Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Michael R. Jackson’s deeply personal Pulitzer Prize-winning A STRANGE LOOP makes the jump to Broadway, triumphantly

• By drediman
• April 27, 2022
• No Comments

Last night, Michael R. Jackson’s singular “self-referential” musical A Strange Loop opened on Broadway at the Lyceum Theatre. The production comes by way of Off-Broadway’s Playwrights Horizons (in a co-production with Page 73) – where it enjoyed a sold out pre-pandemic run in 2019 – as well as Washington DC’s Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, where it was further tweaked this past winter. In between these two engagements, the musical won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama (a relative rarity for musicals) for Jackson’s deeply personal portrayal of Usher (a lightly veiled stand-in for Jackson himself), a young, struggling musical theater writer who grapples with his identity, aspirations, and desires as a larger Black gay man. In many ways, the musical operates as a sort of therapy session for our protagonist, who over the course of the show works through his shifting, prismatic, and often contradictory perception of himself.

What makes A Strange Loop stand out from the fray is how brutally uncompromising and painfully honest Jackson – who wrote the show’s book, music, and lyrics – is in his attempt to portray Usher’s (his) creeping insecurities and occasional bouts of self-loathing, often as it relates to race and body image (e.g., there’s a graphic mixed-race sex scene that’s rather uncomfortable to sit through). On paper, this isn’t likely the stuff of box office gold, but it’s this authenticity that renders the work both intensely heartbreaking and wickedly, subversively hilarious. Jackson’s patter songs are as restless and searching as they are tuneful – an odd combination that actually makes some of the show’s rawer, more difficult content go down easier. Jackson has also constructed a book that does away with naturalism, let alone linear narrative. You see, the musical largely takes place in Usher’s psyche and its primary “characters” are manifestations of his splintered thoughts, which morph into external characters as needed. Additionally, the musical is acutely self-aware of its meta-theatrical construction (the show, in essence, is about the writing of a musical, which is, in turn, about the writing of a musical, and so forth), calling to mind works like the equally meta [title of show], which actually played in the very same theater. This may all seem like the result of a theater-maker’s overstimulated imagination, which I can’t argue with. A Strange Loop is an ambitious but young work, which is not necessarily a bad thing. As a portrait of a human being under development, it’s compelling in its unfiltered, messy excesses.

The production has been directed by Steven Brackett, whose staging has been amped up physically and emotionally for the show’s Main Stem outing – thankfully to the material’s benefit. Usher’s existential musings now register more urgently, giving the production a punchier tone and a more clearly sustained sense of purpose and momentum. As before, the choreography by Raja Feather Kelly is smart and full of character, bringing winking musical theater pizzazz to the proceedings. For the Great White Way, the lead role of Usher has been given to sensational newcomer Jaquel Spivey, who replaces Larry Owens from the Off-Broadway production. Mr. Spivey brings a different sort of energy to the show, one that’s less caustic and more vulnerable and openhearted, and therefore more devastating during the musical’s more emotionally fraught moments. We’ve rarely seen a leading man like him, and it’s about time that we did. As in previous iterations, the small, fabulously versatile ensemble of six that comprise Usher’s thoughts continue to be fiercely on point. However unlikely, A Strange Loop has landed on Broadway, triumphantly.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

A STRANGE LOOP
Broadway, Musical
Lyceum Theatre
1 hour, 45 minutes (without an intermission)
Open run