We’re celebrating Pride Month and the Tony Awards by revisiting my interview with playwright, composer, lyricist Michael R. Jackson. A Strange Loop, his play about a Black queer musical theater writer who is writing a play about a Black queer musical theater writer who is writing a play about a Black queer theater writer…, has wowed audiences and critics. Capturing some of 2020’s most prestigious awards, including the Lambda Literary Award for Drama and the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award, A Strange Loop became the first musical to win the Pulitzer Prize for drama without a Broadway run, and Michael R. Jackson is the first Black artist to win a Pulitzer for a musical. (The NEA funded the world premiere of A Strange Loop, which was produced by Playwrights Horizons in 2019.) The show emerged from the pandemic with a production in Washington DC at the Woolly Mammoth Theater in December 2021 which then transferred to Broadway– opening in April 2022. Along with glowing reviews and cheering audiences, the play has also received 11 Tony Award nominations and won for Best Musical while Michael received the Tony for Best Book of a Musical. A Strange Loop is bawdy, joyous, disturbing, funny, and heartbreaking. The songs are often bouncy tunes that stay in your head while the lyrics can tear at your heart. In this podcast, Jackson talks about the years spent creating A Strange Loop, sharing that because he never thought the play would ever be produced, he just wrote what he wanted. He also discusses the possibilities that theater offers, his determination “to make works that are as challenging as they are entertaining,” and the importance of soap operas in his early career. It was a pleasure to revisit this podcast, listen to Michael, and lose myself in the fabulous score. When you’re done with the podcast, check out this Tiny Desk concert with Jackson and the Broadway cast of A Strange Loop.
By Any Measure
No art unconsidered
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