Written by Stew, Heidi Rodewald, and Annie Dorsen
Directed by Annie Dorsen
Synopsis: Developed at the Stanford Institute for Creativity the Arts, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, and the Public Theater, the show takes audiences on an international journey from L.A. to Amsterdam, Berlin, and beyond as a young man from California searches for his identity. It features blues, rock and roll, gospel, and pop music written by Stew and Rodewald, who head the band The Negro Problem.
NYTHEATREREVIEWS.COM:
"A rockin' score with a story line that borders on predictable, Passing Strange is singer/songwriter Stew's gift to the genre of musical theater. Stew has a magnetic theatrical presence and his loud on-stage band rocks, however, only his supporting actors fall flat in matching his exuberance. It's not a perfect show though, and I must confess I found myself looking at my watch a couple of times. That being said, it's a true step forward in the advancement of musical theater and it's rock and roll score brings some fresh music to the Broadway masses."
NEW YORK TIMES:
" But please don’t call it a Broadway musical. You could scare away too many people who might actually enjoy it. Call it a rock concert with a story to tell, trimmed with a lot of great jokes. Or call it a sprawling work of performance art, complete with angry rants and scary drag queens. Call it whatever you want, really. I’ll just call it wonderful, and a welcome anomaly on Broadway, which can use all the vigorous new artistic blood it can get."
Read the whole review HERE.
NEW YORK POST:
"Passing Strange" is more like a Broadway cantata, a recycling of theater song-cycles of the likes Joe Papp encouraged at the Public, and sometimes risked on Broadway, many years ago. It's also beautifully performed by a beguiling cast - fun people to be with, even if one has to be with them rather longer than one might have planned."
Read the whole review HERE.
TIME OUT NY:
"The psychedelic-funk-pop score rocks, the cast is incredible, the book and lyrics are wittily provocative. But, pundits and show mavens wonder, Is it a Musical? It’s a silly question. Right now there’s a refreshing lack of uniformity on the Great White Way, a lively mixtape of post-punk, salsa and Sondheim. Superficially, Passing Strange may seem exotic, but that’s just a pose."
Read the whole review HERE.
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS:
"This exuberant if flawed show, written by the one-named singer/songwriter Stew, stirs together bits of autobiography, mainstream musical and pulse-pounding rock concert to tell its story of a young black "Youth" yearning to bust out of his middle-class home and make music."
Read the whole review HERE.
NEW YORK MAGAZINE:
"He brought this story to Broadway with no experience, little training, and paltry affection for the form. No matter what you think of the result, the mere act of showing up is the most punk-rock thing the place has seen in years."
Read the whole review HERE.
NEW YORK SUN:
"It's a witty, boisterous, often heretical dissection of racial identity in all its modern-day fluidity. It's also a hell of a good time"
Read the whole review HERE.
THEATERMANIA:
"Simply put, this fine and funky autobiographical rock musical, co-created by the performance artist Stew and collaborators Heidi Rodewald and Annie Dorsen, works even better on a bigger stage. The improvements, such as they are, are the byproduct of experience, and the ensemble cast is even more impressive now than when we saw them last year at The Public Theater"
Read the whole review HERE.
VARIETY:
"But "Passing Strange," the defiantly unclassifiable musical by Los Angeles singer-songwriter Stew, is something else altogether -- a magical mystery tour that fuses aspects of concert, concept album, cabaret and revivalist meeting. Significantly finessed since last year's Public Theater run, this idiosyncratic odyssey toward self-knowledge explores universal questions of identity with the specificity and wry insight of autobiographical experience. It's boldly atypical Broadway fare that pulses with a new kind of vitality."
Read the whole review HERE.
NEWSDAY:
"Let's not get too distracted figuring out how to categorize "Passing Strange," the stranger-in-a-strange-land original passing for a Broadway musical at the Belasco Theatre. What's important is that the thing - part indie-rock concert, part boho-art project, part coming-of-age black-identity crisis, part hipster travelogue - is all smart and all enjoyable and all very good for the theater."
Read the whole review HERE.
NYTHEATRE.COM:
"Passing Strange is my favorite new American musical of recent vintage; certainly the most thrillingly adventurous and high-energy-pull-the-audience-out-of-their-seats-and-up-on-their feet show to arrive on Broadway in quite some time"
Read the whole review HERE.
AMNY:
"And it's a shame. Because in spite of its talented cast and Kevin Smith's awesome lighting design, "Passing Strange" makes for a very boring evening. Good musicals do not force-feed morals. Stew needs to leave the stage and let his actors take over. Don't tell us what to take away from your show -- show us!"
Read the whole review HERE.
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