NO CATHARSIS, NO COMPROMISE

A fearless musical
refuses easy answers

A Strange Loop

Could we compel Raven Theatre to mount at least one unconventional musical every season? After the smashing success of their production of Dave Malloy’s Octet—their first-ever musical—earlier this year, Raven have teamed up with About Face Theatre to mount the Chicago premiere of another offbeat musical, the Pulitzer- and Tony-winning A Strange Loop, a solipsistic chamber piece with book, music, and lyrics by Michael R. Jackson.

Eddie Weaver

Directed by Mikael Burke, A Strange Loop opens with Usher (Eddie Weaver) in front of the marquee entrance to a Broadway theatre. During the day, Usher works as an… erm, usher at the Minskoff Theatre, home to Disney’s The Lion King, an occupation that is likely to leave one with Hakuna Matata-scored night terrors. But what Usher really wants to do is write a musical. Not just any musical, but one that explores what it’s like to be a young, overweight, overeducated, underemployed, gay black man in New York City; one whose religious parents disapprove of his sexuality when they aren’t demanding that he write them a Gospel Play or emulate the oeuvre of Tyler Perry, a man Usher loathes. The musical Usher is working on is called A Strange Loop. And he’s stuck. The voices in his head—each embodied by a fine actor, both in expression and voice—are not helping. What is an aspiring composer/lyricist/writer to do?

Eddie Weaver and Mattheus Barbee

So, Michael R. Jackson, a young, overweight, overeducated, (once) underemployed, gay black man in New York City, has written a musical called A Strange Loop, which is about a young, overweight, overeducated, (once) underemployed, gay black man in New York City, who is writing a musical called A Strange Loop, which is about a young, overweight, overeducated, underemployed, gay black man in New York City trying to write a musical called A Strange Loop.

Got that? Good.

John-Payne, Michael Turrentine, Eddie Weaver, Mattheus Barbee, and Christopher Wayland

Much has been made of the musical’s meta structure, an attribute of this excellent show that is frankly the least interesting thing about it, even if it is one hell of a hook. What’s really remarkable about the show is its unflinching honesty and unwillingness to back down, even at the risk of alienating its audience. As Usher muddles through one existential crisis after another, his thoughts take the form of his parents, his patrons, historical black figures, agents, and, in one deeply unsettling and powerful scene, an anonymous sexual partner met through a hookup app.

A Strange Loop

Much like the narrative, such as it is, Raven’s production of A Strange Loop is unconventional at every turn. Sydney Lynne’s set, deceptively simple at first, reveals elegant layers of design as the show progresses. The sound design by Hannah Kwak is excellent, never overwhelming the performers and letting the clever lyrics with their delightfully surprising rhymes come through. It perfectly complements the live band led by music director Kyu Park (who also handles keyboard duties). Breon Arzell’s precise choreography manages to fit seven performers on the tiny Raven stage without ever seeming cluttered or chaotic. The supporting ensemble is terrific and in superb voice throughout.

Eddie Weaver

As good as everyone else is, the linchpins of A Strange Loop are ringmaster Mikael Burke and his star Eddie Weaver. This is the third Burke-directed play that I’ve watched, and what astounds me isn’t just that they’ve all been wonderful, but that they’re so radically different from each other in tone and genre. Whether it’s a Southern Gothic, a children’s play about a restless rabbit, or, now, an arty musical about gay minority self-actualization, Burke never seems to be at odds with the sensibility of his material. His direction is unobtrusive and intelligent, and he brings out the best in his actors. Eddie Weaver as Usher is simply magnificent, giving a complex, vanity-free performance that resists easy categorization. That’s not even taking into account the extraordinary difficulty of the part, which requires him to be in full voice for almost the entire running time of the play.

Michael Turrentine

All the elements in A Strange Loop work: the songs are catchy; the lyrics are witty, erudite, and frequently gaspingly funny; the book is sharp; and the ensemble is flawless. More than anything else, what impressed me about the show was its willingness to push itself and its audience into darker, uncharted territory. There are scenes the likes of which I have never encountered in a mainstream musical. Moments that catch in your throat. A good chunk of the last third of the musical is an exercise in extended discomfort, with the audience shifting around in their seats, their nervous chuckles trailing off into stone-cold silence. The show refuses to let us off the hook, willfully denying Usher—and by extension, the audience—catharsis. The conclusion to its 11 o’clock number, “AIDS Is God’s Punishment,” is so cruel it provoked gasps of disbelief from the seats around me. And yet, the show somehow manages to end on a note of grace and uplift. That may be its most miraculous achievement of all.

Eddie Weaver

“All he wants is to subvert expectations, black and white.” That line pops up in the opening number, sung with a wink and an eyeroll from the chorus. When the lights came up at the end, the line in my head was, “Boy, did he ever.”

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

photos by Joe Mazza

A Strange Loop
Raven Theatre and About Face Theatre
Johnson Stage at Raven Theatre, 6157 N. Clark St. in Chicago
Wed.–Sat. at 7:30; Sun. at 3
ends on November 22, 2026
for tickets ($20–$45), call 773.338.2177 or visit Raven Theatre

for more shows, visit Theatre in Chicago

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦