Yes, Broadway’s Michael Jackson musical is still moving ahead, despite the questions and controversies that plague the singer’s legacy. On Thursday, it was announced that Tony nominee Ephraim Sykes, who recently starred in the Temptations musical Ain’t Too Proud, had been cast to play Jackson in MJ the Musical.

“Michael Jackson, to me, was synonymous with song and dance,” Sykes told Essence. “Growing up, I always wanted to be like him. It was literally my wildest dream.”

The casting announcement—and the musical as a whole—comes at a time when Jackson’s legacy has come under heavy scrutiny. In March, HBO aired Leaving Neverland, a searing documentary about the pedophilia accusations that followed Jackson as early as 1993 (he denied the claims and was acquitted in a closely watched 2005 trial). Two of his accusers, Wade Robson and James Safechuck, make incredibly disturbing allegations against Jackson in Leaving Neverland, painting him as a rampant pedophile who preyed on them throughout their respective childhoods. The documentary has been fiercely denounced by the Jackson family, with the singer’s estate even filing a $100 million lawsuit against HBO.

There has been public fallout against Jackson as a result of the documentary. Some radio stations stopped playing his music, and the creators of The Simpsons elected to shelve a 1991 episode featuring Jackson in a key role. (It is not available on Disney+, where the rest of the series is now streaming.) Robson and Safechuck’s lawsuits against the Jackson estate, which were dismissed in 2017, have also been reconsidered by three appellate court judges.

It’s unclear how the musical will address the sordid accusations, if at all. Sykes hasn’t given a hint either way, telling Essence somewhat vaguely that he wants to “show how human [Jackson] truly was.”

“Putting those extraordinary circumstances, for better or for worse, so hopefully we can all have a little bit more empathy with him, his downfalls, his demons, his struggles as well as,” he added.

Back in April, playwright Lynn Nottage and choreographer Christopher Wheeldon spoke somewhat openly about the challenges of tackling Jackson’s story in an interview with the New York Times. “This is obviously challenging—it makes this not without its complications, for sure—but part of what we do as artists is we respond to complexity,” Wheeldon said.

Both had seen Leaving Neverland and said they found it very believable, but stopped shy of saying they believed Jackson was a pedophile. “The men came across as very believable,” Nottage said of Robson and Safechuck. “But here’s the caveat: Were they ultimately telling the truth? I cannot 100% say so, because I’m not judge and jury, and it’s not my place to do that.”

Since then, the team behind the show has gone quiet about what to expect from the musical. “The production is not commenting on the content of show as it is in development,” said a spokesman, Rick Miramontez, to the Times. Previews of MJ the Musical will begin on July 6; the show will open on August 13.

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