"Though it's too soon to say how Sunday's Tony Awards will impact box office for the night's winners and losers, figures for the week leading up to the ceremony show big gains for the multi-nominated (and eventual Best Musical winner) A Strange Loop. The Michael R. Jackson musical filled 98% of its available seats during the week ending June 12, a large gain over the previous week's 89%."
It is the report of Deadline on June 14, 2022, about the Broadway box office when A strange loop was on the stage, proving the success of the production in attracting audiences. It is essential because it proves that the production has not been a kind of musical created only for entertainment; it is a unique musical in which most exclusive categorizing such as race, gender, and body shape has perfectly depicted and criticized.
The main character is a fat black queer body who works as a Broadway usher of "Lion King". Usher is writing a musical about a black queer man writing a musical. Other characters depicted the usher's thoughts. They are like chorus in Greek classics. Most of the questions we need to know about the play, such as the purpose of the play and the reason of the title, are directly answered in the play in the dialogues between usher and his thoughts
THOUGHT 5: So A Strange Loop. What's the significance of the title?
USHER: Well, don't fall asleep but it's a cognitive-science term that was coined by this guy named Douglas Hofstadter. And it's basically about how your sense of self is just a set of meaningless symbols in your brain pushing up or down through one level of abstraction to another but always winding up right back where they started. It's the idea that your ability to conceive of yourself as an "I" is kind of an illusion. But the fact that you can recognize the illusion kind of proves that it exists. I don't totally get it. But it's also the name of this Liz Phair song I really love. Originally, I was gonna use a bunch of her songs in the show, but then she wouldn't give me permission. Her spirit lives on in the piece in other ways though. (p: 68)
In another part of the play, usher admits that by writing the play, he wants to show what it is like to live up here and travel the world in a fat black queer body.
The concept and plot of the play encouraged me to research about the author, Michael R. Jackson. He is an American playwright, composer, and lyricist, who won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the 2022 Tony Award for Best Musical for A Strange Loop. He was born in 1981 and is originally from Detroit, Michigan. He is a black queer man, so we, as audiences, know we has experienced most of moments of the ply, so we face an authentic play.
To answer the question of why this play, based on what is said before, A strange Loop is a play in which the dynamic concept of race and intersectionality is perfectly and directly demonstrated. Moreover, as we read last week in the chapter "Mixing It Up: Enacting Whiteness in the Comedic World of Dave Chappelle" by Faedra Chatard Carpenter, artistic critique need not be melancholy in order to be powerfully relayed. Rather, Satire and comedy are equally effective (and sometimes even more so) in the task of documenting, as well as penetrating and transforming our psyches (p: 162). Therefore, using humor this play did a great job in depicting intersectionality and critiquing inequality created by unfair categorizing concepts.
To answer the question of why now? why here? I researched the Kansas history of racist violence. David Condos, in his article: "Kansas' history of racist violence often proves too heavy for words" points out the legacy of the 'Sundown Town' as the root of the lack of diversity in the state. He explains that: In the decades following the Civil War, hundreds of towns across the Midwest – including Hays – used violence and threats to prevent Black Americans from settling or visiting. They became known as sundown towns because it was dangerous for African Americans to be seen there after dark. Condos reviews the history of racism in Kansas and traces roots of racial violence. Moreover, during my residency, I have heard a lot about racist violence in other state's towns; for example, in 2017, A white man shot two Indian men, whom he had allegedly mistaken for Iranians, at a restaurant in Olathe, Kansas. He reportedly yelled, "get out of my country" and "terrorist" before firing.
George Tiller is another case. He was a physician from Wichita, Kansas, nationally known for being one of the few doctors in the United States to perform late terminations of pregnancy (also known as "late-term abortions"). He was murdered by Scott Roeder, an anti-abortion extremist, during a Sunday morning service at his church in 2009.
Although voting for remaining legal abortion proves a significant change in the state, the large number of racial and gender violence cases in Kansas State is not deniable. It calls us to draw society's attention to the dynamic concept of race and performative aspects of gender. It calls us to provoke our audience's minds to think about these concepts, and what can be better than a musical containing humor that can penetrate and transform their psyches?
Here is pechakuch file for presentation:
Sources:
Carpenter, Faedra Chatard. Coloring Whiteness: Acts of Critique in Black Performance. University of Michigan Press, 2014. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.5262413. Accessed 5 Oct. 2022.
https://deadline.com/2022/06/broadway-box-office-strange-loop-plaza-suite-music-man-1235045170/ Access 10/12/2022
David Condos https://klcjournal.com/kansas-racist-violence-history/ Access 10/12/2022
Marzi I really love how the pictures in your Pecha Kucha tell the story and walk through the play as if you were watching it in person. I had not seen a lot of these photos so that was fun to watch. I also appreciated how you used your purpose as to stop hate, I took a similar stand and agree that hate and judgment need to stop. Great job.
Marzi, I thought it was important that you mentioned the history of Kansas and how this state has had a rocky relationship with POC and general racial equality. I also liked how you connected last week's readings to this show. I think it is important to remember that a more emotionally intense show like this one can be just as impactful as a comedic performance.
Nice start on talking about the musical success and providing a summary with some dialogue to explain the title of the play. Yes, the humor of the musical is well played and opportunistic with still providing leaving critical thoughts. Also, great way to provide Kansas historical racial violence and providing real life examples and how important it is to talk about the themes and to play. Nice presentation and great job, Marzi!