Odds & Ends: Billy Porter, Jennifer Hudson & More Join Producing Team for Broadway's A Strange Loop

Here's a quick roundup of stories you might have missed.

Billy Porter & More Stars Join A Strange Loop Producing Team
Michael R. Jackson's Pulitzer Prize-winning A Strange Loop has revealed some major star power ahead of its first preview performance at the Lyceum Theatre. Broadway alums Billy Porter, Jennifer Hudson, Alan Cumming, RuPaul, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul as well as Don Cheadle, Mindy Kaling and Ilana Glazer have joined the producing team for the new musical, which opens on April 26. The musical explores the thoughts of Usher (Jaquel Spivey), a Black, queer writer writing a musical about a Black, queer writer writing a musical. The show won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Drama as well as five Outer Critics Circle Award Honors, two Lucille Lortel Awards and the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Musical. Plans for a Broadway cast recording have already been announced.

Norm Lewis & Samantha Mathis Join NBC Pilot
Tony nominee Norm Lewis and Broadway alum Samantha Mathis have boarded NBC’s drama pilot Blank Slate as series regulars, Deadline reports. Created by Dean Georgaris and John Fox and directed by Richard Shepard, Blank Slate draws some parallels to the long-running NBC series The Blacklist. The pilot will star Matt Passmore as Special Agent Alexander McCoy, a legend in law enforcement. The only issue? He doesn’t actually exist. The series kicks off when a man claiming to be him arrives with an agenda nobody will see coming. Lewis is set to play Jeff Stroll, the Deputy Director of Homeland Security. Mathis will play Dr. Sylvia Matthews, a forensic psychologist.

Get a Sneak Peek at Season Two of Girls5eva
The previously announced second season of Girls5eva returns to Peacock on May 5, and a teaser trailer has arrived. The show, created by Emmy winner Meredith Scardino and produced by Tina Fey, premiered in May 2021 and focuses on a former '90s girl group that takes another shot at fame when their one hit gets sampled by a young rapper; the show stars Broadway vets Sara Bareilles and Renée Elise Goldsberry as well as Paula Pell and Busy Philipps. There are many Broadway star sightings in the trailer, including Ashley Park, Grey Henson, Andrew Rannells and Daniel Breaker, and it even includes Tony winner Goldsberry sifting through her extensive "riff rolodex." Watch below!

Benedict Lombe Wins 2022 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize
The 2022 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize has been awarded to U.K. playwright Benedict Lombe for her debut play Lava. In a special presentation at Shakespeare's Globe in London, the Blackburn Prize judges presented Lombe with a cash prize of $25,000 and a signed, limited-edition print by renowned artist Willem de Kooning, created especially for the prize. Awarded annually since 1978, the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize is the oldest and largest honor awarded to women+ playwrights, with this being the first time in the history of the award the prize has been awarded to a debut play. Each of the additional nine finalists received an award of $5,000.

Judith Light to Receive GLAAD's Excellence in Media Award
Tony and Emmy winner Judith Light will receive the Excellence in Media Award, which will be presented by West Side Story Oscar winner Ariana DeBose at the 33rd Annual GLAAD Media Awards. The ceremony will be on May 6 at the Hilton Midtown New York. Since its inception in 1990, the GLAAD Media Awards have grown to be the most visible annual LGBTQ+ awards show in the world. Peloton instructor Cody Rigsby and Broadway and RuPaul's Drag Race alum Peppermint will serve as the evening’s hosts. Special guests will include Amber Tamblyn, Anthony Rapp, Cynthia Nixon, Lily Rose, Nyle DiMarco and more. As previously reported, this year's Outstanding Broadway Production category includes Company, Thoughts of a Colored Man and Chicken & Biscuits.

RuPaul's Drag Race Winner Alaska Announces Drag: The Musical Album
Billboard reports that RuPaul’s Drag Race winner Alaska will release the record Drag: The Musical on May 13 via PEG Records, Killingsworth Recording Company and Craft Recordings/Concord Theatricals. Co-written by Alaska, Tomas Costanza and Ashley Gordon, the album will follow a story of two drag bars competing against one another in order to survive financial hardships. It will feature appearances from Bob The Drag Queen, Peppermint, Monét X Change, Jujubee, Ginger Minj, Divina De Campo and Lagoona Bloo, as well as appearances from non-drag stars like Michelle Visage, Nick Adams, Max von Essen, Fortune Feimster, Margaret Cho, Jamie Torcellini and Jack Rodman. Get a look at the making of the recording below!