News Analysis India

Tag: MJ

  • Janet Jackson’s documentary to air on January 28

    By PTI

    A four-hour documentary on the life and career of singer Janet Jackson will premiere on January 28. The two-part film “Janet” will be simulcast on Lifetime and A&E, reported Billboard.

    The release date and an extended trailer of the documentary was released on social media on Sunday.

    “Happy New Year! It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for – night one of #JanetJacksonDoc premieres Friday, January 28th at 8/7c. @janetjackson @aetv,” said Lifetime in a tweet.

    ✨Happy New Year! It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for – night one of #JanetJacksonDoc premieres Friday, January 28th at 8/7c.✨@janetjackson @aetv pic.twitter.com/u8HtKs3edO
    — Lifetime (@lifetimetv) January 1, 2022
    The film comes in the 40th anniversary year of Janet Jackson’s eponymous debut album.

    “Janet” will see the singer discuss her famous family, including the deaths of brother Michael and father Joseph, her late-in-life motherhood to a moment where her team was approached by Justin Timberlake “about doing the Super Bowl,” which Timberlake was headlining in 2018.

    At the time, she had taken to social media to shut down rumours that they would be reuniting on the halftime show stage.

    Janet Jackson and Timberlake had a fallout after their controversial 2004 Super Bowl performance.

    Last year, Timberlake addressed his complicity in Jackson’s career downturn after one of her breasts was exposed during their infamous halftime show performance in the wake of the criticism he received for ill treating his former girlfriend and singer Britney Spears as depicted in the explosive documentary “Framing Britney Spears”.

    Timberlake apologised to both Spears and Jackson for his past actions.

    Ben Hirsch, known for documentaries on Idris Elba and “Bruno v Tyson”, serves as director on “Janet”.

    Janet Jackson also serves as an executive producer on the documentary alongside Randy Jackson (no relation) and Workerbee’s Rick Murray and A+E Networks’ Miranda Bryant.

    “Janet” gives exclusive access to archival footage, unseen home videos and interviews with famous stars like Missy Elliott, Whoopi Goldberg, Samuel L Jackson, Mariah Carey and Ciara.

  • Broadway performances for Michael Jackson musical ‘MJ’ cancelled till post Christmas

    By ANI

    WASHINGTON: The new Michael Jackson musical, ‘MJ’, has been announced to not return to Broadway’s Neil Simon Theatre until December 27, wiping out the show’s opportunity for the lucrative pre-Christmas and Christmas Day box office.

    According to Deadline, in a tweeted statement, producers said, “As a result of multiple positive COVID test results within the company, and out of an abundance of caution, ‘MJ’ is cancelling all performances through December 26th. Previews will resume Monday, December 27.”

    The ‘MJ’ announcement is the most far-reaching of the recent surge in Covid cancellations, which this week have tended toward one or two immediate performances followed by night-by-night decisions on further cancellations.

    The 10-day shutdown of ‘MJ’ is more in keeping with last month’s temporary shutdown of ‘Chicken and Biscuits’, the Douglas Lyons comedy at Circle in the Square that paused production from November 9-19 due to breakthrough COVID cases.

    ‘Chicken and Biscuits’ subsequently permanently closed later that month, with producers citing the devastating financial impact of the COVID cancellations.

    Though box office figures for individual shows are not available from the Broadway League this season, ‘Chicken and Biscuits’ was thought to have been struggling at the box office even before the cancellations, which isn’t the case with ‘MJ’.

    As per Deadline, the Michael Jackson musical, with a book by two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage, a score of Jackson hits and a starring performance by newcomer Myles Frost, has been playing to sold-out houses since beginning previews on December 6. The musical is directed and choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon.