From the Winner's Circle: A STRANGE LOOP Producer Barbara Whitman and Michael R. Jackson Discuss The Road to Tony

A Strange Loop has won the 2022 Tony Award for Best Musical.

In their visit to the winner's room the show's lead producer Barbara Whitman and composer Michael R. Jackson discussed their road to Broadway and the night's biggest prize.

Of her longtime involvement with the show and the opportunity to share Jackson's work with the wide world, Whitman said, "I saw a reading in 2016, right after Trump was elected, and it gave me hope, it gave me purpose, it gave me something to strive for. I never believed in its commercial appeal. I just thought we would do the show Off-Broadway and that's all we'd do, and the show took off in the most beautiful way...We never led the show, the show led us. All along it's like the theatre gods have looked out for us until we finally got to this point. It's truly the most amazing thing."

Jackson, who won a Tony earlier this evening for Best Book of a Musical, added about his collaborator, "Let's not discount this woman's savvy and her clear-eyed focus and not being distracted by anything, in being a real partner. It made me want to be a real partner with her. So I have to give it up to this woman."

The Broadway cast of A Strange Loop 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.

Michael R. Jackson was awarded the 2020 Pulitzer Prize in Drama for A Strange Loop.