Tag: A Strange Loop

A Spectacular & Spellbinding ‘A Strange Loop’ by SpeakEasy & Front Porch

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Kai Clifton (center) and cast of ‘A Strange Loop’ in Speakeasy/Front Porch production

SpeakEasy Stage Company & Front Porch Arts Collective present ‘A Strange Loop’. Book, Music and Lyrics by Michael R. Jackson. Directed by Maurice Emmanuel Parent. Music Direction by David Freeman Coleman. Choreographed by Taavon Gamble. Intimacy Direction by Greg Geffrard. Scenic Design by Jon Savage. Costume Design by Becca Jewett. Lighting Design by Brian J. Lilienthal. Sound Design by David Remedios. At the Wimberly Theater at the Calderwood Pavilion, 527 Tremont Street, through May 25th.

By Linda Chin

As if the powerfully personal storytelling and rapturous standing ovation weren’t emotionally overwhelming enough, being part of the moment when director Maurice Emmanuel Parent shared the news that a special guest was in the house – and A Strange Loop’s creator Michael R. Jackson strolled onstage – made my head spin. Watching the Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning playwright praise the production and being so genuinely gracious to the cast, creatives, co-producers, crew, everyone – including the opening night crowds who supported the show’s Boston premiere – gave me goosebumps.

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“Strange Loop” Dazzlingly Bucks and Challenges Norms

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Kai Clifton (center) and cast of ‘A Strange Loop’ in Speakeasy/Front Porch production

‘A Strange Loop’ — Book, Music and Lyrics by Michael R. Jackson. Directed by Maurice Emmanuel Parent. Music Direction by David Freeman Coleman. Choreographed by Taavon Gamble. Co-produced by SpeakEasy Stage and Front Porch Arts Collective at the Calderwood Pavilion, 527 Tremont Street, through May 25.

By Helen Ganley

Some days, escaping from your inner monologue feels impossible: apprehensions about upcoming appointments, embarrassment about a middle school memory, and tension about why a friend suddenly stopped speaking to you. Suddenly, it’s 3 AM, and you haven’t gotten a wink of sleep. The collaboration between Speakeasy Stage and Front Porch Arts Collective on A Strange Loop epitomizes this cognitive dissonance and the paths one must take to escape the labyrinths of one’s mind.

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The Wheels Go ‘Round and ‘Round and ‘Round in SpeakEasy Stage/Front Porch’s ‘A Strange Loop.’

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Kai Clifton (center) and the company of A STRANGE LOOP at Speakeasy Stage. From left: De’Lon Grant, Davron S. Monroe, Jonathan Melo, Aaron Michael Ray (background), Grant Evan, and Zion Middleton (kneeling). photos by Maggie Hall Photography.

‘A Strange Loop’ — Book, Music and Lyrics by Michael R. Jackson. Directed by Maurice Emmanuel Parent. Music Direction by David Freeman Coleman. Choreographed by Taavon Gamble. Co-produced by SpeakEasy Stage and Front Porch Arts Collective at the Calderwood Pavilion, 527 Tremont Street, through May 25.

By Shelley A. Sackett

Playwright Michael R. Jackson, a heavy-set Black queer man, has brought the concept of sharing to a new level in his Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning musical, “A Strange Loop.” The compulsively introspective show, which runs at 100 intermission-less minutes, spelunks into the deepest crevices of the anguished mind of its hero, Usher, a fat, Black, queer man writing a musical called “A Strange Loop” about a fat, Black queer man who’s writing a musical about a fat Black queer man.

Read more “The Wheels Go ‘Round and ‘Round and ‘Round in SpeakEasy Stage/Front Porch’s ‘A Strange Loop.’”