(07:34):
get why he worked so hard in rehearsals. It was
just so he could go on stage and literally just
experience everything around him. Essentially, we're watching the same twenty
to thirty moves, but it's through feeling that that refined
move set becomes electric. And it's why he can do
(07:55):
the same routine for twenty years and we're on the
edge of our seats as if we've never seen it before,
because he allowed himself to feel and to invest. And
so I love that people can come to the show
and feel that way. And sometimes even people are like
recording something in the show and I look back and
I'm watching it and I'm like, wow, that looks very exciting,
you know what I'm saying. And so I get to
(08:18):
feel that magic too sometimes, and you know, I'm grateful
to be a vessel.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
I think there is something that I noticed, actually there
was a lot of things I noticed when I was
watching you perform that I was like, wow, like you
managed to tackle the magical ingredients that he has in
his performance. One thing that I loved about Michael when
he'd perform was that it's almost like when he gives
you the move, he takes it back, so it's like
it's like a snake attack, like a chuck and he
(08:45):
gives it back. And I felt that when I watched
you perform.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
Tell me more about that.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Yeah, So it's it's kind of like a teasing kind
of thing. The moment Michael hits a move and Yeah,
puts it away. You don't have time to react, Like
by the time you've seen it, he's taking it away,
which makes you good. I need more. I need to
experience more.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Oh, I've never thought of it, like, Yeah, you definitely
so true.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
You embody that, you embody that that teasing nature that
Michael brings on stage.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
Wow, thank you, that's so rich. That's so rich. I
I'm so happy to hear that from you because I
can see how much you appreciate the man just you know,
and the way that you have gone even about today.
And I there are so many YouTube videos that I've
put in point two five to be like how did
he go into it? How did he hold it? How
(09:34):
did he come out of it? Because it is so hard,
especially as like a non train dancer, Like it is
so hard to digest. Yeah, like's it's so fast, it's
so fast, And I mean I'll watch the same I've
watched Whimbley like maybe over one hundred times. Yeah, and
I'm still finding new stuff because once once the breakdown
(09:59):
of its in my body, I can understand, Oh that's
how it feels. And it's so funny. Like I'll surprise
myself because my brain has like seen something so many
times that I'll be like, how do I do that?
Like thinking about it, I don't know how to do it?
And then I'll like be grooving on stage and like
my body will go into it because it's seen it
so many times.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Yeah yeah, and.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
Then I'll be like, wait, is that the thing that
I was like struggling with like earlier this week, Like it's.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
It's so I know exactly what you're talking about it
because it's it's almost like there's a language that you speak.
It's a bodily language. Yeah, And when you try to
study the technicality because he was a technical person. But
when you try to study the technicality without that that
kind of transcendent kind of language involved, you don't get it. No,
it's the moment you feel that it and then.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
You're like, oh here it is, yeah, and then it's fun,
you know. And that's the I think that is why
I've been able to do this show so many times
and so have fun. It is because every time I
see Michael do a number, it's different. And so I
want people, especially because we get a lot of return
visitors to our show, and I want people to be like,
(11:06):
oh my god, he didn't do that last time, you know,
I want people. I want those people to still have
a fun show too, And I like to switch it up,
not for the sake of switching it up, but just
because I think the world of Michael is to constantly
invest and to constantly refine and sharpen, and I can
never include his whole move set in a show anyway,
(11:28):
so might as well keep trying to like do new
things and feel it out.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
How did you How did you embody his off stage behavior?
Because there were so many times I saw one moment
which really sorted out to me where you were kind
of just like Michael would kind of when you talk,
you kind of feel feel the world around him. What
was that process like for you studying the off stage,
because this is where a lot of this is what
separates you from I would say, like a tribute performer
(11:54):
or like an impersonator, right because they are very much
focused on what they've seen the videos. On the stage,
you had to embody Michael as a person and his physicality,
his movement. What was that process like for you?
Speaker 3 (12:06):
Yeah, it was, I mean anything I could get my
hands on. I studied, Like I will say, I do
have like a loose cutoff of ninety five ninety six
because you know that's like post rehab and.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
Like street color.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
Yeah, it starts going to another era and it you know,
it's another appearance change when he does the short hair
for the MTV Awards. But so I let myself kind
of do eighty two through ninety five, and like anything
I get my hands on, interview, pictures, video, short film,
(12:45):
movie like you name it, I look at it. And
so that was really helpful for just understanding his body
language just in casual talk, like there's that making of
the black or White video. That's that's always been really
informed because he's literally on a set, and so it's
nice to see his body language is very different when
(13:05):
he's in a professional environment, you know, versus when he's
in a you know, environment with people he knows. So
like watching him in the studio with like Quincy and
and you know, the people who he helped make bad with,
versus like when he met Princess Diana, Like there's a
very poised hands behind the back, slow nod, you know,
(13:28):
like maybe I don't know, just like it's everything's a
lot slower. Yeah, when it's in the presence of someone
he's not very familiar with, very respectful, a lot of
lip biting and smiling. And then like when you put
him in the presence of someone he's you know, constantly
been with, whether that's his brothers or whether that's very
Gordy or that's chan It, it's a little bit more loose.
(13:52):
It's a little bit more relaxed. And so I try
to bring those nuances to the role, like how I'm
gonna speak to the reporter versus how I'm going to
interact with my cool like my collaborator and my choreographer
and it's just so it's all more believable, you know,
Like I just once I walked through the door, I
don't want you to lose the experience, you know, And
(14:13):
I was it was funny when I joined the show
because the creatives were a little bit on the fence
about that, because there were things I wanted to change
where I was like, this is a moment where I
was watching the show on Broadway or wherever I was
watching it, where I was taken out of the experience.
And I think it's because we play more into the
caricature of who Michael Jackson is rather than Michael Jackson himself.
And so I sat them down, I was like, I
(14:36):
don't think I want to do that in this portrayal,
and they were like, oh, Like They're like, who are
you to come in here and tell me? But I
think when they saw all of it together, I think
they were like, oh, like, we see what you mean.
And that's because like, I love acting too. I don't
just love singing and dancing like I love acting. I
love the power of storytelling. And so it was very
(14:58):
important to me that once I stood on stage that
I never felt like a larger than my portrayal, and
I just felt like an honest human being walking in
the energy of Michael Jackson. And so it feels really
good when people are like, yeah, the way you held
your body weight, or the way you like let your
(15:19):
hands go through the space around you, you know, or
the way you would just walk around or even laugh
like it all reminded me of him, and I'm like,
thank you for seeing that.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
Mmm, you know, I love that. Let's talk about your
early early experiences. Now, I've done a lot of research
on you. You said your mom introduced you to the
Jackson five.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
Yes, she did.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
Yeah, take me back to that time growing up. What
was the music like in your household that included the
Jackson five?
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Man, I remember like getting up for breakfast, my mom's
in the kitchen and then it's like Twitter. Tw that
was our jam like Mike and Robin. Yes, Robin, Oh
my god, Because the first album I ever remember being
played around the house was the Ultimate Jackson Vibe Collection.
(16:07):
So Rock and Robin, The Love You Save, I Want
You Back ABC got to be there. Like all of
those things in form my early childhood so much so
that I didn't really I knew Michael Jackson was, but
like I didn't really recognize his individual music until I
was like a teenager because we were just such a
Jackson five family growing up. And that's because my family
(16:31):
loved the Jackson five. There's pictures of my mom, dad,
and and uncle, I guess my mom and uncle and
her family with just these huge afros. And that's for
multiple reasons when you know, we're black family in America
in the seventies. But also like my mom, you know,
she kind of looked like Michael Jackson, like I got
(16:52):
to this huge afro, big smile, you know. And my
mom saw the Jackson five and concert and Pencacle of Flow.
She got to go backstage.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
Yeah, she didn't. Like I think she was probably as
far as from Michael as you are from me right now. Wow.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
My stepdad got to go to the Bad tour and
one of his biggest regrets he was he had gotten
too drunk during the concert to go backstage and meet
because he was there with Sony. He worked with Sony
at the time. Wow, and they you know, his boss
was like, We're gonna go backstage and meet Michael and
they were like, you can't come you're a little bit
(17:34):
too far gone, right, but yeah, needless to say, you know,
like they you know, Michael Jackson, they grew up with
Michael Jackson. And I think because Michael was such a
big part of my mom's childhood. It always she'll tell
you it makes her really sad how angry his music
(17:57):
began to feel the older he got, you know, but
because and it's kind of we talked about it in
the show, like Michael says, you know, they were expecting
sweet little Michael. Yeah, and you know, I think he
had a lot to say about the world around him
and even the way the world treated him. It's not
a surprise that his music got more gritty and more real.
(18:18):
And I think that's I think that's responsibility to the artists.
You have to you have to speak on You should
be honest, You should speak on the world around you.
And it's extreme and you know, and they don't care
about us. Yes, that's a call out to the world
around us. And I missed that kind of honesty, that
truth in music.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
Where people childhood another great example of of just you know,
autobiographical nature in a song. Yeah, I just want to
go back to your mum being at Pensacola for a second,
because this is me being a Michael Jackson fan.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
There's a huge coincidence that your mom saw him there
because he prepared for the band tool rehearsals in Pensacols
And now you're doing a musical which is based on
Michael's tour rehearsals in Dangerous Yeah, isn't that crazy?
Speaker 3 (19:06):
That is kind of crazy. I didn't put that together, Yeah,
because Pensacola was that's where they did the big turnover
from Yokohama in Japan, right.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Yeah, they did the first leg and it was pretty
much just the victory to ours.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
Yeah, and then he wasn't happy with it because he
was saying, oh, the US is going to be like
all eyes around me for my first solo tour.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
So then they said, okay, let's completely revamp this show
up and they did all in Pensacola to a place
that wasn't air conditioned apparently.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
So I just love one. It's nice to get the
nerd out of her mincl details with some money, but
it's also I love that. It's so hard to fathom
you have the biggest album in the world, the best
selling album of all time, and he still had such
a victory tour was also the best selling tour in
(19:54):
history up until that point, and it was still he
still had so much other feeling to prove himself. It's
just it's just really a testament to his artistry that
everything the whole world is telling you by metrics alone,
this tour is going to be successful regardless. We already
know you as performer, we already love you as a performer.
(20:15):
And he's stressing out about like this has to be
Everyone's going to be expecting this thing, this has to
be amazing, when like it's already in his bag. But
I just love that. I love that, like you are
at the top of your game. You've already broken on
the records, You've already got the eight Grammys in one night. No,
the world's never seen anything like you, and you're trying
(20:36):
to outdo yourself. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
I mean that The whole Bad era for me was
just such a such a such a moment. I think,
I think you've got his prime, You've got his work
ethic at its absolute top. And also you could see
you could see the pressure that he was feeling because
he wanted bad to be like to be better than thrillized.
Speaker 3 (20:54):
He did. He wanted to outsell them.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
Yeah, so, speaking of bad, I'm going to just put
up this picture quickly on the screen behind me. Okay,
which one's your uncle?
Speaker 3 (21:02):
My uncle is actually not in this, but he my uncle.
Where's the red beret?
Speaker 1 (21:08):
The red find this? Yes?
Speaker 3 (21:11):
So if you pull up the video, he's over his
if we're speaking literally, he's over his left shoulders, but
on the video he's on his right side, so he's
like left shoulder, right side. And it's so funny. We
start bad in our show with the word is out
You're doing wrong, you know, And that's kind of video
where they do the little scuff stuff and that's exactly
(21:34):
where my uncle is like right over his side and
then they hit the you know.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
Yeah, he would Is this your uncle hanging? Let me
let me see if I can bring this up. I'm
doing this alive.
Speaker 3 (21:42):
So yeah, I love it. I love diving in and
he would love this. I'll have to send this to him.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
Is that him there? Yes? That is right there.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Yes, it's like a leather brain, the coolest look.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
Oh my god, I'm incredible, and.
Speaker 3 (21:57):
Its kind of feels like a nod to Princess Raspberry,
because obviously this's is supposed to be a collaboration with originally.
But yeah, no, he said, my uncle talked about me
him and he said he had these huge hands. And
then I think he said I think Michael said, like,
you remind me a lot of teet on my brother,
I think to my uncle, and then he's like, yeah, yeah,
(22:17):
you you feel He was like, I want you to
be close to me because you remind me my brother,
and so that's why he was over his shoulder in
the video.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
Yeah, I've got a story to share with you about
me and Michael because it actually works very well with
your uncle's experience. I met Michael really when I was
sitting three years old with my twin brother. So he
was in Perth for the history tour and we're at
the hotel hotel lobby and all these fans were there
and me and my twin were with only like the
youngest people there, right, So we were at the front.
(22:46):
And then Michael comes out of the elevator with the
underage like his old team, right, and he looks at us,
and the moment he sees us, all these fans just
stampede in front of us. Wow, my brother got not
to the ground. It was a whole thing, right, And
my mom was with us, and she was just like, well,
(23:07):
that's it, boys, Like you know, that's the only kind
of chance, you know, we have with Michael to see him.
And then security parts the crowd and here comes Michael
Jackson running to me and my twin brother, right, so
we're there. He was kind of I don't remember any
of it because I was three years old, but we
go to the side and and then I'm I'm there
(23:29):
with him, and my mom was just kind of watching
the whole thing happen. And he asked me what my
name was, and I said my name's Jermaine and then
he picked me up and hugged me and yeah, and
he was like that's my favorite brother's name and yeah
and so so so that happened. Then we like apparently
we were dancing for him and all that type of stuff. Yeah. Yeah,
(23:49):
it was wild. So there you go. So that was
that was my experience with Michael. And I know, but
you know what, like when I think back on it,
I'm like, gosh, what a what a man who has
such compassion and care for children, Because I like it
could have easily just been, oh, well, we're off to
our next place, don't worry about it. But obviously he
(24:11):
saw my brother and I get you get trampled on
or you know, all this type of stuff, and he
made sure that we were okay and we had a
good time with him. So I'll always have respect for
him because of that. Yeah, let's go back to Let's
go back to you. You said you love acting. Yeah, Now,
when I looked up your story, the only thing I
can think of when it comes to you is magic.
(24:32):
Magic really happens to your roman. You spoke about manifesting
your dream roles, Yeah, Hamilton, and Evan Hansen was one
of them. Yeah, and you wondered, could I be the
first black person to play Evan Hansen? And it happened?
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (24:47):
Right? What makes magic happen for you? What is like?
Is it the mindset, the hard work, the luck? What
is it for you that way where you can dare
to make those dreams?
Speaker 3 (24:56):
Yeah? I mean I'll tell you something that I'm always
very hesitant to tell people just because of you know,
the culture around God and spirituality. But it's just it's
my story. And then you know, I love sharing with
people who I feel like will be open to receive it.
When I was in when I was a young boy,
(25:21):
I was very involved in the church and like my
youth like teenage kind of church experience, and you know,
they were speaking a lot about like purpose and like
finding your purpose, like praying about your purpose, and you know,
I really really wanted to pursue whatever I've like God
had planned for my life, like I wanted it to
(25:42):
be aligned because I was like, oh, like growing up,
you see so many adults who just are purposeless, like
they might have a job, they might you know, like
what they do, but there's not a real sense of
like I do what I love, this thing gives me life.
And I was like, life's too short for me not
to tap into whatever that is. So I was praying
a lot when I was like eleven twelve, God, what's
(26:03):
my purpose? Real my purpose? And I watched I Am Legend.
I'd want to be a firefighter originally, and I watched
I Am Legend with Will Smith and I remember coming
off of that movie and I was like, man, that
looks kind of fun to do, like acting, like the
way he's just carrying this movie with this dog, Like
I was like, I want a German shepherd. And I
was like, I think I might want to try acting
one day. And so I'm praying, I'm praying, I'm praying
(26:25):
them movin. And I'm sitting in bed one day and
I'm eleven years old and I'm eleven or thirteen. I
always get those two confused, and out of the blue,
I just hear this, like feel, this very strong voice
in my head go You're gonna be a famous actor.
And I was like what, And it was so unlike
(26:47):
anything I'd ever like felt. And I went to my
mom and I was like, what was that God? I
was like, Mom, how do you know when God talks
to you? And she was like, Oh, it can happen
in so many ways. It can be through somebody else.
It can like some people actually might hear your voice,
or sometimes it's a very strong, like overwhelming feeling. And
so she's like, sometimes I get confirmed through other people.
And so I was at school the next month and
(27:08):
I was coming home every day to my mom because
I was like, today at school, this teacher or my
friend or this person I never talked to told me
I should think about acting, or told me I should
consider acting or they could see me as an actor.
And so there is a part of my life that
has always just worked out. And I think it is
(27:30):
because I'm operating within my God given purpose. And sometimes
people hear that and they're like, Okay, yeah, whatever, but
they are If you talk to my best friends who
have seen this whole journey play out, sometimes they are
just dumbfounded because they're like, how how did that even have?
Like what? But it's like one and I because God
(27:50):
told me that, I basically took it as okay, let
me just work my butt off and trust. So what
I do is I will work as hard as possible
at something that I feel like I need to do.
But I also will trust in God that he will
arrange the opportunity for me to do so. And so
(28:16):
I've manifested my whole professional career and I believe I
will continue to do so. And even the opening night
of Even, on my Broadway debut of Evan Hansen Davin Hansen,
I'm wearing a Michael Jackson shirt. I'm wearing a Thriller
shirt in the photo that I took with my mom
after I came off stage. Wow, you know what I'm saying?
(28:38):
So it's like it's all connected, and I'm sure I'm
connected to whatever the next job is that I'm going
to do that I don't know about yet, you know.
But it's the same way, you know, Michael said his
music comes from God. I think that magic quality comes
from me being connected to the fact that, like, I know,
(28:58):
this is talent given to me to ultimately showcase to
the world how good God is and how gracious he
is and how beautiful life can be if you allow
yourself to be open to the plans He has for you.
And so that's a part of why I feel like
I've been able to access that wavelength that Michael would
(29:19):
go to when he would perform, because I truly feel
that when he talks about like feeling like the Holy
Spirit is over him, like while he's performing, like I
know exactly what he's talking about, and I know how
he was able to dance until he couldn't walk, Because
when you're operating in that energy, it's above you. You
(29:39):
really can surrender to music and performance the same way
you can surrender to like the Holy Spirit. And I
think that's why, you know, Michael never took credit for
his ideas. He would pray. He said, you know, God,
give me a song. I want to That's how he
prayed about the melody for heal the World or not
(29:59):
here the we are the World? We are the world. Yeah,
he prayed to it. He talks about getting down on
his knees and praying about God, give me a song
for this, and he got we are the World and
he said, you know, they say, where did these ideas
come from? He says God every single time. And I
don't think it's a coincidence that the best melodies and
some of the most iconic songs of all time he
credits to God. And I think it's about opening yourself
(30:22):
up as a channel to be used as a vessel.
And so that's I pray every night for a go
one stage. I say, God, use me as a vessel
to showcase your brilliant and I literally have written down
in my notes I say, you know, you are a
vessel for Michael's creation and God's spirit. So I say,
surrendered to the freedom. And I think that's why, you know,
(30:46):
people are able to come and have these sort of
spiritual experience and I've had spiritual experiences with Michael on stage.
You know, it's happened only a handful of times, but
I very much felt it, and I very much feel
like he visits us on that stage sometimes and it's
always as magical for me as it is for whoever's watching.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
That's really beautiful, It's really beautiful.
Speaker 3 (31:09):
Thanks. I never get to share like that. I'm excited
that I got to.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
It's an honor. Thank you so much for that.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
I think the gift that you have, the talent and
the consciousness that you have, is almost like you're in
the intersection of art and divine, the human and the divine.
I know Michael talks about that a lot, and I
think given the work that you've done before and the
work you're doing now, he really embodies that. He really
embodies that that presence and thanks man.
Speaker 3 (31:37):
I had to tell you a crazy thing. His spiritual
advisor came to see the show in La My God,
and she walked up to me after it and I said, hi.
She was a very serious woman, Jello. She's short, short,
but very serious woman. And she walked up to me
and she said hello, and I said hi. I didn't
know what she was and she said, Hi, nice to
(31:59):
meet you. I was Michael's spiritual advisor, and she said,
his spirit is all over you. And she just said,
I just wanted to let you know that, you know,
I spent a lot of years advising Michael. You know,
he was a very spiritual man. And she said, I
feel his presence over you, and it just it was
(32:22):
like one of the most sobering moments I've ever had,
like on tour, because that was the cool part about La,
Like you never knew who was in the audience because
that's where he lived, and there were people, I mean,
like the stories. I was getting a safe story. The
interactions were unbelievable and that out always just and I
got her number. We barely texted, but I just like
(32:44):
she was like, get my number, and that was just
I just didn't I didn't even know he had a
spiritual advisor. So when I met her and just like
the you know when someone walks with a certain gravita, Yeah,
that's exactly how she was. And so well, you know,
I don't I don't see myself as any sort of
you know person where like only I would get this treatment,
(33:07):
you know, while playing this role. I just believe I've
opened myself up to it, and I think.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
I think that is definitely something like you said before,
a lot of people don't tend to acknowledge is the
fact that people just think that, you know, life is
just how it is, right, This is how I was raised,
this is this is the place that I'm in, This
is the industry. I mean that, this is you know,
me working in media. It was always simply, well, this
(33:38):
is where you are, this is where you fit in
this world. That's it, right. And it was only until
I started to meet people like yourself, people who do
have a sense of spirituality and goals and purpose and motivation,
that it's like, this is a conscious effort. This is
a very much a I believe so much in knowing
you already have it right and then allowing the universe,
(34:01):
allowing the divine to actually make it happen. Yeah, and
it kind of does. I mean MJ. MJ the Musical
a perfect example of this. You could ask anyone in
my life who my biggest passion is, and above my
career and everything that it's Michael Jackson. The moment I
heard MJ. The Musical came here, I was like, something's
going to happen here. Yes, I'm going to you know,
(34:22):
something's going to happen. I can feel it already, and
I'm going to act like I already already have it. Yes,
and these opportunities came about hosting the Red Carpet for
you today. I can't wait. I didn't know that was happening.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
It was like I was like, I didn't know that
was happening. You're holding space that moment, the Red character.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
I love it. What do you hope audiences feel about
Michael when they leave the Sydney Lyric Theater.
Speaker 3 (34:50):
I feel like I just has always been the same answer.
I just want them to see a man. I think
it is really hard to look at from five to fifty,
from the little afro into the pale white skin with
the straight black hair and see a person. Is he
a man? Like? It's even for myself when you look
(35:14):
at just the sheer level of accomplishments, everything he was
able to do, and all all of the transformations that
his physical appearance took, there's something about it that feels
larger than a man, you know, And and the fact
that his magic can't and won't be replicated makes him
feel like a bit divine in that way, and it's
(35:37):
he I think even more so because he never claimed
to be you know what I'm saying. But even scientifically,
like fame and depiction wise, he's only second to Jesus
Christ in terms of fame, Like that is that is
scientific information. And so I think getting caught up in
(35:58):
the mania and the celebrity of him and the mystique
that he wanted to bring to the world in the magic,
it's just hard to be like, that's a human being,
you know. But that's what I want people to see,
you know, I want people to see that like this
guy was a human being who just wanted to make
a change. And like you know, you talked about people
(36:20):
letting life happen to them and the world putting them
in boxes, and it's like, what would what would what
would the world be like if Michael Jackson accepted life
for how it is? Like what would we have been
robbed of? And how many people's brilliants have we been
robbed of? Who have accepted life for how it is?
(36:41):
I mean, what if not to get crazy deep, but
what if, like Harriet Tubman, accepted life for how it was?
You know what I'm saying, think of that the world
is meant to be challenged our thought patterns, what we
express ourselves as is meant to be challenged. And Michael
knew that, And I think Walt Disney knew that, Henry that,
Steve Jobs knew that, and suddenly the world has forever changed.
(37:04):
So it's like, yeah, I always look at Sometimes people
look at me and they're like, you asked too many questions,
are like you take too many chances. But it's like no, Like,
I think we've just been conditioned to a world where
we feel like we shouldn't want to mess with the
status quo, we shouldn't ask so many questions, we shouldn't
question what's in front of us. But I think every
(37:24):
great person I've ever looked up to has always done that.
And so in that vein, yeah, I want you to
see Michael as a human being who looked at the
world and expected more of himself and his brother and
his sister and his family, and yeah, and I want
you to know that you can do it too. That's
(37:45):
the most inspiring part of the musical to me, where
it's like Michael was the only person sometimes he was
the only person in the room who believed in his vision.
The people he was making Thriller with They said, Michael,
how many singles do you want on this record? And
he said, I want all of them to be single
and they laughed at him. Quincy Jones laughed at him,
and he's helping him make the album. But Michael wasn't joking,
(38:08):
you know what I'm saying. And it's like, yeah, sometimes
you are the only person who needs to believe in
your vision. And that's what Michael taught me. So like
sometimes I'm like when I joined Evan Hanson and I
was a nineteen year old who had never worked professionally
in theater before. Everyone in that building said, you're going
to debut as Jared, You're going to debut as Connor.
You're going to debut as one of the lesser roles
(38:31):
because it's your first time on a Broadway stage and
they'll want you to start with something more simple and digestible,
you know. And I was like, no, I'm going to
debut is Evan. Like day one, I was saying that
to people and they were like, here goes this kid
who doesn't know anything about how the business works, telling
us what he's going to do. And then I debuted
is Evan. You know what I'm saying, and it was
(38:52):
just there's sometimes there's just a knowing yea, you know
that you just that and it's not to offend anybody.
It's not to you know, it's not to make anybody
feel bad about themselves or the way they see the world.
It's just to stand fully in your own knowing of
what you are capable of. And I think that's what
Michael tapped into. And so I want people to see
(39:13):
that when they see the show, and I want people
to know that they possess the same capability.
Speaker 1 (39:20):
Ryman, if you could say something to Michael after everything
you've learned, oh, everything you've embodied, what would it be.
Speaker 3 (39:30):
I've never been asked that question before. I think I
would just say thank you and I'm sorry. Thank you
for everything you gave us, and I'm sorry for what
we did with it. We spent so much time picking
apart and ridiculing and inspecting instead of assisting what I
(39:56):
think is one of the greatatest things we've ever been
given artistically. And that's not to say that like no
part of his life deserves, you know, questioning and ridicule
and inspection, because there's a lot of complications about Michael
Jackson and the way he chose to live his life.
(40:19):
But I mean to see a guy at the top
of his game, the biggest moment of his career. He's
come out off the precipice of bad and thriller and
to go out on to the world and make a
foundation and then to donate to do a tour purely
(40:40):
to donate money to charity. I can't There isn't a
celebrity alive today who would perform such a selfless act.
And I'm like, what if we did more to support
the vision of how he saw the world? The Earthstone
came out in nineteen ninety two, and I'm going home
(41:00):
and watching David Attenborough document glaciers of ice melting into
the ocean, Like why why didn't we do more to
aid the vision that he was trying to get us
to understand about, you know, a sensible world where all
people can live in peace and protection of the world,
(41:20):
that which we live in can serve the children who
come after us. And instead we're focused on the color
of his skin, you know what I'm saying, Like, if
it's weird, yeah, let it be weird, But like, let
us focus on the goal and there's a moment in
the show where he's having a press conference and everyone's
yelling at him about like how much is the tour?
(41:41):
Where's bubbles at? You know, like all these like crazy things,
and he's like, you know, can we focus on the message.
I'm trying to do this. I'm trying to open this
foundation for heal the world, and my goal is to
love our planet, foster racial tolerance and global unity. Huge statements,
and I just it makes me sad that we live
in a world that's more focused on the headline than
(42:04):
like actually helping out what the headline's about. We'd rather
report on a situation than actually ate the situation itself.
And so I would just say thank you for what
you tried to get us to understand about the world
and what you tried to give us. He devoted his
whole life to performance. It's it makes me so sad
sometimes when I think about it, because from five to fifty,
(42:28):
you gave the world everything you had and you still
had one of the most heartbreaking endings of all time.
And it's just it's just not a lot to show
for what you gave every fiber of your being too.
And I would just I would say thank you for that,
and I would just say I'm sorry, I'm sorry we
didn't treat you better. I'm sorry that you know you're
(42:51):
your most loved fifteen years after you're gone. You know,
I hope there's some sort of world in which he's
able to see the love coming back about his music.
And I think he always knew it would because he
had that kind of brain where he was just like,
I'm going to make this thing, and it's going to
be studied forever, it's going to be it's gonna last forever.
I think he knew. He was very intentional in everything
(43:14):
he did, and I think he knew his work would
be studied decades and it's probably maybe centuries after he's gone,
who knows, But you know, I would say sorry that
there weren't more of those day to day flowers to
where he couldn't just go out in the world and live.
But it also taught us so much. So I think
(43:35):
more than anything, he knew why he was here and
he knew what his purpose was. And I think that's
why we got so much in fifty years. It's because
he was tapped in and he knew it came from God,
and he knew what his purpose was and I think,
I mean, he did more in one lifetime than people
could do in three. So it's just reminder of me
(43:56):
to just stay tapped, taste, stay tapped into the source,
tons of the source. And yeah, that's what I would say.
I would say, thank you, I'm sorry, and I've had
I've actually never told this story out loud before. There's
one moment I felt his presence on stage. I've only
felt it a handful of times, and it was during
(44:16):
Man in the Mirror when I'm looking out the eyes
and I felt it almost felt like it went through me.
And I said, oh my.
Speaker 1 (44:23):
God, my god.
Speaker 3 (44:24):
I said, what do you want me to tell them?
What do you want me to show them? And he said,
show them that I tried my best. And that has
always stayed with me because that's as as simple as
it was. He tried his best and that, you know
what else can you say?
Speaker 1 (44:45):
Yeah, as a fan, as a fan who is witnessing Michael,
seeing the talents, seeing his abilities, yeah, seeing his struggles,
seeing how the world treated him. Yeah, and also as
a fan, how we had to stand through that, we
had to push through. We also had to there were
(45:07):
times where we had to question our faith and dedication
to him. Yeah right, yeah, and we had to do
our work to go no, no, no, no. We know the purpose,
we know why he's doing what he's doing. For you
to say that, it means a lot. It means a
lot to the fan community, and it means a lot
to anyone who understands just how cruel the world can be.
(45:29):
Something else, And so I think you are telling I
think you are telling the world that Michael's tried his best.
I really do think. Thank you, Roman, Thank you so
much for your time. I think people should be more
bold and more brave to believe in themselves. They should
tap into a higher power to give them that confirmation,
(45:53):
to give them that dedication, to give them that belief.
And I think you're a true testament to that. THANKI
thank you so much for your time to me. And
then you have it. That was my chat with Roman
Banks playing MJ from MJ the Musical, And gosh, what
a special chat that was. I mean, as a Michael
(46:14):
Jackson fan, it was a true treat to just have
someone who completely understands the notion of who Michael Jackson
is and the whole reason why I do these interviews
in these chats, and the reason why I'm doing this
podcast is just because it's so important to come back
to yourself. It's so important to come back to the
(46:34):
things that make you passionate, that make you happy. And
for me, Michael Jackson was that he was my childhood
and he was the inspiration for so much of our generation.
And it's just so wonderful to see these productions bring
his life back into the world. I really applaud Roman
(46:55):
for sharing me his spiritual journey and just the amount
of transcendence that he required to be able to pull
this role up so so well. Roman's message is clear,
believe in your vision even when no one else does.
You really need to check out this musical, MJ the
(47:16):
musical currently playing at the Sydney Lyric Theater. Thank you
so much for joining me. Thank you Roman for being
on the show. I'll chat to you next week and
in the meantime, fly high.
Speaker 2 (47:26):
Flying back in time. This is the Jimmain Plane.
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