But it’s also the name of this Liz Phair song that I really love.Īs Usher’s doubts and hopes and insights loop in on themselves – and all that looping really is a pleasure to behold – the musical presents a complex portrait of a singular creation (by a singular new theatrical voice) that resists every effort (including Usher’s own) to categorize.Īnd as amiable as both Usher and this musical are, they can both be ferocious and unsparing. Because how your ability to conceive of yourself as an “I” is just an illusion-cycle of meaningless symbols in your brain that move from one level of abstraction to another but always wind up right back where they started. And it’s basically about how your sense of self is a kind of paradox. Well, don’t fall asleep but it’s a cognitive science term that was coined by this guy named Douglas Hofstadter. If the show begins to lose a little steam – but just a little – towards the end, it’s only because Jackson has already made his points so clearly, pointedly and winningly.Īs for that title, Usher explains it early on: FranklinĪnd then there are his politically and religiously conservative Mom and Dad, forever yelling in his head about sin and hell and AIDS and beseeching him to write a nice gospel musical like Tyler Perry (or “Toxic Tyler Perry,” as Usher calls the mogul we’ll see more, much more, about Perry before Strange Loop calls it a day).įluidly directed by Stephen Brackett, with Raja Feather Kelly’s clever choreography punctuating Jackson’s delightfully brash score, A Strange Loop grabs hold of us the moment Usher concludes that funny introduction. One is the voice of Daily Self-Loathing, another the Supervisor of Sexual Ambivalence, an agent aptly named Fairweather, various hookup dates, and other internal monitors who tell him he’s not Black enough or gay enough or thin enough or has enough money. While Usher is, in a sense, the sole character of A Strange Loop (opening tonight at Broadway’s Lyceum Theatre), Spivey is not the only performer: He is surrounded by those “extremely obnoxious Thoughts” that swirl through his brain, never giving him a moment’s peace. 'My Neighbour Totoro': Britain’s Royal Shakespeare Company Joins Forces With Composer Joe Hisaishi To Create Family Stage Show Based On Hayao Miyazaki Film - But Don’t Call It A Musical!