Broadway's Tony- and Pulitzer-winning A Strange Loop may be gone, but it's certainly not forgotten. EGOT winner and A Strange Loop co-producer Jennifer Hudson has dropped a new single of the show's "Boundaries," with music and lyrics by Michael R. Jackson. Get an exclusive first listen to the track above.
The song, which features some new lyrics by Jackson written expressly for Hudson, has been reimagined with a brand-new arrangement. David Cook penned the arrangement and orchestration, and George Huff provided the vocal arrangement. The single, released via Ghostlight Records and Yellow Sound Label, is produced by Michael Croiter and Cook, and executive produced by Barbara Whitman and Kurt Deutsch.
“The first time I met Jennifer, I told her that I always thought of her as a cousin in my head,” says Jackson in a statement. “It is a true honor to have ‘my cousin’ bring her signature vocals and sincerity to one of my earliest songs. This rendition touches me more deeply than she will ever know.”
The track will be available for streaming and digital purchase February 15. Pre-save here.
A Strange Loop finished its Tony-winning Broadway run January 15 at the Lyceum Theatre after opening April 26, 2022. With a book, music, and lyrics by Jackson, the Best Musical winner played 13 previews and 293 performances.
Newcomer Jaquel Spivey, soon to star as Damian in the screen adaptation of the Mean Girls musical, led the cast as Usher, a young, Black, gay theatre writer grappling with his toxic inner thoughts while trying to write a musical about a young, Black, gay theatre writer grappling with his toxic inner thought while trying to write a musical about... and on and on.
Spivey was joined by Antwayn Hopper, James Jackson, Jr., L Morgan Lee, John-Michael Lyles, John-Andrew Morrison, and Jason Veasey, all reprising their performances from the musical's 2019 Off-Broadway world premiere at Playwrights Horizons. Stephen Brackett (Be More Chill) directed the production, with choreography by Raja Feather Kelly (Suffs) and music supervision by Rona Siddiqui.
The show was 2022's Tony Award winner for Best Musical, and also won a Tony Award for Jackson's book. The 2019 Off-Broadway run led to the work winning the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, only the 10th musical to be awarded the honor and the first to have not played a Broadway run when the honor was bestowed.
Hudson's single stands alongside the musical's original Broadway cast recording, which released June 10, 2022.
