Posted on Jun 11, 2022
How 'A Strange Loop' fits into Black theater legacies
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"When Code Switch has covered the theater industry, it's often to call out some of the uncomfortable racial dynamics in the room—whether that's the unease of watching Hamilton with a primarily white audience, controversies surrounding Asian representation in Miss Saigon, or the complexities of teaching The Merchant of Venice in schools. But we usually don't sing the praises of theater, or talk about how the artform can make us think about race in exciting and unique ways.
So allow me to mix things up a little when I say this: I absolutely adore A Strange Loop, a musical by Michael R. Jackson which opened on Broadway at the end of April. The show has already made a big splash, both inside the theater world and out. It broke ground as the first musical to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama before going to Broadway. And it's now up for 11 awards at the 75th annual Tony Awards this Sunday".
So allow me to mix things up a little when I say this: I absolutely adore A Strange Loop, a musical by Michael R. Jackson which opened on Broadway at the end of April. The show has already made a big splash, both inside the theater world and out. It broke ground as the first musical to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama before going to Broadway. And it's now up for 11 awards at the 75th annual Tony Awards this Sunday".
How 'A Strange Loop' fits into Black theater legacies
Posted from npr.org
Theater
New York City
Acting
Posted 2 y ago
Responses: 1
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."What does it mean for A Strange Loop to be on Broadway, and what new meanings arise from the show now that this is the case?
I was struck by a moment in the musical in which Usher says, "His Blackness doesn't look blue in any moonlight." For those who know, that is a reference to Tarell Alvin McCraney and Barry Jenkins's film Moonlight. I think what A Strange Loop is doing now that it's on Broadway is teaching us that there are other bodies and stories that encapsulate black queerness, whether that be in an American context, a dramatic context, a film context. As much as Tyler Perry is a more present figure in the play, Jackson also inserted Tarell Alvin McCraney. And that is also a critique.
I think about what was not in Moonlight. What kinds of bodies were not in that film? I think that is significant to acknowledge, that it's not just the pushback on Perry or an idea of homophobia within Black American communities. It's also a "Hey, what about me? Look over here to Black queer bodies that have not yet been a part of dominant narratives about Black queer life."
I watch a lot of popular culture that also involves black and queer bodies and trans bodies. I think that Michael R. Jackson, in this dramatic production, is speaking for a segment of the LGBTQ community that is not often the vantage point or the receiver of love or interest or curiosity. And so, I think there's a larger frame of reckoning that I think he's trying to shake up, and he has shaken up by the mere fact that this play has traveled so far."
..."What does it mean for A Strange Loop to be on Broadway, and what new meanings arise from the show now that this is the case?
I was struck by a moment in the musical in which Usher says, "His Blackness doesn't look blue in any moonlight." For those who know, that is a reference to Tarell Alvin McCraney and Barry Jenkins's film Moonlight. I think what A Strange Loop is doing now that it's on Broadway is teaching us that there are other bodies and stories that encapsulate black queerness, whether that be in an American context, a dramatic context, a film context. As much as Tyler Perry is a more present figure in the play, Jackson also inserted Tarell Alvin McCraney. And that is also a critique.
I think about what was not in Moonlight. What kinds of bodies were not in that film? I think that is significant to acknowledge, that it's not just the pushback on Perry or an idea of homophobia within Black American communities. It's also a "Hey, what about me? Look over here to Black queer bodies that have not yet been a part of dominant narratives about Black queer life."
I watch a lot of popular culture that also involves black and queer bodies and trans bodies. I think that Michael R. Jackson, in this dramatic production, is speaking for a segment of the LGBTQ community that is not often the vantage point or the receiver of love or interest or curiosity. And so, I think there's a larger frame of reckoning that I think he's trying to shake up, and he has shaken up by the mere fact that this play has traveled so far."
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