That settles it, musical gays and girls. A Strange Loop is the next MUST SEE musical. Of course, that was already true. But the show just got some major gold at the Tony Awards! So now everyone’s got their eye on the little musical that could!
A Strange Loop was written by award-winning playwright Michael R. Jackson. In a semi-autobiographical fashion, A Strange Loop follows a gay, Black theatre artist who feels stuck in life and career. Burdened by having the same name as a much more successful artist, Usher deals with the possibility of a successful but problematic writing opportunity… writing a Tyler Perry play. Meanwhile, he struggles to write a play about an usher writing a play. He wrestles with that, his religious mother, the gay hookup scene, and all the chaos in between. To make things worse, six of his own insecurities, fears, and nightmares show up to sing him into madness.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xo-M-quFGWo
Related: ‘Slave Play’ Writer Jeremy O. Harris Made History With 12 Tony Award Nominations
After a successful run Off Broadway at Playwrights Horizons, including winning the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the show opened up on Broadway earlier this year. And this past Sunday, at the 25th annual Tony Awards, A Strange Loop won two Tony Awards. This includes Best Musical and the Tony for Best Book of a Musical.
In his acceptance speech, Michael R. Jackson said, “I wrote it at a time when I didn’t know what I was going to do with my life. I didn’t know how I was going to move forward. I felt unseen. I felt unheard. I felt misunderstood, and I just wanted to create a little bit of a life raft for myself as a Black gay man.”
HOW Y'ALL DOIN?!? pic.twitter.com/9UUx7EhhUx
— A Strange Loop (@StrangeLoopLDN) June 14, 2022
And that’s EXACTLY why we are celebrating the win! A Strange Loop and Michael R. Jackson winning Tonys are not only a win for them but a win for gay people, Black people, and, most importantly, queer Black people. While the show did not win its other 9 nominations, including L. Morgan Lee’s nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical which was the first for any transgender performer, the musical’s legacy has already won so much!
So go see A Strange Loop and support this “big, black, and queer ass American Broadway show!” The show is selling tickets up to the end of October and its run currently has no end date in sight. And we love that for it!
I mean musicals were made for the gays am I right! Congrats.