Passing Strange
Belasco Theatre, New York
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A young musician struggling to “find himself” isn’t ideal material for a Broadway musical, said Linda Winer in Newsday. But Passing Strange isn’t really a musical. It’s more like a rock act with a plot. An African-American rocker named Stew (real name: Mark Stewart) serves as frontman for his band, the Negro Problem, as actors re-create the coddled middle-class boy’s journey from Los Angeles to Amsterdam and Berlin. Stewart “runs the proceedings onstage with a bemused attitude, old-soul eyes, and dark-rimmed eyeglasses.” Michael Breaker is terrific as Young Stew and Elisa Davis stands out in multiple roles as some of the people he meets along the way.
Unlike most “rock musicals,” Passing Strange actually rocks, said Jacques Le Sourd in the Westchester, N.Y., Journal News. “Some of the supremely articulate songs in this show soar to a crescendo that may rock you right out of your seat.” But even as the band jams away, its music always keeps the story moving forward, while Stewart provides “a constant, wry commentary on the goings-on of his past.” When Young Stew tries to forge a new identity in Europe, for instance, he pretends to be a refugee from white racism. “Do you know what it’s like to hustle for dimes on the mean streets of South Central?” Young Stew excitedly asks a German friend. But “Grown-up Stew quickly interjects: “Uh, nobody in this play knows what it’s like hustle for dimes on the mean streets of South Central.”
Twists like that continually defy our expectations, said Eric Grode in The New York Sun. Young Stew even finds a kind of soft-hearted second family among seemingly hard-edged Berlin intellectuals, and “his early nihilistic impressions soon give way to a curiously touching affection.” Passing Strange isn’t perfect: The second act drags on, and the entire coming-of-age premise isn’t very original. But Stewart’s innovative and “thunderously eclectic rock score” creates the framework for a few unforgettable scenes. In one climactic sequence, for instance, Young Stew actually grabs the microphone from Old Stew, “taking brief ownership of his future.” It’s a moment only the theater can create.
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