About the work
A Strange Loop is a musical with music, lyrics, and book by Michael R. Jackson, premiered Off-Broadway in 2019 and on Broadway in 2022. The strongly autobiographical work won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2020 and the Tony Award for Best Musical in 2022.
Plot
Usher, a young Black, gay writer, works as an usher at The Lion King while trying to write a musical about a young Black, gay writer writing a musical—a "strange loop." Accompanied by six personified "Thoughts" who embody his self-doubts, fears, and inner voices, Usher wrestles with questions of identity, body image, familial and religious expectation, and the pressure to be representative. The work is an unflinching, comic, and painful self-exploration.
Cultural significance
A Strange Loop is regarded as a groundbreaking work in the depiction of Black queer identity on Broadway and one of the most formally daring musicals of its time. The rare double honour of the Pulitzer Prize and the Tony Award recognised its artistic originality and thematic radicalism. The work expanded the boundaries of what a musical can tell and gave a powerful voice to a hitherto barely represented experience.