A Strange Loop is making its way to London’s Barbican Theatre (from 17 June) for a limited 12-week season and it’s bringing some serious star power with it! Household names such as Alan Cumming, Ilana Glazer, Jennifer Hudson, Mindy Kaling and Billy Porter are joining forces once again to co-produce the smash-hit musical that took New York by storm in 2022/23 – and went on to win both the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award.
Michael R. Jackson‘s Pulitzer Prize-winning musical, A Strange Loop, has received 11 Tony Award nominations and won every Best Musical award in New York. The show follows Usher, a young, Black, gay writer who despises his day job and decides to create a musical about a young, gay, Black writer who is also composing a musical about a young, gay, Black writer. Through this meta-narrative, Usher grapples with his conflicting desires, identity and instincts, which are humorously portrayed by a candid ensemble cast.
Theatre, television and film actor Alan Cumming feels “honoured to be part of this big, Black, queer-ass, musical.” Comedian, director, writer and actress Ilana Glazer is “thrilled to be producing A Strange Loop in London, a musical that celebrates the beauty and complexity of being human.”
Legendary actor and singer-songwriter Jennifer Hudson calls A Strange Loop “a masterpiece that deserves to be experienced by audiences everywhere.” while Mindy Kaling, Emmy-nominated writer, producer, actor, and New York Times bestselling author calls it “a breakthrough masterpiece that will leave you both laughing and crying.”
Actor, singer, writer and director Billy Porter, the first gay Black man to win an Emmy Award, adds: “To sit up there and see my life onstage when everybody said that my story wasn’t valid – to see it so brave, so bold, so truthful, so complicated, so honest, and so unapologetic, was one of the most wonderful nights for me in the theatre.”
Meanwhile, Barbara Whitman, who originally brought these creative powerhouses together on Broadway said: “I am thrilled these incredibly talented and passionate individuals are coming together once again to bring A Strange Loop to London.”
A Strange Loop has achieved an esteemed honour as only the 10th musical to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, following in the footsteps of the ground-breaking Hamilton. This metafictional musical that follows the creative journey of an artist as he grapples with issues of identity, race, and sexuality brings important issues to the forefront, creating a unique and entertaining masterpiece that is truly one-of-a-kind.
By Kevin Thomas