Arturo Hilario
El Observador
Michael Jackson was not only one of the greatest entertainers of all time, but a larger than life personality that defied any one mold of what pop music and the performance aspect of it entailed. He pulled together some of the most gifted creatives in the music world to create songs and shows that were unparalleled to this day.
From his famous gliding moonwalk on stages across the world, to the movie-quality music videos and unique fashion sense, MJ was one of a kind. Now the intricacies of his life are on display in the national tour of MJ: The Musical, which is coming to the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts staring Tuesday, July 29 and running through Sunday, August 3, 2025.
Recently I spoke with one of the performers in the show, Kevin Cruz, a Florida-based Puerto Rican who plays a cameraman named Alejandro in the show’s story. He shared with us the importance of inspiring other Latinos to get into the arts, how the kinetic musical journey of the show is can’t miss entertainment, and why his journey into the performing arts has been one that has been exciting and full of reasons to be grateful for.
For more information on MJ: The Musical and tickets visit broadwaysanjose.com.
Hi Kevin. How was it that you got into the performing arts? What was your path to the stage and your inspirations?
I think it started when I was 12 years old watching a play in Miami at the Actor’s Playhouse. It was a play in Spanish called El Cartero. And while I don’t remember the plot so much, what stuck with me was sitting there as a 12-year-old not knowing what I wanted to do in my life and seeing people be people on stage telling a story. And for the first time, I thought, “Wait, that’s a job?”
And that stuck with me until I was about 14 or 15 years old in high school when I started taking the drama classes and doing the plays and the musicals in school. I got hooked, and I thought, “I don’t want to do anything else.”
And so I just committed ever since, and I’m here. Thank God.
Is this the first national tour ever?
Yeah, this is the first national tour I’m on. This is the biggest production I’ve ever been a part of.
Can you touch on what that experience has been like for you, jumping into a show while it’s touring?
Yeah, it’s been incredibly humbling. Every day, I’m just honestly so lucky to be surrounded by so many incredibly talented people, amazing dancers, amazing singers, amazing actors that I can only learn from. I’m in a position where I don’t have as much experience working at this level as everybody else does.
I started taking the drama classes and doing the plays and the musicals in school. I got hooked, and I thought, “I don’t want to do anything else.
-Kevin Cruz
So I get to just absorb and pay attention and learn from people every day. But like I said, it’s a very humbling experience. It was a very fast-paced experience because it’s a show that’s already been produced and it’s already running, and I’m being plugged into it while still being given enough room to make the role my own and make my own discoveries. Yeah, fast-paced and humbling.
Can you tell me a little bit about your role of Alejandro in the show?
I play the role of Alejandro. He is a cameraman for a documentary film crew that’s in charge of recording a documentary about Michael Jackson’s rehearsal process in the Dangerous Tour in 1992. I’m a super fan of Michael Jackson, and I have to keep my excitement together and focus on my job and support my boss who is the director of the thing, and it’s a nice subplot that glues the scenes together.
People can assume that any production called MJ: The Musical is going to have a lot of dancing and a lot of the music, but in your opinion what is the core of the story in this musical?
The core of the story, I would say, obviously, Michael Jackson is the center figure, and it focuses a lot not just on his successes and his story, an overview of his story, but also a lot of the things that he struggled with inside while he was dealing with all of these outside pressures.
At the time, and probably still to this day, there weren’t many people like him, like someone as famous as that that had to deal with that much. I think at the core is his desire to be great, not only to be great, but to be perfect, and how that drives many of the great artists and influential figures in history, [and] at what costs.
What is the one thing that you’re grateful about in terms of giving yourself that space to learn and grow and take in as much as you can in this path?
The simple answer is the people I’ve met along the way that have stuck around and the people that I’ve seen as mentor figures that I learn from and go to when I’m dealing with something I can’t quite figure out on my own.
I’d be a liar if I said I’m self-made, and I did all of this by myself because I didn’t. It took a village. And I’m incredibly grateful for every single person that I’ve met along the way, especially the ones that I stay in touch with. They’re like chosen family.
Being Latino, what does it mean to you to be having people watch you on stage and be inspired because you look like them or come from a Latino cultural background?
That’s exactly it. That’s one of the things that I think pushed me towards being the best that I can be, so that if some Latino kid is in the audience who just moved to this country and feels out of place and feels like they don’t belong, maybe they have a love for theater because they loved watching it.
It’s incredibly important for these children, for anybody, really, to be able to see themselves and go, “Well, if they can do it, I can do it.” Or maybe even go as far as, “Well, if they can do it, I can do it better.” Please do so. Please.
I carry Puerto Rico in my heart, everywhere I go, I represent. The first thing in my bio in the Playbill is ‘Puerto Rican born’. I just think that’s so important for me to lead with, at least. So, yeah, it’s an honor to be able to represent.
And for the final question, could you let audiences know why they should come and see MJ: The Musical?
Why people should come see MJ: The Musical is if you don’t know a lot, and even if you do know a lot about one of the greatest figures in music, but also in the world, you come out with a new perspective. I think it really humanizes him in a way where I haven’t really seen before. When I was a kid, I didn’t really grow up listening to Michael Jackson, but we all knew about him, and we’ve all heard his songs, especially when he passed away. Everybody was talking about that.
But I think there’s a whole new generation of people who might not have any idea about the great things that this man achieved, and what he went for, and what he stood for, and what he had to go through. So, yeah, I think it’s for the fans, for the long-time fans and people who might not have any idea. They might come out of the show fans, super fans, maybe.
