No longer booking
  • Venue Barbican Theatre, London
  • Performance dates Booking to 9 September 2023
  • Running time 1 hour 40 minutes (no interval)
  • Age guidelines Recommended for ages 16+. Explicit language, simulated sexual content

★★★★★ “Extraordinary” – Evening Standard

A Strange Loop, Michael R Jackson’s Pulitzer Prize for Drama winning musical receives its London premiere this summer, directed by Stephen Bracket (Be More Chill). Nominated for 11 Tony Awards this hit musical won Best Musical and Best Book for Michael R Jackson. Tickets for A Strange Loop at the Barbican Theatre on sale now.

Set to a bouncy Broadway beat with vibrant songs and cutting lyrics, this razor-sharp musical ‘would have your grandparents leaving the theatre humming. That’s if they hadn’t walked out before’ (New York Times ). It’s a timely, quirky, comically entertaining metafictional piece about identity, race and sexuality.

The show stars Kyle Birch (The Color Purple) as Usher.

A Strange Loop is now playing a strictly limited 12-week season at the Barbican until 9 September 2023.

It’s just your atypical musical about an overweight, black gay writer called Usher, working a day job he hates while writing his original musical!

This is a blistering, momentous new show that follows a young artist at war with a host of demons — not least of which, the punishing thoughts in his own head — in an attempt to capture and understand his own strange loop.

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Performance Information

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Stars and Creatives

Kyle Ramar Freeman
Kyle Ramar Freeman

Who is in the cast of A Strange Loop?

Kyle Birch (The Color Purple, Once on This Island) is Usher, and the 6 thoughts are: Sharlene Hector (Basement Jaxx), Danny Bailey (Jesus Christ Superstar, Girl From the North Country), Eddie Elliott (Blues for an Alabama Sky, The Lion King), Tendai Humphrey Sitima (The Play That Goes Wrong), Yeukayi Ushe (The Lion King) and Nathan Armarkwei-Laryea (Spring Awakening).

Christopher Michael Richardson is the understudy for Usher, playing matinee performances.

Who are the creative team of A Strange Loop?

Book, music and lyrics by Michael R Jackson, and directed by Stephen Bracket

Choreography by Raja Feather Kelly, set designs by Arnulfo Maldonado, lighting by Jen Schriever, sound by Drew Levy, costumes by Jen Schriever and music supervision by Rona Siddiqui.

Important Notes

Access performances:
Touch Tours: Tuesday 4 July: 6:30pm – 7pm, Thursday 3 August: 1pm – 1.30pm.
Audio Described: Tue 4 July 8pm, Thu 3 August at 2.30pm
BSL Signed performances: Tue 11 July 8pm, Thu 17 August at 2.30pm
Captioned performances: Saturday 22 July 2.30pm, Wed 9 August at 8pm

Venue Information

Barbican Theatre , Silk Street, London, EC2Y 8DS

Nearest Tube or Train: Barbican (Metropolitan, Circle, Hammersmith & City)

Nearest Buses: (Beech Street) 76, 153; (City Road) 21, 43, 141, 205, 214, 271

Directions

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Critics' reviews of A Strange Loop

★★★★★ "This extraordinary musical" - The Evening Standard (London)

★★★★★ "Don’t miss it" - i News (London)

★★★★ "A Strange Loop is a dazzlingly clever multi-layered musical" - The Financial Times (London)

★★★★ "‘Magnificent" - The Guardian (London)

★★★★ "Michael R Jackson’s leftfield meta-musical is dazzlingly other" - TimeOut (London)

“A dazzling ride. No measure of praise could be too much” - New York Times (Broadway)

Also see: A Strange Loop Reviews Round-up

Frequently Asked Questions

A Strange Loop is playing at the Barbican Theatre in London
The running time of A Strange Loop is 1 hour 40 minutes (no interval)
The age recommendations for A Strange Loop are: Recommended for ages 16+. Explicit language, simulated sexual content
Yes, A Strange Loop has matinee performances on the following days: Thursday, Saturday
No, sorry, A Strange Loop has now completed its run and is no longer on sale.

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