Last year it was a hit on Broadway. Now it’s opening a North American tour in Chicago. “MJ: The Musical” tells the story of Michael Jackson in flashback. Tellingly, it begins in 1992 as he prepares his Dangerous Tour. That was the year before his sexual abuse cases.

WTTW News theater critic Hedy Weiss sat down with Tony Award-winning choreographer Christopher Wheeldon and actor Roman Banks, who plays the “Man in the Mirror.”

“Michael obviously had an innate gift for movement,” Wheeldon said. “He trained with some great pop-and-lock teachers and hip-hop teachers in L.A., and he had mentors. One of the largest facets of his gifts was to be able to take from the greats and to understand how to take a shape from Fred Astaire or a movement in the feet from James Brown or a leap from Baryshnikov. He was a huge ballet fan.”

Banks, who began singing and acting before dancing, said the role was “a big undertaking.”

He said the music and dance have to be connected.

“Certain things don’t click for the character until everything’s happening at once,” Banks said. “And sometimes the dance informs the voice, sometimes voice informs emotion, sometimes they all work together, and I almost black out when I’m performing, and someone says, ‘How’d that feel?’ and I’m like, ‘I don’t even know.’”

Roman Banks as “MJ” and the cast of the “MJ: The Musical.” (Matthew Murphy / MurphyMade)

Wheeldon said there’s a “violence to Michael’s accuracy” when it comes to dancing.

“A lot came from natural coordination, but also, each move is so explosive and accurate,” Wheeldon said. “I think it’s the dynamic explosive power of his movement that can make me think that it was coming from emotion and frustration and not just drawing from the shapes of Astaire and the hands of Bob Fosse and the feet of James Brown — but actually his own inner emotion.”

“I want people to understand that at that time, especially in Black communities, there weren’t really resources for mental health,” Banks said. “And obviously we take after our parents to some degree, but I truly think he did the best with what he had.”

“We focus very much on the creative inspiration and the beauty of Michael’s creative imagination, but also within the framework of his relationship with his brothers, mother and father,” Wheeldon said. “We do go back in time to experience those great Jackson Five moments. The complexity lies interwoven with the beauty, and I think the goal was always to make something to help people understand that some of that complexity is what made the art truly great.”

Banks added: “I don’t think we as humans are meant to see that level of pressure from the world.”

“MJ: The Musical” just opened at the Nederlander Theatre in the Loop. It runs through Sept. 2.