My best friend and I bought balcony tickets only a few days in advance. Prices for this show skyrocketed after Tony nominations came out (“A Strange Loop” is nominated for 11 categories, the most nominations any musical has gotten this season. This includes “best musical”). I really wanted to see this show in previews, but did not get the opportunity.
Additionally, it’s my “finals week” at college, so I spent all of my ride into the city studying. And don’t ask me what an Article 1 court is because I still don’t know. I got into the city 2 hours before the show in hopes of getting dinner beforehand. My lovely and wonderful friend was very late. Then we ran around Times Square trying to agree on a place to eat and of course my lovely and wonderful friend decided to wear her worst shoes that always give her blisters. Needless to say, she was in immense pain and slowing us down (she knows who she is and i’m sorry). We finally compromised on Olive Garden, which was a stupid idea because it took too long to get our food (and is always overpriced 🤩).
Long story short, we made it to the theatre with a bandaged ankle, a spaghetti sauce stain, and 5 minutes to spare. We rushed up to the balcony. And apparently The Lyceum Theatre is like the only Broadway theatre where one has to quite literally climb 10 flights of stairs to get to the balcony. The one time I actually needed help from an usher, the usher goes “so basically just look for row E”. I couldn't stay mad at the usher for long though considering the main character of this show is an usher as well.
As we sat down the show began. I have never been late to a show (and I count this as not being late because I still saw people come in after the opening number). I vow to never be this late again because I had no time to view my playbill or for the obligatory playbill boomerang.
Right off the bat this show is very chaotic, but considering what I just experienced I was willing to accept this. The show opens with the song entitled “Intermission song”. (Ironic for a show with no intermission). The audience is introduced to a writer and the thoughts in his brain that terrorize him.
Oftentimes I found that I was not really sure what was going on. It was chaotic and there were usually many things happening at once, especially during the gospel scene (which felt like a fever dream). A lot of the time I had trouble hearing what some of the actors said, I’m not sure if that was due to lack poor sound design or not.
The story is hard to follow, but that’s the point. The audience is meant to see how the main character (Usher) is going in circles, driving himself to the point of insanity due to his internal conflicts. He faces internalized racism, internalized homophobia, and self esteem issues as a result of prejudice he has witnessed and faced. The audience gets to see directly into the mind of a musical-theatre writer.
The entire cast was made up of black people and I thought it was particularly interesting that at some moments a black actor would portray a white person. This is similar to how POC actors in Hamilton portray white historical figures. The actors portrayed white aggressors, using the “n” word to antagonize Usher.
On top of this, I found the sex scene to be particularly uncomfortable (more than most “sex scenes”). It’s obvious that this was the writer's intent (Michael R. Jackson), but it was hard to sit through. We watch as a “white man” sets up both a master and slave dynamic and a father and son relationship. This was used to demonstrate that even queer white men are still placed above all black men.
I did not find the comedy to be particularly funny. Granted, it’s difficult to write about such a serious topic while keeping the audience laughing, but I did not find myself laughing at all. Maybe it was just me, I think a lot of the jokes went over my head. It seemed as if the majority of the audience enjoyed the jokes, though I’m still questioning why Harriet Tubman had a gun. (I found out that she appapparenly had a gun in real life, which I did not know. But I still don't get why that was funny).
At one point in the show, Usher is offered a job to write music for Tyler Perry. He resents Tyler Perry, he feels that his work is stereotypical and does not display the truth of black people’s lives. Usher goes through with writing the music anyways because he feels pressure from the other black people in his life, one’s who believe Perry’s work is embedded into their culture. It’s ridiculous to think that the writer has created an entire number in the style of Perry’s work, however at the same time it is clearly satirical. It pokes fun at Tyler Perry’s style and shows exactly why he would never want to sell his soul, writing for him.
In general, the show was fairly music heavy. I enjoyed the orchestrations (props to Charlie Rosen) and the style of music, but I found some of the lyrics to be lacking. At some points the music just ended abruptly. I suppose you can do that in musical theatre, but it just left me wanting more. I’m no lyricist, but I believe some of the lyrics could have been improved upon, considering the fact that many of them had to do with his penis. These weren’t songs I would listen to on their own or sing along to. Although, the best songs were definitely the final two: “Memory Song” and “A Strange Loop”. They were beautiful and really pulled together the conclusion. The final song, “A Strange Loop” reprises the lyrics “I’m barely scraping by” from one of the previous songs, “Today”. These songs allow Usher to realize that maybe he is not the problem, but it is society that brings him down. Despite this fact he’s learning that he cannot give up on his hopes and dreams. I don’t think anyone could have made more sense of this chaos better than Jackson does.
My friend and I both agreed that it was shocking that this work achieved Broadway status. Not because it was bad, but because of the subject matter and the fact that Broadway is so overwhelmingly white. Unfortunately, Broadway doesn't have the best track record with inclusivity. Unquestionably, its producers helped to pave the way; Pasek & Paul, Marc Platt, RuPaul, Billy Porter, and many more.
There are Broadway shows that have highlighted discrimination, but never in this way or this intensely. Jackson sheds light on racism, colorism (within the black community), homophobia, and fatphobia. I have never seen a Broadway show where the main character is both queer and black. If anything this show brings strong representation that Broadway has been lacking. I truly believe that this piece will resonate with young, queer, and/or black audiences. But anyone can relate to this show. I was able to relate to the character Usher because he struggles with his identity and liking himself. He constantly feels like he is not good enough and he tries to make himself feel better by making other people proud of him.
This is what Broadway has been needing this whole time, just an honest, original, raw story from the heart of someone who has experienced marginalization first hand. I hope that Broadway continues to welcome stories like this to the stage because representation matters. It was truly an honor to see this show. I can see why this show is Pulitzer Prize winning and I can see why this is the top contender for “best musical” at this year's Tony Awards. It faces arguably the most serious topics in comparison to the other musicals nominated. It will be no surprise if it snags its fair share of Tony’s. In the end, I liked it. I would see it again. But I don’t know if it was my favorite show of the season.
Signing off.
-Jo 🌈
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