A Strange Loop- Nobody Here Interested?

[+ Lucky]

A Strange Loop is the talk of Broadway, but not this forum despite its very gay context. It won the Pulitzer Prize and now 11 Tony nominations. It has received stellar reviews. So why so silent here?*

The Guardian review today says:

 

A Strange Loop review – Michael R Jackson’s thrilling Broadway triumph

 

 

Jason Veasey, James Jackson, Jr., Jaquel Spivey, L. Morgan Lee and Antwayn Hopper Photograph: AP

Lyceum Theatre, New York

The audacious and uproarious musical, which leads this year’s Tony nominations, is a meta masterpiece about a Black queer writer writing about a Black queer writer

Michael R Jackson’s A Strange Loop is many, many things. Cutting, uproarious and crushing, it doesn’t try to be all of these in its hour and 45 min running time, but just is. A gymnastics-like excavation into one man’s search for himself complete with “Black shit!,” “White shit!” and “butt-fucking!”

Usher, a Black, fat, queer man, is a begrudged usher for a Disney Broadway show by day while, in his free time, he works on his masterwork A Strange Loop, a musical about a Black, queer, fat man writing a musical about a Black, queer, fat man, and so forth.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2022/may/17/a-strange-loop-review-michael-r-jacksons-thrilling-broadway-triumph

*my search here turned up nothing

[foxy]

It’s on my to do list of shows to see. 

[skynyc]

Some spoilers. I saw it at Playwright's Horizons several years ago, and after the first act was laughing and loving it and thinking it really was the next huge thing...planned to stop at box office and buy tickets to another performance. But the second half mitigated that strongly. I didn't buy more tickets, and remember thinking when it won the Pulitzer that it was appropriate, especially in this time.

When it transferred, I had forgotten much of my feelings about the second act and eagerly went again. Now one 90-minute act, my feelings were very much the same. It's still powerful and ground-breaking, but 90 minutes of self-loathing is hard to endure, especially when the resolution is not full of hope. The "Tyler Perry" parody at the end is ten minutes too long. We know before going in that his family hates his being gay, it's a classic (and tragic) depiction of "I don't hate you, I hate that you're gay." Well, they don't get that that means they hate him. 

I also think the graphic butt-fucking scene is going to make it unplayable in many places, watch out Omaha and Birmingham. Note: it isn't tittilating at all...it's a harsh depiction of a bad scene, followed by a song called "Why Did I Do That?" 

I admire the show...it is groundbreaking. I have highly recommended it to a very specific group of people. And I think the Pulitzer may be warranted. The night after this I saw The Skin of Our Teeth at Lincoln Center...another Pulitzer winner from 1940s. Equally groundbreaking for it's time, and equally challenging as a piece of theater. BUT I think of the Tonys as bringing theater to people around the country, and this play, I fear, will get fully half of the folks who go to see it to think "well, if this is what the theater is nowadays, I will stick to the movies." 

[RyanDean]

I've seen it four times. Twice at Playwrights, twice on Broadway. Never with an act break. Twice with Larry Owens, once with Jaquel Spivey and once with Kyle Ramar Freeman in the lead role. I recommend it highly. It's ambitious but remarkably entertaining & emotionally engaging. 

It's not designed to be a crowd pleaser but neither was Fun Home -- which did very well on tour, even as it occasionally elicited controversy for its forthright depictions of same-sex sexual intimacies. 

[kyleham]

I do believe I missed something about this show. I get the meaning but thought it was over rated and SIX should have won Best Musical. The SIX score was so much better.

[RyanDean]

SIX did win the Tony for best score.

[+ WilliamM]

Albe that is Adam di Marco  from White Lotus, Season two flew to New York to see before it closed.

I don't think he's gay, but not sure