Interview: Tony Nominee John-Andrew Morrison Discusses How A STRANGE LOOP is Changing People's Lives

John-Andrew Morrison has been on a journey with the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical A Strange Loop for over a decade, and was recently nominated for his performance for Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical.

Michael R. Jackson's A Strange Loop is currently nominated for 11 Tony Awards, and features Tony Award nominee Jaquel Spivey (Usher), Antwayn Hopper (Thought 6), Tony Award nominee L Morgan Lee (Thought 1), John-Michael Lyles (Thought 3), James Jackson, Jr. (Thought 2), Tony Award nominee John-Andrew Morrison (Thought 4), and Jason Veasey (Thought 5). A Strange Loop features set design by Arnulfo Maldonado, costumes by Montana Levi Blanco, lighting design by Jen Schriever, sound design by Drew Levy, casting by The Telsey Office/Destiny Lilly, with production stage manager Erin Gioia Albrecht.

Meet Usher: a Black, queer writer writing a musical about a Black, queer writer writing a musical about a Black, queer writer... Michael R. Jackson's Pulitzer Prize-winning, blisteringly funny masterwork exposes the heart and soul of a young artist grappling with desires, identity, and instincts he both loves and loathes. Hell-bent on breaking free of his own self-perception, Usher wrestles with the thoughts in his head, brought to life on stage by a hilarious, straight-shooting ensemble. Bold and heartfelt in its truth-telling, A Strange Loop is the big, Black, and queer-ass Great American Musical for all.

BroadwayWorld spoke with the Tony nominee about the evolution of A Strange Loop, how the show is affecting people's lives, how he hopes A Strange Loop is changing the idea of what a Broadway musical can be, and much more.

You recently received a Tony nomination for your performance in A Strange Loop. How does it feel to be nominated for this role and for this show?

It feels like birthday, Christmas, a Mercedes Benz, cool breeze and much better. That's the silly answer, but seriously, it feels like the greatest encouragement, and the greatest "atta boy," to be nominated for this role. I am making my Broadway debut in a show I've spent 14 years singing a song for. And that doesn't get lost on me that this song and Michael R. Jackson have been my life for quite a number of years, and I've gotten to be his collaborator. And the fact that I get to make my Broadway debut and now get a nomination from this song that he kept inviting me back to sing, over and over again, it feels like the greatest honor and such a treat. So I'm beyond thrilled.

You are the cast member of A Strange Loop who has been with the show the longest. What has it felt like for you to see this show evolve over time and be a part of that process?

You know, it's crazy! I think we had just finished a tech rehearsal, and I looked at Michael, and I was like, "Michael, do you see what you've made?" We spent so many years in these small rooms, behind music stands, singing this music and developing this thing, and it just thrilled me to no end that this piece that he started by himself so many years ago, now was like a little mini industry. There were so many people doing tech, and it was just going to expand, and expand. And so, it's thrilling that this little, black, queer, show that we started in these little studios, and we thought would never even get produced, the fact that it's getting produced on Broadway is just too thrilling.

How have you felt that your performance, and your relationship to the material, has evolved over that time?

One thing that I always knew, and I'm speaking specifically about 'Periodically', because this is the song that I've been singing before there even was a show called A Strange Loop, I was asked to sing this song when Michael was doing these cabarets around town. And so, before the concept of A Strange Loop as a musical came to be, I've been singing 'Periodically'. And one of the things that I always loved about this song was that the love of a mother was very much evident in this song. I mean, it's a screwed up love, it is a challenging love, but it is love. And so, the thing that I've always wanted to portray singing that song, is how much this mother loves her son.

My mom got to see the show in 2019 at Playwrights Horizons. And then of course, the pandemic happened, and very early into the shutdown my mom had a very massive stroke, and she lost her ability to speak, and she lost the use of the right side of her body, and I ended up going home to Jamaica to take care of her. And we were able to get her back to walking, but the thing that has not come back is her ability to speak. I used to have these long Friday afternoon calls with her, and on my birthday every year, at 5, 6 o'clock in the morning I would get these calls, and she would sing me Happy Birthday loud and wrong, and I miss that terribly.

So, now the evolution is I really do take my mom on stage with me. And there is an urgency that has come into the performance for me. Because what is clear is that nothing is guaranteed, health is not guaranteed, life is not guaranteed. And so, when the character is telling her son these things, there's more of an urgency, for me. "Change your life now because none of this is guaranteed." And I honor my mom, oddly, by singing that song. And there are some gestures and looks that are very specific to her, that no one in the audience would know, but I know. There are little shoutouts that I give to my mom every night when I perform it.

How does it feel to be a part of a show that is having such a huge impact? On people, on the industry...

I'm not going to speak too much to the industry, because I don't know what the industry is going to do with it yet. I don't know yet how it is actually changing the industry. But I do know that it is changing people's lives because I hear it directly from audience members. I've had these amazing interactions. There was a man with his mom and his grandma, and I took pictures with them. It was Mother's Day, and I was like, "Oh my god, you brought your mom and your grandma to see the show?" And the mom chimed in and was like, "Oh no, I brought them. I wanted to see the show." We took a picture, and he posted it, and he wrote the most beautiful thing, saying, "We just saw A Strange Loop, and my mom, my grandma and I had dinner, and we just had the most frank and honest conversation we've ever had in our entire lives." And that means the most to me.

There was a young person on a journey with their gender identity, and their father brought them to see the show, and we took pictures. And this man wrote the most beautiful thing, saying, "Thank you for letting my child be seen, and thank you for giving us an opportunity to have conversations and to understand each other in a way that has been very necessary."

My friend Jamie's very conservative, 80-year-old Republican mother wanted to come and see the show. She was like, "Well, John-Andrew is in the show, I want to come." And Jamie said, "Mom, I don't know if this show is for you." And she came and she was in the third row, I spotted her the minute I walked out on stage, I was like, "Okay, here we go!" She was sitting right in front of where the sex scene happens and I was like, "Well, okay, you're going to get an education." The show ended and a couple hours later I got a call from my friend Jamie in tears, just sobbing. And I was like, "Oh no, that didn't go well, I'm so sorry." And he was like, "No, no. My mom just started to ask me questions about, "Is this how black people feel?" and, "Is this really what gay people experience?" And they had the most frank conversation. And then about four days later, Jamie called me and said, "My mom can't stop talking about A Strange Loop, and she said it is her most favorite show, and she thinks it's the best show ever on Broadway." And I was like, "Okay, alright!" An 80-year-old conservative, Republican mom, A Strange Loop is her favorite show.

And then, there was a straight, cis, white couple I met outside, and they said to me that this was their third time seeing the show. And I was like, "This is your third time seeing the show?" And I think they lived in Connecticut, so they'd traveled to get there. They posted a picture with me, and tagged me, and I wrote to them, and I was like, "Can you tell me why you liked this show so much?" Because I was just so curious. And the cis, straight, white man wrote back and he was like, "I've delt with mental health issues and depression, and seeing a character called Daily Self Loathing gave me such a freedom, it made me realize that I could somehow separate my disease from my humanity, and it gave me such hope." And then he went on to say, "I've seen so many shows where I've been centered, and now seeing these black bodies on stage, it also gave me such hope. And it's also funny and devastating. But the thing that this show gives me more than anything is hope."

So, what does it mean to be doing a show that resonates with people? When you hear things like that, I've always thought, and I remember when we did the first cast album I was like, "This is going to save some queer kid's life." I just knew it in the pit of my bones. And to be able to be doing something that people can relate to, that they can find themselves in, that they can find hope, that they can find recognition in? That is the biggest honor. And on those days that I'm tired, or I'm like, "Oh my god, how am I going to do the second show?" I really do think about those people. I really do think there is someone in this audience who needs to see this show, or needs to see themselves in this show, or recognize themselves in this show somehow, and it's going to change something for them. It feels like an honor and a privilege to be doing this show, it's not just any old show. There is something special about this.

How do you hope that a show like A Strange Loop is changing the idea of what a Broadway musical can be?

I hope to see more of it. I feel like we've won in the fact that this show even made it to Broadway. It's in the Lyceum, which is the oldest, longest-running Broadway theater. And to have this very queer, very black, very big-bodied show with big-bodied people on a stage, and have that be centered, feels like such an absolute win.

What I hope is that it can continue to happen. I am wary to go, "Oh, it's going to change everything," because the show is a hit. And what I would love for the industry to do, is also allow for artists and theatremakers of color to also fail. And by that I mean, I see it happen so many times where white theatremakers have put something up that has flopped, floppity, flopped, flopped, and they get to fail upwards. They get to come back and have another show. And that's not the case with artists of color. There is not a long term investment to say, "Okay, we're going to take a chance on you, and if this fails, we'll give you another chance to try again." So, that I hope will happen in the industry. I think it's a different thing when black artists do something that hits or is successful. But the change, I think is, will you allow black artists, and artists of color, to also floppity, flop, flop, and come back and have another show?

Do you have anything else you'd like to share?

I want you all to come and see A Strange Loop on Broadway because it is the big, black, queer musical for everybody, and everybody is going to find themselves in this show. This show is profound, but more than that, it's a lot of fun. And the music is toe-tapping, and it's enjoyable, and you're really going to have a fantastic time, and you're going to be able to find yourself somehow in this show. So, I invite you to come, if you would like. And if you are challenged by it, I dare you to come and see the show.