Top 12 of 2024: MICHAEL R. JACKSON

To close out the year I’m posting videos from the top 12 interviews from 2024. These were a mix of my personal favorites, some of your favorites and a few that may have slipped under the radar. Check back as I have a very special new interview that will run just after December 25th. We continue with #9: MICHAEL R. JACKSON.

Jackson is the ‪Tony Award-winning composer/lyricist/bookwriter of the musical A Strange Loop. He also won the Pulitzer Prize for his form-expanding musical. It told the story of a Black gay usher who is working at The Lion King who is writing a musical about a Black gay usher who is working at The Lion King who is writing a musical about a Black gay usher who is working at The Lion King.

In this conversation talked about the wild rollercoaster journey he’s been on since first conceiving of the musical, the meta world he created in the show, having to go on during the pandemic as the main character (appropriately named Usher) and he emphatically explains that in spite of numerous similarities between Usher and himself, this is absolutely NOT an autobiographical musical – not that he thinks anyone believes him.

You can find clips from A Strange Loop on YouTube. And while you’re there, please subscribe to our YouTube channel to see more interviews with leading artists and performers working in the perform arts. You can find our YouTube channel HERE.

Be sure to check out the rest of our Top 12 which includes jazz artists Linda May Han Oh and director Kaneza Schaal.