Last night Trevor Noah, comedian, author, and acclaimed host of The Daily Show hosted a “Black Theater Night” for the Tony-winning Best Musical A Strange Loop, complete with a hilarious and insightful cast talkback. The event was open to all theater lovers but offered a special invitation to Black theatergoers.
Playwright, Composer, and Lyricist Michael R. Jackson, creator of A Strange Loop; Choreographer Raja Feather Kelly and Musical Director Rona Siddiqui joined Noah and cast members James Jackson, Jr.; L Morgan Lee; John-Michael Lyles; John-Andrew Morrison; Jon-Michael Reese; Jaquel Spivey and Jason Veasey for the talkback.
“I’ve now been to A Strange Loop four times and it’s funny [but] every single time I come I feel like I’m focusing on something different, I’m learning something different and there’s a different part of the play that almost gets revealed to me,” said Noah, who called the show, “one of the most spoken about and one of the most lauded productions on Broadway.” The comic also congratulated the show on its recent Grammy Award nomination for Best Musical Theater Album.
Noah further said: “What I find interesting about it, in particular, is the first time you watch the play, for instance, you may think, depending on who you are, ‘Oh, this is a play about Black and white.’ The second time you watch it you may go, ‘Oh no. This is a play about religion and how it controls people’s lives and how it tells us how we should be or shouldn’t be.’ Then it becomes about acceptance. Each time it feels like there is a different layer. And really, the more I watch it, I realize it almost feels like a commentary on all these little prisons, all these structures, all these systems and I guess the most confining one being our minds.”
There are only seven more weeks to see the Pulitzer Prize-winning A Strange Loop, which will play its final Broadway performance on January 15. The show opened on April 26, to critical acclaim at the Lyceum Theatre (149 West 45th Street). The musical is directed by Tony Award nominee Stephen Brackett, choreographed by Kelly, and produced by Barbara Whitman, along with Page 73 Productions, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, and Playwrights Horizons.
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.
For more information on A Strange Loop visit https://strangeloopmusical.com
