Tony Awards Sunday: Performing? Billy Porter, A Strange Loop, Bernadette Peters and More; Will JHud go EGOT? Interview With Michael R. Jackson

Performances to include ‘Six,’ ‘Company,’ ‘Music Man’

NEW YORK — The Tony Awards are rolling out the red carpet for Broadway’s biggest shows. Sunday night’s award show has booked performances from its nominated musicals, including “A Strange Loop,” “Company,” “Girl from the North Country,” “MJ,” “Mr. Saturday Night,” “Music Man,” “Paradise Square” and “Six,” CBS announced Thursday. Among the nominated musicals not listed is “Caroline, or Change,” which is up for best revival but closed in January. Former winners Bernadette Peters (”Annie Get Your Gun,” “Song and Dance” and “On The Town”) and Billy Porter (”Kinky Boots”) will also perform, as will… Read More

Jennifer Hudson could become an EGOT on Sunday thanks to ‘A Strange Loop’ producer Barbara Whitman

NEW YORK — Jennifer Hudson may become an EGOT on Sunday. The actress and singer, who is already an Emmy, Grammy and Oscar winner, could add a Tony Award to her achievements for her role as a producer of the hit Broadway musical “A Strange Loop.” Michael R. Jackson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy was nominated for 11 Tony Awards this year, including the grand prize of best musical. Hudson, the “American Idol” castoff turned “Dreamgirls” star is among several celebrities who have thrown their support behind Michael R. Jackson’s show about a Black gay writer who works as an usher at a Broadway mu… Read More

‘A Strange Loop’ creator Michael R. Jackson on The Tony Awards, his love for Liz Phair and his issue with Tyler Perry

NEW YORK — Tyler Perry and Liz Phair are two names you’d never expect to hear mentioned in a Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway show marketed as a “big, Black, queer-ass American musical.” But the Hollywood titan and the ‘90s alternative rock queen feature prominently in “A Strange Loop,” which is up for 11 Tonys on Sunday. The brainchild of Michael R. Jackson, “A Strange Loop” centers around the emotional trials and tribulations of an overweight, Black gay writer who works as a Broadway usher. Newcomer Jaquel Spivey makes his Great White Way debut as a mid-twenties character — named Usher — who … Read More

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