Chicago Tribune
- Highly Recommended
"...This is not the only show about intersectionality, of course. But it is one of the few shows with the guts to spoof the privileged white progressives who embrace it at the same time as it asserts how racism and homophobia have done a number on creative young Americans."
Chicago Sun Times
- Highly Recommended
"...It’s very hard to write a review of “A Strange Loop,” a many-laureled musical that first ran off-Broadway in 2019. It lives in, even wallows in, its meta elements, occasionally passing judgment within the text of the show on its own efforts to sketch out conflicting characters and stories. So if it’s already looking at itself and self-criticizing, who am I to pile on? (Not to mention that I am supposed to avoid using “I” while writing this.)"
Chicago Reader
- Highly Recommended
"...Michael R. Jackson's metatheatrical musical A Strange Loop won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize in Drama, becoming the first musical written by a Black person to receive the honor and, at the time, the first without a Broadway run to be recognized by the Pulitzer committee. (The show opened off-Broadway in 2019 and transferred to Broadway in 2022.)"
Windy City Times
- Highly Recommended
"...There is a lot going on in the mind of Usher, the simultaneously insecure and ambitious leading man at the center of A Strange Loop. This unabashed and self-described "big, Black and queer ass" Broadway musical is making a fabulous Chicago premiere via a strong co-production by About Face Theatre and Raven Theatre through Nov. 22."
Stage and Cinema
- Highly Recommended
"...Could we compel Raven Theatre to mount at least one unconventional musical every season? After the smashing success of their production of Dave Malloy’s Octet(opens in new tab)—their first-ever musical—earlier this year, Raven have teamed up with About Face Theatre to mount the Chicago premiere of another offbeat musical, the Pulitzer- and Tony-winning A Strange Loop, a solipsistic chamber piece with book, music, and lyrics by Michael R. Jackson."
Let's Play Theatrical Reviews
- Highly Recommended
"...As a frequent theatergoer, A Strange Loop wouldn't be my cup of tea, to use an old idiom. But as a critic, I must acknowledge that it is one of the most articulate, thought-provoking plays I have encountered. At its core, it's one of Chicago's best performances."
Around The Town Chicago
- Somewhat Recommended
"...There are often times when I am watching a new play unfold its story on one of our stages that I wonder what the playwright was truly thinking as he or she sat down to put it all together. Tonight was one of those times. About Face Theatre and Raven Theatre are presenting the Pulitzer Prize & Tony Award-winning musical, ” A Strange Loop” on its Johnson Stage ( the larger of the two venues located in the Raven Theatre building). For many, this is a special play in that it made history in 2020, winning the Pulitzer for Drama, marking the first time a musical written by a Black artist received this particular honor."
Chicago Theatre Review
- Highly Recommended
"...This musical, which deservedly took home a multitude of accolades and honors, finally makes its bright, bodacious premiere in Chicago. It illustrates an ideal and terrific partnership in a co-production between About Face and Raven Theatre. Definitely aimed at liberal audiences over the age of sixteen, the Pulitzer Prize-winning autobiographical musical features a book, music and lyrics by the incredible Michael R. Jackson."
Buzz Center Stage
- Highly Recommended
"...A musical, but it’s just the voices in your head. Sounds just crazy enough to win the 2020 Pulitzer for Drama. “A Strange Loop” by Michael R. Jackson finally makes its Chicago premiere at Raven Theatre in a co-production with About Face Theatre. Mikael Burke directs a fantastic production with a knock-out cast."
Third Coast Review
- Recommended
"...Raven Theatre, in co-production with About Face Theatre, is presenting the Chicago premiere of Michael R. Jackson’s meta memoir musical A Strange Loop, directed by Mikael Burke, music directed by Kyu Park (who also conducts the seven-piece orchestra and plays the keys), and tightly choreographed by Breon Arzell. Jackson’s proxy in the play says the title was inspired by the 1993 Liz Phair song as well as the cognitive science term describing a tiered, self-referential feedback structure that leads back to the starting point."
Chicago On Stage
- Highly Recommended
"...The Pulitzer Prize-winning A Strange Loop, now playing its Chicago premiere in a co-production between Raven Theatre and About Face Theatre, is a surrealistic, multifaceted portrayal of struggles with identity from playwright Michael R. Jackson. As he and his main character put it, it is a musical about a fat gay Black man writing a musical about a fat gay Black man writing a musical. (Jackson himself starred in it on Broadway, though it is not truly autobiographical.)"
PicksInSix
- Highly Recommended
"...Jackson's "A Strange Loop" is artfully structured. It starts strong and keeps ramping up. When we need a change from upbeat numbers, the show takes a sinister turn. When we need to catch our breath, we've already begun a sweet, simpler scene. And just when we think the performance can't get any more outrageous, it's been cranked up to an eleven with a gospel number and a wholly unexpected set reveal."
Curtain Call Chicago
- Highly Recommended
"...A Strange Loop is bold, blunt and brilliant! Raven Theatre and About Face Theatre’s Chicago premiere of Michael R. Jackson’s A Strange Loop is an often hilarious, and always deeply human production—one that is arguably among the most important American musicals of the past decade. Directed to perfection and with fearlessness by Mikael Burke, it is verbally rough, quite explicit, and more often than not, deliberately uncomfortable, but essential."
Splash Magazine
- Recommended
"...There’s a lot to unpack here if the goal of a review is to analyze the playwright’s intentions or retell the “story”. Suffice to say, then, that the play is true to the author’s layered thoughts: it illuminates his mind, which is at once analytical, satirical, rueful, self-critical, and wistful- at the very least. And let’s not forget that this is crafted as a musical- it’s vastly entertaining, filled with big, clear voices and wickedly funny."
NewCity Chicago
- Highly Recommended
"...In full disclosure, from the moment Raven Theatre announced this show in co-production with About Face Theatre, I was excited. Seeing "A Strange Loop" on Broadway in 2022 was a core memory for me, and many of the songs are ones I listen to constantly. This show is one I hope more theaters take on in the future, though this production will have set the bar quite high."
