‘A Strange Loop’ makes a remarkable Broadway debut
There is a cosmic deliciousness to the fact that “A Strange Loop” has landed on Broadway mere yards away from one of its juiciest targets.
In the new musical that opened Tuesday at the Lyceum Theatre, we meet the character Usher, an unhappy playwright slumming as an usher at “The Lion King,” which in real life is playing just across 7th Avenue at the Miskoff Theatre. If the wind was just right, Usher might be able to heave a rock and hit Rafiki.
Every once and a while — sadly, too few — we get something that pushes the musical theater form completely, taking an utterly unforgettable, idiosyncratic trip. Add Michael R. Jackson’s “A Strange Loop” to the list that includes “Fun Home” and “Angels in America,” both of which have echoes here. Like them, it is astonishing, challenging and awesome.
Jackson’s 2020 Pulitzer Prize drama
winner is a theater meta-journey — a tuneful show about a Black gay man writing a show about a Black gay man. That show is also called “A Strange Loop.”
Poor Usher is haunted by a Greek chorus of voices — his thoughts as well as homophobic family members — who pummel, undercut and berate him. “It’s Your Daily Self-Loathing!” one says. “I had some time to kill so I thought I’d drop in to remind you of just how truly worthless you are.”
Jaquel Spivey, in his Broadway debut, plays Usher with such hang-dog and sweet poignancy that it may take audience
members supreme self-restraint not to go up on stage and give him a hug. He’s battling a toxic stew of romantic rejection and artistic self-doubt, from shame for his secret love of white girl music to fears of being a race traitor.
Along for the ride are six sensational actors who play the chorus: Antwayn Hopper, L. Morgan Lee, John-Michael Lyles, James Jackson Jr., John-Andrew Morrison and Jason Veasey. Stephen Brackett’s direction is crisp and carefully varied over 100 minutes and terrific choreography by Raja Feather Kelly combines everything from twerking to gospel swaying.