The Brutalist

[THOUGHTS 1 & 2]
Oh, Usher

[USHER]
And travel the world in a fat black, queer body

[THOUGHTS 5 & 6]
How many minutes ’til the end of intermission?

[THOUGHT 5]
No one cares about a writer
Who is struggling to write!

[THOUGHT 4]
They’ll say it’s way too repetitious

[THOUGHT 3]
And so overly ambitious

[THOUGHT 6]
Which, of course, makes them suspicious

[THOUGHTS 3, 4, 5, & 6]
That you think you’re fucking white!

[USHER]
He has to fight for his right to live in a world

[THOUGHTS 3, 4, 5, & 6]
Hey, Usher

[USHER]
That chews up and spits out black queers on the daily

[THOUGHTS 1 & 2]
Blackness, queerness, fighting back to fill this cishet, all-white space

[THOUGHTS 3 & 4]
With a portrait of a portrait of a portrait of a black, queer face

[THOUGHTS 1, 2, 3, & 4]
And a choir full of black, queer voices, treble clef

[THOUGHTS 5 & 6]
And also bass!

[THOUGHTS]
That are casting spells to conjure up a-

[USHER]
Big, black and queer-ass American Broadway-

[THOUGHTS 4, 5, & 6]
Big, black and queer-ass American Broadway-

[USHER & THOUGHTS]
Big, black and queer-ass American Broadway show!

[THOUGHTS]
How many minutes ’til the end of intermission

[THOUGHT 4]
‘Til he has to face the fact that he is really in a jam?

[THOUGHTS 5 & 6]
He has no patrons he can call on
Nor a backup plan to fall on

[THOUGHTS 1, 2, & 3]
Just a hamster wheel to crawl on

[THOUGHTS 1 & 5]
And nobody gives a damn!

[USHER & THOUGHT 6]
He tries to scramble and dodge and extricate

[THOUGHTS 3 & 4]
Hey, Usher

[USHER & THOUGHTS 2 & 6]
Still, his fate lies in wait

[USHER]
Like a scavenging vulture

[USHER & THOUGHT 3]
All he wants is to subvert expectations, black and white

[THOUGHTS 1, 2, 4, 5, & 6]
Oh, Usher

[USHER & THOUGHT 3]
From the left and the right, for the good

[THOUGHT 6]
Oh, Usher

[USHER]
Of the culture

[THOUGHTS]
Usher, Usher! Usher, Usher!
Usher, Usher! Usher, Usher!
How many minutes ’til the end of intermission?
You’re a ball of black confusion
That keeps hitting a plateau!

[THOUGHT 2]
You can’t just flout every convention

[THOUGHT 3]
Then command complete attention
In a

[USHER]
Big, black and queer-ass American Broadway show!

[THOUGHTS]
How many minutes ’til the end of intermission?
Some say “write from exploration,”
Some say “just write what you know!”

[THOUGHT 5]
But either way, you keep careening
So it’s hard to find a meaning
In your

[USHER]
Big, black and queer-ass American Broadway show!

[THOUGHTS]
How many minutes ’til the end of intermission?
If you can’t please the Caucasians
You will never get the dough!

[USHER]
‘Cause critics clinically deny us
Then deny implicit bias

[THOUGHTS 5 & 6]
With their vanity supported
By a system that’s distorted

[THOUGHTS 2 & 3]
Watch them write you off as lazy
Not to mention, navel-gazey

[THOUGHTS]
Lacking both in craft and rigor

[THOUGHT 3]
Cause you’re just a fucking nig-

[THOUGHTS 1, 2, 4, 5, & 6]
Big, black and queer-ass American Broadway
Big, black and queer-ass American Broadway
Big, black and queer-ass American Broadway-

[THOUGHTS, VARIOUSLY]
Usher! Usher!
How many minutes ’til the end of intermission?

[USHER]
Oh my God!
Oh my God!
Oh my God!
Oh my God!
Oh my God!
Oh my God!
Oh my God!
Oh my God!
Oh my God!
Oh my God!
Less than two!