By Donna Herman
What is it like to be “a young overweight-to-obese homosexual and/or gay and/or queer, cisgender male, able-bodied university-and-graduate-school educated, musical theater writing, Disney Ushering, broke-ass middle-class far left-leaning black-identified and classified American descendant of slaves full of self-conscious femme energy and who thinks he’s probably a vers bottom but not totally certain of that obsessing over the latest draft of his self-referential musical A Strange Loop! And surrounded by his extremely obnoxious Thoughts?” Well, you’ll have to get yourself to Playwrights Horizons to see the world premiere of Michael R. Jackson’s brave new musical A Strange Loop in order to find out. Read my full review here.
A Strange Loop Book, Music & Lyrics by Michael R. Jackson; Directed by Stephen Brackett; Choreographed by Raja Feather Kelly
WITH: Larry Owens (Usher); L Morgan Lee (Thought 1); James Jackson, Jr. (Thought 2); John-Michael Lyles (Thought 3); John-Andrew Morrison (Thought 4); Jason Veasey (Thought 5); Antwayn Hopper (Thought 6).
MUSIC: Rona Siddiqui (Conductor/Keyboard 1); Elena Bonomo (Drums/Percussion); Ian Jesse (Bass); Beth Callen (Guitar/Keyboard 2); Chris Reza (Reeds). Music Preparation and Original Piano Arrangements by Adam Wiggins.
Scenic Design by Arnulfo Maldonado; Costume Design by Montana Levi Blanco; Lighting Design by Jen Schriever; Sound Design by Alex Hawthorn; Hair and Wig Design by Cookie Jordan; Orchestrations by Charlie Rosen; Musical Direction by Rona Siddiqui; Vocal Arrangements by Michael R. Jackson; Music Coordinator, Tomoko Akaboshi; Production Stage Manager, Erin Gioia Albrecht; Press Representative, Blake Zidell & Associates; Casting by Alaine Alldaffer, CSA. Presented by Playwrights Horizons in association with Page 73 Productions. Performances through July 7th at Playwrights Horizons, 416 West 42nd Street. For tickets visit www.ticketcentral.com or call 212-279-4200.
