“A Strange Loop”Essential, Fearless Night of Musical Theatre

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“A Strange Loop” an Essential, Fearless Night of Musical Theater” at Raven Theatre thru Nov 22nd - Review By: Paul Lisnek

****/4

“A Strange Loop” is an Essential, Fearless Night of Musical Theater”

A Strange Loop is bold, blunt and brilliant! Raven Theatre and About Face Theatre’s Chicago premiere of Michael R. Jackson’s A Strange Loop is an often hilarious, and always deeply human production—one that is arguably among the most important American musicals of the past decade. Directed to perfection and with fearlessness by Mikael Burke, it is verbally rough, quite explicit, and more often than not, deliberately uncomfortable, but essential.

The story follows Usher, a self-described Black, queer, fat musical-theater writer who works as an usher at The Lion King while simultaneously trying to write a “big, Black and queer-ass American Broadway show” about—fittingly—himself. The Pulitzer committee described the work as a metafictional musical about an artist transforming identity, race, and sexuality into a meditation on universal fear and insecurity. And that is what makes this production profound.

At the center and heart of the story is Eddie Weaver’s remarkable portrayal as Usher, a performance exhibiting vulnerability, stamina, and consistent vocal power. Weaver is onstage for nearly the entire 100-minute piece, driven by Usher’s mindset filled with self-doubt, desire, rage, shame, wit, and anger all of which propel him from scene to scene as we watch, witness and feel his struggle. 

Weaver’s Usher is at one moment, sweet and wounded and at other times, is an in-your-face confrontation. Each transition feels real, not performed. He makes us come to understand why Usher continuously wrestles with the same painful thoughts—pain he cannot find a way to set free.

Usher’s “Thoughts” are played by a sharp dynamic ensemble of six, who surround him like an often intrusive Greek chorus; they show us his and others’ internalized racism, homophobia, fatphobia, family judgment, and even self-sabotage. This mix creates the impact of a live, singing pressure cooker.

Jackson’s choice of language is unnerving, uncomfortable and he knows it. But the rough racist, anti-gay language is not merely provocative for provocation’s sake. Rather, he uses explicit language (warning to sensitive audience goers) and sexual specificity, sometimes comedically as a means of stripping away respectable language allowing those who are marginalized to explain themselves. I watched audience reaction and what I noticed is that African Americans nodded to the racism they may have faced in their own lives, and members of the LGBTQ+ community understood the relentless pain of AIDS and homophobia. Candidly, audience members seemed to understand that there were different messages for different people, leaving all with the need to learn more and grow.

Candidly, A Strange Loop is not for every theatergoer. Its language and humor are often rough, and its portrayal of racism, homophobia, internalized shame will hit many hard who cannot see beyond the shock value of the writer’s choices. But clearly, queer and other disenfranchised people will recognize parts of themselves in Usher. The discomfort is not easily separated from its impact, and the challenge of the experience is worth the price of the ticket.

A Strange Loop matters to the history and future of musical theater. It won both the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the 2022 Tony Awards for Best Musical and Best Book of a Musical for a reason. And worth noting is that Jackson is the first Black writer to win the Pulitzer for a musical. True, awards alone do not explain its importance; rather, its importance is found in the musical’s focus on a Black queer artist’s life. 

It’s messy, funny, painful, sexual, ambitious, and oh yes, contradictory—worthy of a full-scale Broadway production to be sure, but also quite at home in the intimate space of the Raven Theatre. Raven’s small stage forces the audience to feel trapped inside Usher’s head right alongside him, and he breaks the fourth wall often to let us know we share the experience with him. 

A Strange Loop should be recognized in theater history as a major achievement; Raven and About Face have crafted a production worthy of its in-your-face challenge. This show entertains, hurts, and ultimately affirms. I cannot recommend this show more highly, at least for audiences who come ready to meet A Strange Loop on its own fearless terms. This is clearly the most fearless musical on a Chicago stage right now and probably for some time to come! Skip it at your own risk!

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A Strange Loop plays at the Raven Theatre (co-produced with About Face Theatre) located at 6157 N. Clark (with limited on site Free parking) thru November 22nd. Tickets can be purchased at: www.raventheatre.com