TORONTO USHERS IN A BROADWAY WINNER - A STRANGE LOOP
Ushering in the Perfect Thought Even Before It Starts By Stephen Weir It doesn’t happen often to me. In fact, this might be the first time I=ve been invited to and accepted a backstage sneak peek of an all-Black rehearsal. A Strange Loop, an award-winning Broadway musical, is what Toronto has been eagerly awaiting, and it is making its Canadian premiere later this month. I was one of a half-dozen journalists to enter the expansive Distillery District’s Young Centre for the Performing Arts, taking folding chairs just a few feet from the cast in a rehearsal space earlier this week. What a trip! What an experience to get an early look at A Strange Loop, the Tony- and Pulitzer Prize-winning musical that is a collaboration among The Musical Stage Company, Soulpepper Theatre, Crow’s Theatre, and TO Live Usher left “This is a musical that speaks to the Black community,” explains director Ray Hogg, a Toronto director with strong Jamaican roots. “Not just in the messaging but in the bea...