Having co-produced A Strange Loop on Broadway, some of the most influential names in entertainment – Alan Cumming, Ilana Glazer, Jennifer Hudson, Mindy Kaling and Billy Porter – will reunite to produce the smash-hit musical in London when it opens at the Barbican Theatre for a one-time-only 12 week limited season from 17 June.
The five high profile artists were co-producers of the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning musical sensation which took New York by storm in 2022/23. Now, they are coming together again to create a truly unforgettable experience for London audiences this summer.
Theatre, television and film actor Alan Cumming said: “I saw A Strange Loop off Broadway and was blown away by its brilliance and innovation. In 2021, I was a named producer and I was honoured to be part of this big, Black, queer-ass, musical. A Strange Loop is a ground-breaking and necessary work of art that challenges and transforms the traditional Broadway musical form, and I am delighted to bring its powerful and important message to even more audiences in London.”
Comedian, director, writer and actress Ilana Glazer said: “I am thrilled to be producing A Strange Loop in London, a musical that celebrates the beauty and complexity of being human, regardless of our differences. It’s stunning. So honest, real and true.”
Actor and singer-songwriter Jennifer Hudson, who joined an illustrious group of just 18 artists to achieve EGOT status (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Award wins) following A Strange Loop’s 2022 Tony Award win, said: “A Strange Loop is a masterpiece that deserves to be experienced by audiences everywhere. Michael R Jackson’s talent and dedication to his craft is truly inspiring, and I am honored to be a part of bringing this story to London”
Mindy Kaling, Emmy-nominated writer, producer, actor, and New York Times bestselling author said: “As a long-time fan of the show, I can confidently say that it is one of the most joyful funny, and relatable musicals I have ever seen. It is a breakthrough masterpiece that will leave you both laughing and crying. It’s an audacious, hilarious, profoundly moving, and wholly original approach to storytelling and I am honoured to be a part of bringing this transformative musical to even more audiences and can’t wait for everyone to experience it.”
Actor, singer, writer and director Billy Porter, the first gay Black man to win an Emmy Award, added: “To sit up there and see my life onstage, when everybody said that my story wasn’t valid – to see it so brave, so bold, so truthful, so complicated, so honest, and so unapologetic, was one of the most wonderful nights for me in the theatre. I am so happy to continue my association with this wonderful musical in London.”
Barbara Whitman, who originally brought these creative powerhouses together on Broadway said: “I am thrilled these incredibly talented and passionate individuals are coming together once again to bring A Strange Loop to London. Their continued commitment to the show is a testament to its enduring power and relevance. I am deeply honoured to have collaborated with such an extraordinary group of co-producers, and I have no doubt that their support will help make this London production an unforgettable success.”
Nominated for 11 Tony Awards and winner of every Best Musical award in New York, Michael R. Jackson’s critically acclaimed Pulitzer Prize-winning, blisteringly funny masterwork exposes the heart and soul of Usher – a young, gay, Black writer who hates his day job, so writes a musical about a young, gay, Black writer who’s writing a musical about a young, gay, Black writer…a strange loop. Usher grapples with desires, identity and instincts he both loves and loathes, all brought to life on stage by a hilarious, straight-talking ensemble.
A Strange Loop is only the 10th musical to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama with the previous winner being Hamilton, with the committee citing the show as a “metafictional musical that tracks the creative process of an artist transforming issues of identity, race, and sexuality that once pushed him to the margins of the cultural mainstream into a meditation on universal human fears and insecurities”.
