How a small musical about a Black queer theater usher became the toast of Broadway
CNN
"A Strange Loop" has been nominated for 11 Tony Awards, including best musical. Director Stephen Brackett talks to CNN about the making of the musical that's become the most acclaimed show of the Broadway season.
"A Strange Loop" is a musical about a theater usher (named Usher) writing a musical about a theater usher, and it was conceived of and written by a former theater usher. Michael R. Jackson's script and score borrow and fictionalize moments from his own life to create a composite of our 20-something-year-old protagonist and the chorus of personified Thoughts who play his "daily self-loathing," his parents and, at one point, Harriet Tubman.
Though it leads the Tony Awards with 11 nominations, "A Strange Loop'' isn't an obvious smash: It's one of the few wholly original productions of the Broadway season -- there's no familiar intellectual property that easily draws in visiting audiences.
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