Can a dance musical find a life on disc, divorced from the steps that give it hyperkinetic life on stage – and, in this case, that have resulted in a second Tony Award for its English director-choreographer, Christopher Wheeldon? The answer is an emphatic yes when it comes to MJ, the jukebox musical that won three more Tonys in June.

Its haul, the best of any Broadway musical this past season, included a trophy for its remarkable young lead, Myles Frost, the 23-year-old unknown whose performance as Michael Jackson ignites the cast recording. Frost offers not so much an impersonation as a total and complete habitation of the King of Pop. And the expansive sound – orchestrations conceived afresh for Broadway, with authentic, punchy brass instruments replacing the synthesised ones we’re used to hearing on the originals; and new soulful vocal harmonies – makes a case for this album where one could argue the merits of merely listening to Jackson’s Greatest Hits. MJ, indeed, offers three Jacksons for the price of one, insofar as two others play the icon-to-be at varying points along the way.

Frost isn’t appearing in all eight shows a week, so this recording may be as close as many get to experiencing a raw talent on the cusp of a major career. On stage, he captures a mixture of the ethereal and the steely, and his vocals on disc locate a yearning, questing quality coupled with an astonishing ability to slide from Jackson’s signature shimmering near-falsetto to something gutsier and more urgent.

The stage show takes the form of a rare interview with the generally press-wary MJ that allows bookwriter Lynn Nottage to rewind the clock. The album, by contrast, sidesteps narrative so it can rock out. ‘Beat It’ starts things in appropriately propulsive fashion, followed by a glance back towards Jackson’s familial origins as part of The Jackson 5 and onwards to a solo recording career that, we’re reminded, led to sales of more than one billion records.

The show’s second male lead, Quentin Earl Darrington, deploys his potent baritone to vivid effect on ‘Keep The Faith’, and Whitney Bashor, playing the main interviewer, gives women a (literal) voice on ‘Human Nature’, alongside Frost. All the biggest hits are here, from ‘Billie Jean’ and ‘Bad’ to ‘Man In The Mirror’ (an impressive showcase for the whole ensemble) and ‘Jam’ (with an updated, edgy rap brought to the fore). It’s not always possible in a theatre to start dancing and grooving in the aisles, but there’s nothing to prevent listeners of this cast recording doing just that at home.

Album details

Lynn Nottage book

Various music, lyrics

Cast Myles Frost, Quentin Earl Darrington, Whitney Bashor, Tavon Olds-Sample, Gabriel Ruiz, Ayana George, Apollo Levine

Music direction, orchestrations, arrangements Jason Michael Webb

Music supervision, orchestrations, arrangements David Holcenberg

Epic Records / Legacy Recordings