How MJ: The Musical glosses over the scandals that beset the King Of Pop - with ... trends now

After its controversial Broadway launch in 2022, the musical based on the life of  Michael Jackson arrived at the West End to much fanfare earlier this month.

MJ: The Musical opened at London's Prince Edward Theatre with an all singing all dancing show that glossed over the King Of Pop's scandals, including numerous child sexual assault allegations. 

Even Michael's children appeared awkward as they attended the show's press night on Wednesday, perhaps aware of the subject matter the show noticeably overlooked. 

And despite actor Myles Frost reprising his Tony Award winning role as Michael, critics slammed the 'tedious' show and pointed out the 'very big elephant in the room'.     

Here is everything you need to know about the controversial muscial.... 

A feud-tinged preview night 

Michael's sons Prince and Blanket, together with daughter Paris, turned out for a rare united appearance together on Wednesday's red carpet - possibly their first public turnout as a trio in over a decade.

Their father died at the age of 50 in 2009 following a cardiac arrest he suffered after having Propofol administered as a sleep aid. 

While Prince, 27,  smiled for photographs on the red carpet, Paris, 25, and Blanket, 22, were somewhat more muted as they stared down the flashbulbs of the waiting photographers.

The trio were once all smiles as they were pictured together as youngsters in 2012 - snapped at a handprint ceremony outside Los Angeles' Chinese Theatre for their father almost 12 years ago.

But since then, years after the singer's death from a drug-related cardiac arrest, further allegations have emerged against the King of Pop - potentially casting a shadow over his offspring's lives.

MJ: The Musical portrays Jackson's life up until 1992, a year before the first sexual abuse allegations against the singer surfaced.

The show's writer Lynn Nottage - a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner and lifelong Jackson fan -said she wanted to focus on the singer's music rather than delve into the scandal.

Saying: 'Do I believe he was a paedophile? I don't know that I can say one way or the other… It does hurt my heart to think about the possibility that it could be true, and I pray that it isn't true, and that's all I can do,'

In 2019 documentary Leaving Neverland saw the late pop star face further accusations of abuse. 

Nottage initially said she found Jackson's accusers Wade Robson and James Safechuck accounts believable. 

But in a later interview said: 'The men came across as very believable. But here's the caveat: were they ultimately telling the truth? I cannot 100 per cent say so, because I'm not judge and jury, and it's not my place to do that.'

She also said: 'There's so much story to tell about Michael Jackson that you can't do it in one musical… We felt that, as a musical, what we wanted to focus on was the music.' 

Meanwhile director/choreographer Christopher Wheeldon said that it was 'a very difficult question to answer' if he believed Jackson was a child abuser.

The Royal Ballet associate also said he did not think about pulling out of the project after Leaving Neverland was aired.

Dogged by controversy 

In 1993, Jackson was accused of molesting 13-year-old boy Jordan Chandler. The case was settled out of court for $22million dollars.

Ten years later, criminal charges were brought against Jackson after a 12-year-old former cancer patient Gavin Arviso also came forward to say he had been abused. But the singer was ultimately acquitted in 2005 following a trial.

Once the trial was over Jackson - who had been facing up to 20 years in prison if convicted on all charges - left the country, moving to the island nation of Bahrain, located in the Persian Sea.

He eventually returned to the United States and had been preparing for his comeback tour in 2009 when he was found unresponsive inside his Holmby Hills home.