April 16, 2024 • 9 mins
YOU MUST SEE MJ AT THE DCPA It is a rousing musical about a moment in time when Michael Jackson was planning the Dangerous tour and it is SO GOOD. I've got actor J. Daughtry, who plays Berry Gordy and Nick on the show today at 12:30 to chat about it, buy your tickets here.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
You must run, don't walk,to the DCPA to see the production of
MJ that is live. Now.This show is incredibly good and you know
all the songs, and you knowthe music, and the dancing is off
the hook, and I am thrilledto have one of the cast members joining
me now. Jay Daughtry plays abunch of roles. He starts out as
(00:22):
Barry Gordy, he plays Nick afew other roles. Jay, Welcome to
the show. First of all,thank you, thank you for having me.
I've got to tell you, Iloved this show so much. I
mean, it took me back tomy teen years and I think it's kind
of doing that for everybody, thepeople around me. We're all singing under
(00:42):
our breath because we didn't want tosing too loud and disturb the people around
us. And the dancing is incredible, and every single member of this cast
is just fantastic. So well done. I mean just well done. It
was wildly entertaining. Imagine what itfeels like to actually be child of the
eighties and be on the stage doingthis show. I was going to ask
(01:03):
you that for me, that wasmy I mean, when you because you've
been in a lot of that.First of all, I want to say
this, I may be the onlyperson to interview you who has ever actually
been to Bartow, Florida. Okay, so I've been to Bartow because I
love the Peace River and I lovekayaking canoeing on the Peace River down there,
(01:23):
and so that's oh wow. Yeah. So I'm from Florida myself,
but a different bart of Florida.So when I saw you were from Bartow,
I was like, you know what, I bet he's never talked to
anybody who's been there. So howdid you always have to say it's between
Orlando and Tampa. Yeah, sohow did you get from Bartow to Broadway?
Well, like I said, I'ma child of the eighties, So
(01:45):
that means that during the financial crash, I was in my early twenties and
I was working as a banker.At the time. I had just graduated
from college and moved to DC towork as a banker, and then you
know, the collapse happened in thebank's pressed. So I went on to
teach school, and as I wasteaching school, some things happened where I
(02:07):
had to end up teaching music,and the principal came in and she was
like, hey, you know,you're really good at this. She's like,
I think you should be doing this, you know, music thing for
a living and not teaching. Shewas like, are you auditioning for like
Broadway? I was like, no, not really. So she gave me
three days a week off from theshut up I was in DC. She
was like, you have to promiseme you're going to go to New York
(02:28):
and audition. And I did andthree months later I was doing Broadway.
That is the I have goosebumps.You do you did? You send her
a giant Christmas present every single year? Because she was an angel? You
know? I mean, well,you know what's funny. I can't find
her now, No, I cannotfind her. That is the craziest thing
(02:49):
ever. Maybe she was actually anangel and she just God put her there
for you to move you in theright direction. Well, you've done quite
a bit of Broadway the color Purplebeautiful. Ain't too proud, been multiple
tours. But what makes this tourdifferent than the other tours that you've done.
Well, I think, going backto what we said, I'm so
connected to it because this music MichaelJackson was such an important part of my
(03:13):
childhood. Yep. That to youknow, be standing on the stage.
I actually feel like in some ofthese scenes, I'm flashing back with Michael
Jackson, you know what I mean? Yeah, he when he's moonwalking across
the stage, I remember being inmy living room trying to learn how to
move like Michael Jackson, you know. Or when they talk about the Koch
you know, Pepsi yeah commercial partthe Pepsi commercial. I remember that.
(03:36):
I remember all this stuff, andso it's very nophatic for me, and
it a lot of times I feellike I'm back in my youth, you
know. I think it can bereally difficult to inhabit a character like Michael
and without it coming across as acaricature, you know, because he's soft
spoken and he's we kind of havethis impression of him. And I have
(03:58):
to say, the lead in thisshow strikes that balance perfectly. You You
feel like he is doing it.He is honoring Michael Jackson rather than pretending,
do you know you know what Imean? Absolutely absolutely, and he
does. I believe you're talked aboutRoman Banks. Now we have actually three
Michael Jacksons, and the night thatyou came was Roman Banks and they all,
(04:20):
you know, embody him in sucha specific way. Michael was such
an icon that we all relate tohim in different ways and different parts of
his artistry speaks to you know,all of us really in different ways.
And between the three of our MichaelJackson's you see very specific things that you
can see how he has influenced them, which is what makes it so magical
(04:41):
to watch them all. And wherein the heck did you guys find these
kids to pay young? I mean, my god, I was absolutely I'm
telling you, every single person inthis cast is pitch perfect. They are
just incredible. It's like you guysdata mind, you just mind all of
the best talent when it came topeople that can do great music and incredible
dancing, And I just feel likethis is the show everybody needs to see.
(05:03):
I loved it so much because thestaging in this show is very precise,
and there are times when the guywho plays Michael Jackson's dad also plays
kind of the director of the tourthat they're preparing preparing for, and he
often does character changes on stage,and it is so seamless that it's our
(05:27):
creative team took their time with castingthis show you're talking about Devin Bowles.
Yes, he plays Joe Jackson aswell as the choreographer for the show.
And there are there are lines wherein the middle of the line he has
to switch characters from you know,Rob who is the choreographer, into the
father, and so that our creativeteam really took their time with finding people
(05:53):
who could do that right. Youknow, you have to be very versatile
as an actor to be a theflip in the middle of a sentence into
a whole a completely different character.He just does it beautifully. I mean,
he has these kind of physical changesthat he institutes to go from character
to character that are very subtle,but they're very clear and it was very
(06:14):
impressive. Can we talk about thedancing for a second, Lake Oh Man,
Do the dancers in this show justeat about forty thousand calories a day
and just dance all the time,because they are absolutely amazing. They are
phenomenal and I like to say theyare the main piece of this show besides
Michael Jackson. The dancing that happensin this show, and they work so
(06:34):
very hard. I love each andevery one of them. They spend a
lot of their time when they're noton the stage, resting their bodies and
taking care of themselves in order tobe able to come do the show and
to give it all they have.I can't imagine doing that show twice in
one day. Do you guys doit? Matt Nay? We do.
Who we have on Saturdays and Sundays. Yeah. Have you had anybody in
(06:58):
the audience leap to their feet andstart to do the Thriller dance with you?
Well, we have had people leapto their feet and pull out their
phones and try to record. Yeah. Well, it's so tempting because you
want to send it to your friends. I got to tell you. Okay,
here's my little story of Thriller.When Thriller the video came out,
MTV played it in a loop overand over and over again. The first
night it came out, and Iwas over at my friend Jennifer Green's house
(07:20):
with a bunch of other girls,and we watched that video over and over
and over again until like four o'clockin the morning, and we recorded it
on our VCR tapes and then wewatched it again next day. So to
your point, is it just takesyou back and reminds you of what you
were doing at that time when everythingjust seemed a lot simpler. Yeah,
(07:41):
And I think that's why people connectwith it in such a way. And
sometimes people are in the audience thatyou can tell that their reaction even surprises
them. Yeah, you know whathas happened on the stakes because it connects
to you and said, well toa lot of us in a certain way
and just brings you back to amoment that of times gone by when things
like you said worse. Yeah,And I feel like, you know,
(08:01):
we all know about the trouble thatMichael had at the end of his life.
Because this show is a moment intime in his life. It allows
you to just enjoy the best ofMichael Jackson without having to get into the
sort of what happened later. AndI gotta tell you, I liked that.
I loved it. I love justcelebrating the joy that he brought to
(08:24):
everybody. And you guys just doit, and you do it so incredibly
well. Put I put a linkon the blog today. The show runs
through the twenty eighth here at theDCPA. I would love like just I've
already had set listeners and they allcame back and said, oh my God,
that was the best thing ever.So the show is fantastic, Jay
Dawtry, thank you so much formaking time for me. Do you ever
(08:46):
get to go home to Bartow?I do I do, Luckily. I
just bought a house and Bartow soso affordable, because nothing in Florida is
affordable anymore. Well, Bartley isgood to know because the Peace River is
still there. I bet yes.All right, Jay, I appreciate your
(09:07):
time today. Man, have agreat show and enjoy the rest of your
time in Denver. I hope youget to enjoy our beautiful scenery as well.
Absolutely, thank you so much forhaving me. Thank you have a
great day, man, have agreat day. Fantastic show. If you
love Michael Jackson, this is amust see. Outstanding at the DCPA.
You must run, don't walk,to the DCPA to see the production of
MJ that is live. Now.This show is incredibly good and you know
all the songs, and you knowthe music, and the dancing is off
the hook, and I am thrilledto have one of the cast members joining
me now. Jay Daughtry plays abunch of roles. He starts out as
(00:22):
Barry Gordy, he plays Nick afew other roles. Jay, Welcome to
the show. First of all,thank you, thank you for having me.
I've got to tell you, Iloved this show so much. I
mean, it took me back tomy teen years and I think it's kind
of doing that for everybody, thepeople around me. We're all singing under
(00:42):
our breath because we didn't want tosing too loud and disturb the people around
us. And the dancing is incredible, and every single member of this cast
is just fantastic. So well done. I mean just well done. It
was wildly entertaining. Imagine what itfeels like to actually be child of the
eighties and be on the stage doingthis show. I was going to ask
(01:03):
you that for me, that wasmy I mean, when you because you've
been in a lot of that.First of all, I want to say
this, I may be the onlyperson to interview you who has ever actually
been to Bartow, Florida. Okay, so I've been to Bartow because I
love the Peace River and I lovekayaking canoeing on the Peace River down there,
(01:23):
and so that's oh wow. Yeah. So I'm from Florida myself,
but a different bart of Florida.So when I saw you were from Bartow,
I was like, you know what, I bet he's never talked to
anybody who's been there. So howdid you always have to say it's between
Orlando and Tampa. Yeah, sohow did you get from Bartow to Broadway?
Well, like I said, I'ma child of the eighties, So
(01:45):
that means that during the financial crash, I was in my early twenties and
I was working as a banker.At the time. I had just graduated
from college and moved to DC towork as a banker, and then you
know, the collapse happened in thebank's pressed. So I went on to
teach school, and as I wasteaching school, some things happened where I
(02:07):
had to end up teaching music,and the principal came in and she was
like, hey, you know,you're really good at this. She's like,
I think you should be doing this, you know, music thing for
a living and not teaching. Shewas like, are you auditioning for like
Broadway? I was like, no, not really. So she gave me
three days a week off from theshut up I was in DC. She
was like, you have to promiseme you're going to go to New York
(02:28):
and audition. And I did andthree months later I was doing Broadway.
That is the I have goosebumps.You do you did? You send her
a giant Christmas present every single year? Because she was an angel? You
know? I mean, well,you know what's funny. I can't find
her now, No, I cannotfind her. That is the craziest thing
(02:49):
ever. Maybe she was actually anangel and she just God put her there
for you to move you in theright direction. Well, you've done quite
a bit of Broadway the color Purplebeautiful. Ain't too proud, been multiple
tours. But what makes this tourdifferent than the other tours that you've done.
Well, I think, going backto what we said, I'm so
connected to it because this music MichaelJackson was such an important part of my
(03:13):
childhood. Yep. That to youknow, be standing on the stage.
I actually feel like in some ofthese scenes, I'm flashing back with Michael
Jackson, you know what I mean? Yeah, he when he's moonwalking across
the stage, I remember being inmy living room trying to learn how to
move like Michael Jackson, you know. Or when they talk about the Koch
you know, Pepsi yeah commercial partthe Pepsi commercial. I remember that.
(03:36):
I remember all this stuff, andso it's very nophatic for me, and
it a lot of times I feellike I'm back in my youth, you
know. I think it can bereally difficult to inhabit a character like Michael
and without it coming across as acaricature, you know, because he's soft
spoken and he's we kind of havethis impression of him. And I have
(03:58):
to say, the lead in thisshow strikes that balance perfectly. You You
feel like he is doing it.He is honoring Michael Jackson rather than pretending,
do you know you know what Imean? Absolutely absolutely, and he
does. I believe you're talked aboutRoman Banks. Now we have actually three
Michael Jacksons, and the night thatyou came was Roman Banks and they all,
(04:20):
you know, embody him in sucha specific way. Michael was such
an icon that we all relate tohim in different ways and different parts of
his artistry speaks to you know,all of us really in different ways.
And between the three of our MichaelJackson's you see very specific things that you
can see how he has influenced them, which is what makes it so magical
(04:41):
to watch them all. And wherein the heck did you guys find these
kids to pay young? I mean, my god, I was absolutely I'm
telling you, every single person inthis cast is pitch perfect. They are
just incredible. It's like you guysdata mind, you just mind all of
the best talent when it came topeople that can do great music and incredible
dancing, And I just feel likethis is the show everybody needs to see.
(05:03):
I loved it so much because thestaging in this show is very precise,
and there are times when the guywho plays Michael Jackson's dad also plays
kind of the director of the tourthat they're preparing preparing for, and he
often does character changes on stage,and it is so seamless that it's our
(05:27):
creative team took their time with castingthis show you're talking about Devin Bowles.
Yes, he plays Joe Jackson aswell as the choreographer for the show.
And there are there are lines wherein the middle of the line he has
to switch characters from you know,Rob who is the choreographer, into the
father, and so that our creativeteam really took their time with finding people
(05:53):
who could do that right. Youknow, you have to be very versatile
as an actor to be a theflip in the middle of a sentence into
a whole a completely different character.He just does it beautifully. I mean,
he has these kind of physical changesthat he institutes to go from character
to character that are very subtle,but they're very clear and it was very
(06:14):
impressive. Can we talk about thedancing for a second, Lake Oh Man,
Do the dancers in this show justeat about forty thousand calories a day
and just dance all the time,because they are absolutely amazing. They are
phenomenal and I like to say theyare the main piece of this show besides
Michael Jackson. The dancing that happensin this show, and they work so
(06:34):
very hard. I love each andevery one of them. They spend a
lot of their time when they're noton the stage, resting their bodies and
taking care of themselves in order tobe able to come do the show and
to give it all they have.I can't imagine doing that show twice in
one day. Do you guys doit? Matt Nay? We do.
Who we have on Saturdays and Sundays. Yeah. Have you had anybody in
(06:58):
the audience leap to their feet andstart to do the Thriller dance with you?
Well, we have had people leapto their feet and pull out their
phones and try to record. Yeah. Well, it's so tempting because you
want to send it to your friends. I got to tell you. Okay,
here's my little story of Thriller.When Thriller the video came out,
MTV played it in a loop overand over and over again. The first
night it came out, and Iwas over at my friend Jennifer Green's house
(07:20):
with a bunch of other girls,and we watched that video over and over
and over again until like four o'clockin the morning, and we recorded it
on our VCR tapes and then wewatched it again next day. So to
your point, is it just takesyou back and reminds you of what you
were doing at that time when everythingjust seemed a lot simpler. Yeah,
(07:41):
And I think that's why people connectwith it in such a way. And
sometimes people are in the audience thatyou can tell that their reaction even surprises
them. Yeah, you know whathas happened on the stakes because it connects
to you and said, well toa lot of us in a certain way
and just brings you back to amoment that of times gone by when things
like you said worse. Yeah,And I feel like, you know,
(08:01):
we all know about the trouble thatMichael had at the end of his life.
Because this show is a moment intime in his life. It allows
you to just enjoy the best ofMichael Jackson without having to get into the
sort of what happened later. AndI gotta tell you, I liked that.
I loved it. I love justcelebrating the joy that he brought to
(08:24):
everybody. And you guys just doit, and you do it so incredibly
well. Put I put a linkon the blog today. The show runs
through the twenty eighth here at theDCPA. I would love like just I've
already had set listeners and they allcame back and said, oh my God,
that was the best thing ever.So the show is fantastic, Jay
Dawtry, thank you so much formaking time for me. Do you ever
(08:46):
get to go home to Bartow?I do I do, Luckily. I
just bought a house and Bartow soso affordable, because nothing in Florida is
affordable anymore. Well, Bartley isgood to know because the Peace River is
still there. I bet yes.All right, Jay, I appreciate your
(09:07):
time today. Man, have agreat show and enjoy the rest of your
time in Denver. I hope youget to enjoy our beautiful scenery as well.
Absolutely, thank you so much forhaving me. Thank you have a
great day, man, have agreat day. Fantastic show. If you
love Michael Jackson, this is amust see. Outstanding at the DCPA.
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