New Musicals at 54 is a series produced by Programming Director Jennifer Ashley Tepper. Some of the 10 new and diverse musicals by a selection of today’s most talented writers have had out-of-town productions, some have had workshops… now’s your chance to be first to see them in NYC!  Join us at New Musicals at 54 for one-night-only concerts celebrating each new show with songs, behind-the-scenes stories, and all-star casts!

Click here to learn more about the New Musicals at 54 series. Use code NEW20 when purchasing tickets to three or more shows in the series and receive 20% off tickets in the Main Dining Room or Bar Rail sections.

Bookwriter and composer-lyricist Michael R. Jackson takes us on a concert-style jaunt through his seriocomic concept musical A Strange Loop. The show follows Usher, a black, gay musical theater writer who works as an usher in the back of the house at a long-running Broadway show. This show  serves as the literal and metaphorical backdrop for the war he wages against the thoughts in his own head… while struggling to write a self-referential musical called A Strange Loop. The concert will feature several special guest stars who will portray Usher and an ensemble of men who will portray his thoughts manifested in forms including his parents, men on online sex apps, and Tyler Perry gospel play stage characters. A Strange Loop follows Usher as he fights to disrupt the static repetition he feels in his life… until he is swept into a painful confrontation with his long held negative perception of himself.

Michael R. Jackson holds a BFA in playwriting from the NYU Tisch School of the Arts’ Dramatic Writing Program and an MFA in Musical Theatre Writing from the Tisch School’s Musical Theatre Writing Program. As a songwriter, he has seen his work performed at Merkin Hall, The Barrington Stage Company, The Laurie Beechman Theater, The Triad, Ars Nova, Joe’s Pub, The Metropolitan Room, The Bruno Walter Library at Lincoln Center, and ACT in Seattle. He wrote book and lyrics on the musical Only Children with composer Rachel Peters courtesy of the Tisch School of the Arts Undergraduate Drama Department at NYU. He is currently at work on a new musical called A Strange Loop, for which he is writing book, music, and lyrics, as well as writing book and lyrics for a musical adaptation of the 2006 indie film Teeth with composer Anna K. Jacobs.

A Strange Loop was developed with support of Musical Theatre Factory.