MJ the Musical is a jukebox spectacular set within a warehouse rehearsal space as Micheal focuses on his creative process before the Dangerous World Tour.

FORM Imagination delighted in bringing Derek McLane's scenic design to life by building the stage portals, flying Apollo and Soul Train signs and rolling mirror props for the Australian national tour.

MJ is up there as one of our largest builds to date. The scenic artwork alone made up over half of the build time, team resources and attention to detail. By the end of the build, each individual brick had been covered in a layer of texture then painted in three different tones of grey, before being meticulously graffitied over by our head of scenic, Jason Weston, under the watchful eye of the US scenic associate, Erica Hemminger.
To round out the "warehouse" imagery, exposed pipes - carefully treated with the same scenic process - were fitted to the brick portal walls, creating a grungy and exposed environment, a raw setting for MJ to begin to tell his life story.

The rehearsal room scenery was in direct contrast to the interspaced flash-back scenes, especially those of Smooth Criminal and Thriller. These scenic elements were slick and clean, grand and imposing. As sometimes memories that come back to us often can be.
We combined our shops skills in timber, 3D printing, vac-forming and perspective painting to deliver an other-worldly experience in these moments.

"The set design was also whimsical and considered, with the two “Thriller” numbers, the first being set in the graveyard of the music video and the second being set in the circus, were terrifyingly pervasive and flawless in their execution. This was a theme of the entire show, with everything on stage being executed perfectly, resulting in a seamless audience experience." Review by Kiran Gupta

"The technical prowess of MJ the Musical is mind-boggling. The sets, backdrops, HD videos, projections, lifts, traps, lighting and sound combine to create a thrilling show." Review by Peter Hackney

Never far from our mind is "how does this show travel and store?" With a national tour slated for 2025 through 2026, FORM designed and manufactured made-to-measure travel frames for each set piece. This allowed the truck pack and un-pack times to be halved and unpacking of each trolley to be seamless and hassle free. FORM understands that uncomplicated transitions between venues can save money, time and prevent damage to crew and scenery.

This project was a genuine team effort and stands as a testament to the care and attention to detail the entire team had in producing a world class set.