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A review by brianlarson
A Strange Loop by Michael R. Jackson
5.0
Broadway is not ready for this play. Will it ever be ready? Probably not. Between reading this script and accompanying it with the original cast recording, “A Strange Loop” is a bombastically brilliant play (within a play) within a play (within a play).
“A Strange Loop” is a “BIG, BLACK AND QUEER-ASS AMERICAN BROADWAY SHOW!” Jackson holds back no punches and dishes just desserts targeting theater critics who “deny implicit bias,” religious zealots pushing their brand of musk unto the masses, and “Sean Cody-adjacent spawns of satan.” There’s bountiful references to The Real Housewives, Designing Women, and, the mom-favorite, Tyler Perry.
Jackson describes a strange loop as “basically about how your sense of self is just a set of meaningless symbols in your brain pushing up or down through one level of abstraction to another but always winding up right back where they started.” Put another way, “It’s about a Black gay man writing a musical about a Black gay man who's writing a musical about a Black gay man who's writing a musical about a Black gay man, etc.”
The “Boundaries” number is the highlight of the play. It’s Jackson’s ode to his parents while also staking claim to his true identity as a gay Black man. Ultimately, the retrospective within a retrospective is Jackson’s wit-filled way of settling personal trauma. It’s a wholly original baptism into a new life.
Jackson’s wit takes sharp turns and ultimately forces viewers to reflect on themselves. “[As this] anti-Black world we live in gets so strung out on this color-blind "love is love" bullshit, forgetting that “love is love" will never be true until Black love matters and Black lust matters and Black queers can finally stop using white men to flatter or elevate their fucking class status and start buying into how sexy and liberating it could be to just be with each other.”
Get ready to be on loop
“A Strange Loop” is a “BIG, BLACK AND QUEER-ASS AMERICAN BROADWAY SHOW!” Jackson holds back no punches and dishes just desserts targeting theater critics who “deny implicit bias,” religious zealots pushing their brand of musk unto the masses, and “Sean Cody-adjacent spawns of satan.” There’s bountiful references to The Real Housewives, Designing Women, and, the mom-favorite, Tyler Perry.
Jackson describes a strange loop as “basically about how your sense of self is just a set of meaningless symbols in your brain pushing up or down through one level of abstraction to another but always winding up right back where they started.” Put another way, “It’s about a Black gay man writing a musical about a Black gay man who's writing a musical about a Black gay man who's writing a musical about a Black gay man, etc.”
The “Boundaries” number is the highlight of the play. It’s Jackson’s ode to his parents while also staking claim to his true identity as a gay Black man. Ultimately, the retrospective within a retrospective is Jackson’s wit-filled way of settling personal trauma. It’s a wholly original baptism into a new life.
Jackson’s wit takes sharp turns and ultimately forces viewers to reflect on themselves. “[As this] anti-Black world we live in gets so strung out on this color-blind "love is love" bullshit, forgetting that “love is love" will never be true until Black love matters and Black lust matters and Black queers can finally stop using white men to flatter or elevate their fucking class status and start buying into how sexy and liberating it could be to just be with each other.”
Get ready to be on loop