On Broadway, diversity takes a step into the spotlight

In A Strange Loop, which won Best Musical at the Tony Awards in June, the lead character belts out what might as well be a declaration of the transformation happening on Broadway.

“Blackness, queerness, Fighting back to fill this cis-het, all-white space, with a portrait of a portrait of a portrait of a Black queer face and a choir full of Black queer voices,” sings the character Usher, a queer, Black man in a show centered on his doubts about writing a musical about himself.   

This year’s Tonys marked a milestone: Broadway’s first season back since the pandemic forced a historic