During my last stay in New York, I had the opportunity to attend a show of A Stange Loop, the show that won the 2022 Tony Award for Best Musical. Verdict?
A Stange Loop it’s a modern, even disruptive musical, far removed from the Broadway classics. The work tells us insights into the life of Usher, a young black, queer and overweight. Usher, who works as a reception agent for the musical The Lion King, uses his spare time to create a musical about a young black, homosexual and overweight, who writes a musical about a young, black, homosexual and overweight. Double mise en abyme, therefore.
Another peculiarity of the work is that it features only 7 actors: Usher and his six “inner voices”. We then witness the internal dialogues of Usher’s brain, which are interspersed with real-life scenes, where the actors who play the “inner voices” play other characters, such as Usher’s parents or his romantic encounters.
How Agency or others, A Stange Loop is a naturalized musical. Tackles contemporary social issues through various scenes. This is about fatphobia, homophobia, racism and prejudice within the LGBTQIA + community.
It’s all very contemporary, but like the movie Start, the show loses us between its different levels of narration. Are we seeing fragments of Usher’s life or the show he wants to write? Even within a scene, reality can collapse. For example the one in which Usher meets a man on the subway: after flirting with him, she realizes that this person is basically just an illusion produced by his brain. The show is full of creepy elements, such as our character’s parents who are named after Simba’s parents The Lion King or this viewer of the Leone Roi who asks Usher if the show will end soon … But which one? The Lion King or The strange cycle ?
In addition to this difficulty of narrative understanding, the “only on stage” side of the show put me off a bit. I didn’t laugh a lot nor was moved by the setbacks ofUsher. I don’t think it’s a problem of identification because the rest of the room, quite diverse, seemed receptive. I think the problem is cultural: I lacked many references and some of the social struggles evoked in the show are not the same as in France.
Finally, the poor quality of the sound system (surprising for a Broadway show) and the poor decor (despite a surprise in the last half hour) didn’t help me get into the show.
The score isn’t great. Three titles are worth listening to (and available on platforms): Intermission Song, Today and A Strange Loop.
We learned a few days ago that the show would drop the curtain next January, proving that it fails to convince a large audience.
