A Strange Loop - Barbican

For reference (and in truly not being obtuse) I AM an adult member of the LGBTQ+ community who has dealt/struggled with homophobia, a negative self/body image, or a community that, at large, only takes an interest in you if you are what passes for "hot"...

and this show didn't speak to me at all on any level.

There is suddenly quite a bit of snottiness about what gay people should like. It makes me uncomfortable that such division within gay communities can still thrive, despite all the societal change we’ve been through. I am reminded as a young gay man feeling very uncomfortable in gay pubs, with half naked posters of men on the walls, the sleazy old men at the bar. In my circle of then-friends I was made to feel like an outsider because I wasn’t really into “gay culture” such as it was at the time.

I am seeing this show next month, purely because of its Pulitzer and Tony winning status, not because it’s a “gay” musical or dealing with “issues”, although these things won’t preclude me from enjoying the show. To imply I’m some kind of sex traitor if I don’t enjoy it seems enormously hypocritical to me, in an age where we all strive to be accepted for being ourselves.

Suddenly? 

Well love it, hate it, or something inbetween I will still give my honest opinion and won’t be coloured by peer pressure. That’s the beauty of theatre, it isn’t Twitter, or TokTik, you pay your ticket you get your opinion and the right to share it.

My initial comments were perhaps overly harsh and freshly fuelled by disliking the material (a lot!) but I didn't mean to rub anyone up the wrong way. I'm glad others enjoyed the show.

I’ve seen this twice now. First time was the matinee where Kyle Birch first went on, as well as Jean-Luke Worrell as thought 5. Honestly had no idea I was watching covers who had done their first full understudy run the night before. It is a spectacular and important show. Went back a week later and got the full regular cast. It is in great hands no matter who is onstage.

I loved the ideas presented. Anyone who wants to avoid another minority pity/attention-grab for money can rest assured this piece is anti-that, but recognizes all the facets of itself, even those that could be in this camp. That’s the nature of the work… we are watching his perceptions of his perceptions of his life , and how they change as he grows and moves through his life.

I can’t get Inner White Girl out of my head. A gorgeous and moving song. Also love We Wanna Know and omg Periodically… Wow. Genius writing. It’s a full monologue in a song. Sure, most of this music is to further the plot, but it’s also gorgeous and entertaining. The pianist… wow.

Every single person in the cast is phenomenal.

I find it incredible also because of how unapologetically black it is. It’s a brilliant, boundary pushing work. I would comment on specifics, and what I took away from it, but don’t want to spoil.

I think internet arguments about this show are fruitless. I’d die to talk about it in person with anyone whose seen it, but for this message board I’ll just say GO GO GO.

For anyone who wants a deeper dive or more info, check out the No Script Podcast episode where they discuss it.

Oh dear, that’s a shame, but theatre is so totally subjective. Horses for courses as they say. I’d probably say it’s one of the best things I’ve ever seen. Did you know what to expect when you booked your seats? There are of course laughs in the show, but I wouldn’t describe it as a comedy - far from it.
What are your favourite type of shows?

Just a thought on the laughter that some don’t understand… there are laughs at something comedic, and there are laughs at the recognition of truth. I think a lot of the laughter in this might come from the latter… but it’s possible you don’t know that truth. Doesn’t mean you can’t learn something from the work. Some comments on here are a bit antagonistic.

Also… two of the shows listed in the comment above are pop culture phenomenons… dark?? I know the subject matter, but they don’t (to me) betray the taste of someone who likes “darker” material.

How long is SL booking until ?

I'd agree with this, but I can also see why people just do not like it. Honestly, if I was in a different mood when I saw it, I could easily have had the total opposite reaction and hated it with a passion.

I've had that experience with a number of shows (Fun Home for example) where they just rubbed me the wrong way very early on and I couldn't enjoy them. There is NOTHING worse than sitting in a theatre with an enthusiastic crowd when you are absolutely hating something, it just makes you hate it even more.

Comedy is also highly subjective and while I thought it was hilarious, we don't all find the same things funny. Some forms of comedy you either get or you don't get, it's as simple as that. I love Monty Python, but some of it I just do not 'get' at all. I've never once even managed as much as a smirk for Eddie Izzard, Victoria Wood or anything to do with Steve Coogan, but I realise that is a 'me' problem and has nothing to do with them not being funny. Most people however if they don't like something just label it as crap, when in fact it is nothing of the sort. 'They' just didn't like/get it. 

I too also loved the fact it relishes in its 'blackness' and doesn't make a single apology for it. Nor does it make many concessions for those 'outside the circle' which I also think adds to the frustration for some. Personally I think that's what great artists do and while it is openly accepted in film and television and those audiences are used to seeking out answers online or elsewhere after they've seen something, the theatre gang seem much less accepting of it happening within their own extremely rigid guidelines of what is and isn't acceptable in the theatre and label it as 'self-indulgent'. All real artists are self-indulgent, that's what makes them great artists. Well, except for Wes Anderson of course, who is just sh*t! *wink

For me personally I don't think it is a great 'musical' as such, but as a whole it was a wonderful theatrical experience. I find the music merely 'serviceable' at best and the songs themselves are only saved by their clever lyrics. I also think it feels 'workshopped' to death for the last half an hour or so to turn it into a more audience friendly experience, which in some ways lessened its 'bite' for me. I'd have loved it to have ended with the gospel number, as once the last final parent 'loop' is revealed it was all over for me. Then it limps along to its inevitable cliché ridden ending for 2 more very generic musical theatre songs. I'd have much rather left the theatre 15 minutes earlier on the high of watching the egg drip down the faces of the idiots who started clapping along to something that was clearing taking the piss out of utter morons like themselves.

I also think the tagline is highly inaccurate to what the show is actually about, which only adds to the confusion for those coming in expecting it to be a certain way. It may be a snappy and meta concept, but that really isn't what is happening here. It is actually exactly the same story as Preludes (which literally has a song in it about being stuck in a brain loop) with the Russian composer being swapped out for a young gay African American. Both shows are about composers with crippling self doubt and low self esteem who are struggling to find their way because they have never come to terms with the events in the lives which have made them who they are. While Rachmaninoff struggles with the effects of fame and living up to immense public scrutiny of his work, Usher struggles with his sexuality and being invisible to a community that he suffers great personal sacrifice to be a part of. It's not until both find the reason for being stuck in this headspace, that they can finally identify and acknowledge the reasons for it and move on and heal.

That concept alone also rubs a lot of people the wrong way, especially in this country where you must 'keep that stiff upper lip' and 'suck it up buttercup'...just ask Meghan and Harry...

In the end I just found it a great testament to how we as humans can survive and function in this world with so much sh*t being thrown at us on a minutely basis and how that gels (or doesn't gel) with what is already swimming around in our brains.

I was probably a bit unfair re the last 2 songs...I have only seen it once and have not listened to it since I saw it so I don't know them that well. The show just felt over for me once the main source of his problems was revealed (in another 2 songs that could've been cut shorter already) and I didn't need those 2 songs to tell me what was coming once he had made that realisation. I literally sat there thinking, ok how long are they going to drag this out telling us what we already know is coming.

Sure it gives the audience the happy ending they crave and a sense that everything is going to be ok, but it is going to take him a long time to get there and I think that leg of his journey was best left privately to him and to our imaginations.

I actually have this problem with a lot of musicals, especially those that stick to fairly traditional musical theatre troupes. Not EVERYTHING has to be 2 and a half / 3 hours long or over explained or dragged out to an ending we can see coming an hour earlier, some things can be left to the imagination. Tammy Faye suffered from it pretty badly in Act 2 and Hamilton does it towards the end as well. It's all exciting and new up until the last 30 minutes, when it then waffles on endlessly before ending with some dribble about his legacy. Mean Girls is probably the worst offender, where all the main 'punchlines' in the movie all have a 3 minute song in the musical version. One, we lose the joke as it has now become a song and two, now it takes 2 and half hours to tell the same story the movie told us in 90 minutes, only it's not half as good.

Maybe it's because I'm an editor and spend my entire working life cutting things out of stuff lol

I found the 'clapping' very much like the 'come on stage' ending of FairPlay and Six after Howard's song. I think people just don't know how to handle the discomfort of what they're watching and the people clapping just didn't get the show or what was going on in the scene and were just mindlessly doing what the performers were telling them too. It's kinda cruel really, but also rather funny lol