CD Review: A Strange Loop – Original Broadway Cast

A STRANGE LOOP – Original Broadway Cast (Ghostlight Records and Yellow Sound Label – download)

Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

What an absolute joy! No wonder A Strange Loop is nominated for 11 Tony Awards this year.

Meet Usher: A Black, queer writer writing a musical about a Black, queer writer writing a musical about a Black, queer writer…  Michael R. Jackson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning, blisteringly funny masterwork exposes the heart and soul of a young artist grappling with desires, identity, and instincts he both loves and loathes. Hell-bent on breaking free of his own self-perception, Usher wrestles with the thoughts in his head, brought to life on stage by a hilarious, straight-shooting ensemble. Bold and heartfelt in its truth-telling, A Strange Loop is the big, Black, and queer-ass Great American Musical for all.

Heading a virtuoso cast is Jaquel Spivey (Usher) with Antwayn Hopper (Thought 6), L Morgan Lee (Thought 1), John-Michael Lyles (Thought 3), James Jackson, Jr. (Thought 2), John-Andrew Morrison (Thought 4) and Jason Veasey (Thought 5).

The first track ‘Intermission’ introduces us to Usher, who is working front of house at a Disney musical. His ‘thoughts’ are bombarding him with the usual innocuous questions asked by the public combined with personal anguish about how he can possibly write that musical being black, gay and hardly a pin-up for Muscle Monthly. And so the show gets off to a flying start and hardly ever falters.

Jaquel Spivey shines throughout – no matter whether he is sharing what it is like to be in a job you absolutely hate while your creative juices should be flowing or rendering the all-too familiar fact that women and gay men are usually lumped together under the same umbrella – especially black gay men. Jackson’s writing is barbed and deliciously funny and, although at times some of the X-rated words might suddenly hit you, they do not come over as unnecessary. This works to make the usher (and his ‘thoughts’) sound like real people.

It’s not all laugh-out-loud though. There are very dark moments, such as Usher’s drunken father’s attitude towards homosexuality or his meeting up with an ‘Inwood Daddy’ that turns out to be dramatically tragic. Can Usher come to terms with himself and stop the self-loathing? Don’t expect clean answers at the end of the album as the title song ‘A Strange Loop’ sets forth just that – is a lesson learned worth learning?

Michael R. Jackson’s music and lyrics whisk us through this astounding theatrical experience and the 17 tracks just seem to be over with before they have begun. I mean that in a totally positive way. Nowhere do you wish it would just ‘move on’. It takes you on a roller coaster ride – funny yet heartbreaking at the same time. Fabulous!

Nick Wakeham