Michael R. Jackson's A Strange Loop, which begins its Broadway run April 12 at the Lyceum Theatre, has revealed some heavy-hitter names above the title, with RuPaul Charles, Don Cheadle, Jennifer Hudson, Mindy Kaling, Billy Porter, Ilana Glazer, Alan Cumming, Zach Stafford, Cody Renard Richard, Benj Pasek, and Justin Paul among the work's co-producers.
They join a team led by Barbara Whitman that also includes Page 73 Productions; Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company; Playwrights Horizons; Hunter Arnold; Marcia Goldberg; Alex Levy & James Achilles; Osh Ashruf; A Choir Full Productions; Bridgid Coulter Cheadle; Paul Oakley Stovall; Jimmy Wilson; Annapurna Theatre; Robyn Coles; Creative Partners Productions; Kayla Greenspan, Grove Entertainment; Robyn Gottesdiener; Kuhn, Lewis & Scott; Frank Marshall; Maximum Effort Productions Inc.; Joey Monda; Richard Mumby; Marc Platt & Debra Martin Chase; Phenomenal Media & Meena Harris; Laurie Tisch; Yonge Street Theatricals; Dodge Hall Productions/JJ Malley; John Gore Organization; James L. Nederlander; and The Shubert Organization.
The Pulitzer-winning musical had its world premiere Off-Broadway in 2019 at Playwrights Horizons, and played a pre-Broadway run last year at Washington, D.C.'s Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company. The Broadway run will officially open April 26.
Newcomer Jaquel Spivey leads the cast as Usher, a young, Black, gay theatre writer grappling with his toxic inner thoughts while trying to write a musical about a young, Black, gay theatre writer grappling with his toxic inner thought while trying to write a musical about... and on and on.
Spivey is joined by Antwayn Hopper, James Jackson, Jr., L Morgan Lee, John-Michael Lyles, John-Andrew Morrison, and Jason Veasey, all reprising their performances from the Off-Broadway production.
Stephen Brackett (Be More Chill) directs the production, with choreography by Raja Feather Kelly (Suffs), scenic design by Arnulfo Maldonado, costumes by Montana Levi Blanco, lighting design by Jen Schreiver, sound design by Drew Levy, hair, wig, and makeup design by Cookie Jordan, music supervision by Rona Siddiqui, orchestrations by Charlie Rosen, vocal arrangements by Jackson, and casting by The Telsey Office's Destiny Lilly. Tomoko Akaboshi is music coordinator, and Chelsea Pace is intimacy director.
Check out photos from the musical's D.C. run:
