Most of the world was introduced to him as the quirky, can’t keep a secret, witty teen on Netflix’s On My Block, but as an actor, Brett Gray continues to evolve and soar high.
Gray can be seen portraying Michael Jackson in the Broadway production of MJ the Musical, a jukebox musical that celebrates the life and work of the late superstar. It specifically follows his creative process leading up to his Dangerous World Tour.
The news of Gray’s debut as a standby for the show was announced this week.
“I’m on stage, which is great, because I feel like this is kind of like a big return, because I started in theater, and then ended up in film and TV,” Gray told Blavity’s Shadow and Act. “I feel like Jamal proved to me that you’re enough just as you are. I feel like a lot of my personality was able to be put into Jamal, and I think he was so tenacious. He wasn’t afraid to do anything, and even when he was afraid, he still did it. I take that with me in every role — the idea of bravery, of trying something new, of not being afraid not to be believed in. Because, I mean, they didn’t think he was gonna find the RollerWorld money. I feel like Jamal, not just even as an acting role, but as a person, Jamal gave me a lot of confidence, to be like, you can win even outside the box, and people love you for having the bravery for trying.”
Reflecting on his love of theater
Along with his acting chops, Gray has range as a singer and dancer, and has dreamt of being on stage since he was a little kid.
“I always thought Broadway was the ultimate experience. Like, outside of a movie musical, I always wanted to do a Broadway musical, and to come do one as Michael Jackson has required the most of all my skill sets,” Gray said.
He added, “You can’t just be a great dancer, you have to also be a great singer and a great actor, and great with transforming and performing in front of live people. I just feel like this is my dream job. It’s like, all the other dream jobs — Jamal, or even Felix from I’m a Virgo — I didn’t have control over them. They came, and it became a dream via the people that facilitated it, and the timing of the program. But this is what I would consider my dream job. Performing live in front of real people, using all of my skill sets at the highest possible level in a consistent fashion that requires stamina from me. I feel like I’m getting paid to go to college again, but I didn’t go to college the first time.”
As an alum of the Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts, where he majored in (take a wild guess) theater, the “Easy on Me” crooner likened the entertainment medium to how fighters spar in boxing.
“When you’re up there in front of real people, anything could happen,” Gray said. “You’ve rehearsed this thing that you are trying to make new, even though it’s been practiced. And it’s just, when I’m on stage, the way I feel is alive. I can’t think about my phone. I can’t think about what’s happening outside of that theater. It’s like all of us are locked in that moment, to exactly what’s going on. It’s different than a movie, because in a movie you can get distracted. You go to the movie theater and you’re sitting in a chair, you’re taken into the world of cinema, but it’s a screen. In theater, there are real people. I’ve sung ‘Beat It’ and had to cough, and the whole performance is changing because I’m trying not to cough and not make it look like I have to. It just adds something unexpected and makes me feel alive again. The theater is so important for performers because they can’t sing on a track. You can sing, even in a movie, or act on a camera where you’ll get another take. But to try and convince someone in real life that you are anything like Michael Jackson, with no facade, no screen, no second take, no track or Auto-Tune or lip sync or redo? It’s like, I would imagine, what sparring is like for a boxer — it’s a test of all your skills in real time, and a big challenge.”
He added, “I think that film, art, music, everything in general, has the power to shift people’s perspective. But live theater, seeing it in the human form, is like [being] with God. Without any pretense or special effect. It’s the closest thing we can get to understanding change without changing.”
When asked what 14-year-old Brett Gray would say to the now 29-year-old taking on the role of MJ in a Broadway musical, he said that we’d need a bleep button, noting how this is the manifestation of his dream at that age.
“He would probably explode. You know that part in On My Block where Jamal is like … I think that would be 14-year-old Brett,” Gray said. “He would just be so excited, he wouldn’t even be able to contain himself. I remember being 14, coming to Broadway and seeing Pippin with my mom, and waiting outside for 35 minutes to hope Patina Miller would come out the stage door and sign my book, and when she did, how amazing it felt. How I was just so full of wonder, watching her perform in front of me in that way. It’s so rewarding. I have to remind myself, in the stressful times and the times when I’m overwhelmed or tired, this is what I feel like I was sent here to do. And I don’t know why yet, that will be revealed to me, but I know this is what it was.”
Will there be an ‘On My Block’ reunion in the future?
If there was an opportunity to reprise the role of Jamal later in life, Gray said he would be all in.
“I wish I had some control over it, because I would do it now if I could. But honestly, if they ever called me and said, ‘Hey, the gang is all back together, and we want to do another On My Block, I don’t care if I was 50, I would try,” he said. “I love that character, and that’s my first one, like my first little baby. So that whole world, it’s the real world, but magical things happen. I think that’s so cool.”
