FT Weekend: A Strange Loop, the Tony-winning queer black best new musical
FT News Briefing
Forhecz Topher
4.4 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 25 June 2022
⏱️ 34 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week we speak with Michael R. Jackson, playwright of A Strange Loop, which just won the Tony award for Best Musical and Best Book. Jackson is a queer, black writer whose musical is about a queer, black writer writing a musical about a queer, black writer.. Hence the strange, but incredibly entertaining loop. Then, we learn about the dark side of Copenhagen's world-famous fine dining restaurant scene from Imogen West-Knights. Denmark seems to be turning a blind eye to abuses in its hottest – and extremely lucrative – hospitality industry.
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Want to say hi? We love hearing from you. Email us at ftweekendpodcast@ft.com. We’re on Twitter @ftweekendpod, and Lilah is on Instagram and Twitter @lilahrap.
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Links and mentions from the episode:
– Imogen’s article ‘Fine dining faces its dark truths in Copenhagen’: https://on.ft.com/3NlO6Mq .
– Lilah’s article ‘How far does a chef have to go to be truly good?’: https://www.ft.com/content/246cdc2a-f135-4d3d-9d74-e524e9217699.
– Michael’s musical A Strange Loop is on Broadway at the Lyceum Theatre.
– Imogen is on Twitter @ImogenWK, and Michael is @TheLivingMJ.
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Special offers for Weekend listeners, from 50% off a digital subscription to a $1/£1/€1 trial are here: http://ft.com/weekendpodcast.
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Original music by Metaphor Music. Mixing and sound design by Breen Turner and Sam Giovinco.
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The FT News Briefing is supported by Equinole, the UK's energy partner. |
| 0:06.3 | Learn more at equinole.co.uk |
| 0:11.4 | It's summer, and you know what that means. |
| 0:14.1 | It's time for a Plymouth gin and tonic. |
| 0:16.9 | So grab yourself a glass and some ice. |
| 0:19.9 | Start with a pourer of Plymouth gin, |
| 0:22.8 | which is distilled using a blend of seven botanicals. |
| 0:26.0 | Add in some tonic, |
| 0:28.2 | then finish with a slice of orange. |
| 0:31.6 | Now that is the perfect gin and tonic. |
| 0:34.9 | Plymouth gin distilled with care and craft in England since 1793. |
| 0:40.9 | Just a quick warning before we start, |
| 0:42.9 | this episode contains some adult themes and language. |
| 0:48.0 | The other day, I went to see what's considered to be the hottest musical on Broadway. |
| 0:53.0 | It's called A Strange Loop by Michael R. Jackson. |
| 0:56.4 | It was nominated for 11 Tony Awards, |
| 1:00.0 | and it won two of them this month in some of the most important categories. |
| 1:04.3 | Best New Musical and Best Book for Michael's original script. |
| 1:13.5 | A Strange Loop is definitely out to push boundaries. |
| 1:17.5 | There's this one pretty unforgettable scene where the main character, |
| 1:21.4 | he's black and gay, and he's dressed up like a preacher, |
| 1:24.8 | and he's leading the sermon on stage. |
... |
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