A Strange Loop
Mainstage Theater
Book, Music, and Lyrics by Michael R. Jackson
Directed by Stephen Brackett
Choreographed by Raja Feather Kelly
Produced in association with Page 73
World premiere
USHER
These are my memories / Of one lone black gay boy I knew who chose to turn his back on the Lord.
Usher is a black, queer writer, working a day job he hates while writing his original musical: a piece about a black, queer writer, working a day job he hates while writing his original musical. Michael R. Jackson’s blistering, momentous new musical follows a young artist at war with a host of demons — not least of which, the punishing thoughts in his own head — in an attempt to capture and understand his own strange loop.
2017 Jonathan Larson Award winner
2017 Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Award winner
“A full-on laparoscopy of the heart, soul, and loins — A Strange Loop is a gutsy, jubilantly anguished musical with infectious melodies by the very deft Michael R. Jackson.”
— Ben Brantley, The New York Times“Exhilarating and wickedly funny. A triumph!”
— Sara Holdren, New York Magazine