Pity the ushers at A Strange Loop, condemned to become one more layer of reality rubbing away against fiction in a show determined to make the distinction disappear. This extraordinary musical is about an usher, called Usher, who’s a fat, black, gay musical theatre writer writing a musical about a fat, black, gay musical theatre writer writing a musical about… well, as the show puts it: et cetera. Coincidentally, the show’s writer Michael R Jackson also fits the above descriptors.
More than a decade in the making, the show hit Broadway in 2022, and now Usher crosses the pond with a suitcase full of awards including a Tony for Best New Musical, and even the Pulitzer Prize. The pressure for Stephen Brackett’s production to land over here – especially when people like Billy Porter and Steven Spielberg have put money into it – is enormous, and yet the show is stuffed with jokes about American culture. Tyler Perry? Popeye’s chicken?
