A Strange Loop to Make London Premiere This Summer at the Barbican

Michael R. Jackson’s Tony-winning musical A Strange Loop will open in London this summer at the Barbican Theatre. The run is scheduled for June 17-September 9.

The UK mounting will be of the Broadway production, with direction by Stephen Brackett, choreography by Raja Feather Kelly, music supervision by Rona Siddiqui, orchestrations by Charlie Rosen, scenic design by Arnulfo Maldonado, costume design by Montana Levi Blanco, lighting by Jen Schriever, and sound by Drew Levy. Casting is still to be announced.

With book, music, and lyrics by Jackson, A Strange Loop is the story of a Broadway usher (named Usher) who is writing a musical about a Broadway usher. It transforms the desires and insecurities of one man into one big Black and queer-ass American Broadway extravaganza.

The show made its world premiere at Playwrights Horizons in 2019, in a co-production with Page 73. It went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical, and the Best Musical prize from the New York Drama Critics’ Circle. It opened on Broadway April 26, 2022, and went on to win the Tony Award for Best Musical. Jackson also picked up the Tony for Best Book.

The London production is produced by Howard Panter for Trafalgar Theatre Productions, the National Theatre, Barbara Whitman, and Wessex Grove.