Regional NewsMichael R. Jackson's A Strange Loop Opens at Woolly Mammoth December 3Stephen Brackett again directs the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical.
By
Andrew Gans
December 03, 2021
James Jackson, Jr., L Morgan Lee, Antwayn Hopper, Jaquel Spivey, John-Andrew Morrison, and Jason Veasey in A Strange LoopTeresa Castracane
Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company's production of Michael R. Jackson's A Strange Loop officially opens December 3 following previews that began November 22.Originally scheduled to start in September 2020, the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical was postponed to summer 2021, and then the fall, due to the pandemic. It is scheduled to play the Washington, D.C., venue through January 2, 2022.
The current staging, produced in association with Playwrights Horizons (where the musical premiered) and Page 73, features original cast members Antwayn Hopper as Thought 6, L Morgan Lee as Thought 1, John-Michael Lyles as Thought 3, James Jackson, Jr. as Thought 2, John-Andrew Morrison as Thought 4, and Jason Veasey as Thought 5. Jaquel Spivey joins the cast as Usher, the part created Off-Broadway by Larry Owens. Christopher Michael Richardson also joins the cast as an understudy for the central role.
The musical, featuring a score and a book by Jackson, follows a young artist at war with a host of demons—not least of which are the punishing thoughts in his own head—in an attempt to capture and understand his own strange loop.
The Off-Broadway production was helmed by Stephen Brackett and featured choreography by Raja Feather Kelly and music direction by Rona Siddiqui. All three return to stage the D.C. production. The show also features set design by Arnulfo Maldonado, costumes by Montana Levi Blanco, lighting by Jennifer Schriever, sound design by Drew Levy, hair, wig, and makeup design by Cookie Jordan, and orchestrations by Charlie Rosen.
The creative team also includes copyist Adam Wiggins, assistant director Nemuna Ceesay, associate scenic designer Corey Umlauf, assistant music director Jacinth Greywoode, associate lighting designer Aaron Tacy, assistant sound designer Crescent Haynes, associate costume designer Azalea Fairley, associate choreographer Candace Taylor, associate hair, wig, and makeup designer Joya Giambrone, intimacy choreographer Chelsea Pace, associate orchestrator Bryan Carter, production manager Ross Leonard, music contractor Walter Bobby McCoy, production stage manager Erin Gioia Albrecht, assistant stage manager Victoria Whooper, and production assistants Narissa Agustin and Andie Burns..
A Strange Loop made its world premiere in 2019 at Playwrights Horizons and went on to win five Drama Desk Awards, two Lucille Lortel Awards, six Outer Critics Circle honors, two Obies, one Off-Broadway Alliance Award, and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical. Jackson was awarded the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
Surrounded by period-accurate, 19th-century holiday decorations lit via candlelight, the 70-minute production is based on Dickens' own script of the classic.
The play comes on the heels of a broader cultural conversation about Dahl's work and the prejudice that was embedded in many of his most beloved stories.
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