I'm Jonathan Capehart and welcome to Capehart, a strange loop by Michael R. Jackson bills

itself as a quote, big, black, and queer-ass American musical.

It's big, all right.

Not only did the critically acclaimed play win the Pulitzer Prize for drama in 2020,

but the show, about a black gay man dreaming of writing a musical only to be hounded by

his own thoughts, was also nominated for 11 Tony Awards, the most unbroadway this season.

And at the ceremony on June 12, Michael R. Jackson and his work won big.

He took home the Tony for best book of a musical and a strange loop won the Tony for best

musical.

Sadly, the show will close on January 15, but in this encore conversation, first recorded

on June 9, just days before the Tonys for Washington Post Live, I asked Michael R. Jackson

how all the raves and the nominations felt.

It feels really good, and it feels good because it seems like a validation of all the time

that was put into making it.

Like, I started this piece right before America went to war with Iraq.

I went through two terms, two Obama terms, the beginning of the Trump term, like so much

has happened, and I kept writing this piece.

So let's jump right on into this.

The protagonist of a strange loop is a theater usher named Usher.

And here's how variety describes him and by extension the play.

Well, as a protagonist, Usher wrestles with ambition, expression, shame, lust, self-loathing,

and parental expectations.

...