A Strange Loop

A Strange Loop opens at The Lion King on Broadway as the protagonist, Usher, asks everyone to take their seats for the start of Act Two. He announces what the show will entail and grapples with how to best handle life as a queer black man in New York City (“Intermission Song”). After the show, Usher decides to improve himself and the musical he is writing for the better, but struggles with the presence of his innermost thoughts: daily self-loathing, financial faggotry, corporate niggatry, and supervisor of sexual ambivalence (“Today”). Shortly after, his parents call; a very frustrating conversation with people who have little understanding of life in New York and think he is “running around without any direction” (“We Wanna Know”).

Spurred on by the phone call with his parents, Usher wishes he could behave more like the “inner white girl” inside of him (Inner White Girl), but is criticized by his inner thoughts yet again. They believe shows about black people will only be successful