14. “Inner White Girl”
A STRANGE LOOP (2022). By Michael R. Jackson (music, lyrics, and book)
Spring, 2022. You’re at A Strange Loop, a pre-pandemic critical smash that is finally opening on Broadway. A row of door frames lines the back of the stage while an actor in an usher costume stands center stage. “Usher” is, as it turns out, his name, and he is at intermission for The Lion King, but he wants to go home an work on his musical called A Strange Loop. (Author Michael R. Jackson worked as an usher for The Lion King, everything gets very meta very fast.) Usher is surrounded by intrusive Thoughts, which take the human form of a versatile ensemble of male/trans actors. Usher sings how he “wants to show what it’s like to love up her and travel the role in a fat, black, queer body,” while the thoughts echo back conventional and systemic reasons why that won’t be well received. He changes into a Bell Hooks t-shirt and leaves work to ponder his show/existence when he’s interrupted by a call from his mother who wants to spread gossip, ignore her son’s sexuality, and ask him (again) why he’s can’t write one of those gospel plays like Tyler Perry. In ”Inner White Girl,” Usher (with musical backup from his Thoughts) reflects on how his world’s expectations for him don’t match reality, and the less burdened life he wishes he could lead.
A Strange Loop is certainly more uncompromising in its positions, brutally honest in its self reflection, and explicit in sexual politics than any musical on Broadway. While we may need to let history play out to determine if that truly makes …Loop a Turning Point™, in many ways, the show is in conversation with our previous Turning Points™ (beyond literally taking place at one).
Like Little Johnny Jones, …Loop is the work of a single composter/lyricist/playwright. But while Cohan is always Broadway’s (and America’s) biggest cheerleader, Michael R. Jackson is much more critical about both.
“Inner White Girl” comes at a similar point in the show as “Old Man River” does in Show Boat, and both are one man’s aria about life as a black man in America. But “Inner White Girl” incorporates a century of additional history, philosophy, and discourse (and is actually written by a black American.)
Like Cabaret, …Loop uses musical conventions to hold a mirror up to society.
Like Hair and Rent, …Loop reflects the anger and resistance of a specific political moment.
…Loop was developed through many workshops and an off-Broadway outing, like A Chorus Line. It also is a product of the Musical Theater Graduate Writing Program at NYU, which created a new pathway for developing artists.
The most enduring part of its legacy might be its gaggle of celebrity-producers. Hollywood folks joining producing teams is not new, but with A Strange Loop, it felt like a bid of genuine support for the piece, as opposed to a sound investment. And when co-Producer Jennifer Hudson got to put the T on her EGOT when …Loop won Best Musical, you have to think a lot of people with big EGOs are started making calls to see what shows they could get in on.
Recommended Recording: ”Inner White Girl,” A Strange Loop (2022 Original Broadway Cast)
Jaquel Spivey was barely out of college when he was cast in a pre-Broadway (but post-Off Broadway) iteration of A Strange Loop at Wooly Mammoth in Washington D. C. Less than a year later, he opened on Broadway. His warmth and depth of humanity shines throughout the recording, but it’s positively radiant here, supported by the stellar ensemble and a killer vocal arrangement. NOTE: Some songs in A Strange Loop frankly discuss and depict Usher’s sex life, and they are more NSFW than I thought was possible for a Broadway musical. You can check out the lyrics beforehand if you want to know which tracks to skip (or what questions you’ll get) when the kids are in the car
Alternate Performances
To date, A Strange Loop has received 2 cast recordings.
2019 Off-Broadway Cast: The premier production at off-Broadway’s Playwrights Horizons earned A Strange Loop the Pulitzer Prize among many other commendations. Larry Owens played Usher and is featured on this cast recording. We’re lucky to have two top-notch cast recordings of this important piece, and comparing them is a lesson in the thousand tiny decisions1 it takes to turn a good musical into a great one.
Is it Covered by The Rat Pack, Audra McDonald, or Glee?
I’m imagining Sammy Davis Jr. doing a swinging version of “Inner White Girl” on a 1960s variety show…and I don’t hate it.
I’m imagining Audra McDonald signing “Inner White Girl”…and I don’t hate it.
I’m imagining Glee “Inner White Girl”…and I’m going to stop doing that.
In the Wings
A Strange Loop’s Tiny Desk Concert is very well done, and is a great introduction to the show. I also recommend this article charting A Strange Loop’s 20-year journey to Broadway.
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Hot diggity dog, we’ve made it to the end of our first playlist! Next week will be a bit of a “Scene Change”—I’ll have a short newsletter tying up some odds and ends, but mostly I just need a little space to get ready for Playlist II. If you are new, or just have fallen behind, this is your chance to catch up! (Also a great time to share with friends!) Here’s what the next few weeks will look like:
June 18: “Scene Change”
June 25: Playlist II Theme Announcement
July 2: Song No. 15 (I’m not going to restart the numbering with each playlist, because otherwise my math would be wrong and we’d end up with 99 or 101 Showtunes, which are not the urls I paid for.)
George C. Wolfe introduces this “thousand decisions” concept in the essential documentary ShowBusiness: The Road to Broadway (2005).
This song is amazing and the musical is brilliant.