Passing Strange
Encyclopedia
Passing Strange is a rock musical
about a young African American
's artistic journey of self-discovery
in Europe, drawing on heavy elements of existentialism
, metafiction
al comedy
, and the Künstlerroman
. The musical's lyrics and book are by Stew
with music and orchestrations by Heidi Rodewald and Stew. It was created in collaboration with director Annie Dorsen.
The musical was developed at the Sundance Institute
Theatre Lab in 2004 and 2005, one of the only works there ever to be invited back for a second round of development. It had productions in Berkeley, California
and Off-Broadway
before opening on Broadway
in 2008, garnering strong reviews and several awards. Spike Lee
filmed the musical on Broadway as a documentary, premiering the film in 2009.
In the same interview, Stew commented that the quote reminds him of a rock musician who tries to attract a girl with his on-the-road stories. "Passing" also refers to the history of African Americans passing as white
, as well as the passage of time.
The plot itself involves an anonymous protagonist, called the Youth, who travels on a picaresque journey to find “the real,” complicated by his need to rebel against his mother and society, "passing" through place to place and from lover to lover. His experiences are shaped by his black, American, and middle-class identity. As a musician, he attempts to express his true self through a number of musical genres, including gospel, punk, blues, jazz, and rock; however, the musical itself is most prominently grounded in rock music.
The musical was nominated for seven Tony Awards, winning one, for best book. It won three Drama Desk Award
s, however, for outstanding musical, music and lyrics (out of seven nominations), among a number of other awards and nominations. The musical was also awarded the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical; the Audelco Award for Best Musical, as well as Best Director (Annie Dorsen), Best Musical Director (Rodewald), and Best Performance (Daniel Breaker); and an Obie Award
for Best New Theatre Piece, as well as Outstanding Ensemble.
in Berkeley, California
. It was then produced off-Broadway at The Public Theatre in New York City
, running from May 14, 2007, through June 3, 2007. The musical began previews at the Belasco Theatre
on Broadway on February 8, 2008, and officially opened on February 28, 2008, with the same cast that starred at the Public Theatre. After 165 performances, it closed on July 20, 2008. Directed by Annie Dorsen, the musical was choreographed by Karole Armitage
, with scenic design by David Korins, costume design by Elizabeth Hope Clancy and lighting design by Kevin Adams
.
The first regional production opened at The Studio Theatre in Washington, D.C. on July 18, 2010 with a revised script and ran through August. It did not include co-creator Stew as the Narrator, and the cast was expanded from seven to fourteen players.
throughout the performance. The Narrator prefaces his story
with the description of the initial setting
: the home of the male, African American
protagonist
, the Youth—whom the Narrator also sometimes calls the "hero" or the "pilgrim"—in a church-going, middle-class, late 1970s South Central Los Angeles
neighborhood. The story of the Youth's spiritual journey to discover "the real" commences at his teenaged years, during which he has turned briefly to Zen Buddhism, going against his single mother's conservative Christian faith ("Baptist Fashion Show"). She urges him to find God and he begrudgingly attends her church ("Listening is Waiting"), but when he compares the church's gospel band to rock & roll during an epiphanic moment of joy, she slaps him ("Blues Revelation/Freight Train"); he realizes that the rush he experienced was not due to a religious experience as much as the power of music. This inspires him to become more and more interested in music, though he mostly now joins the church choir because of his attraction to its most popular girl member ("Edwina Williams"). There, he befriends the pastor
's son and choir director, Franklin Jones, who as a marijuana-smoking closeted
gay
man turns the Youth on to drugs, New Negro
culture, and the concepts of European autonomy and resistance ("Arlington Hill"). The Youth eventually develops an attachment to the guitar, deserts Franklin's choir, and forms a punk rock
band with two other ex-choir members, Sherry and Terry ("Sole Brother"). During a bad LSD
trip ("Must've Been High"), the Youth abandons his bandmates to their chosen life of middle-class materialism and starts saving money to travel to Europe where he hopes to work on truly developing as a musical artist, something of which his mother and community disapprove ("Mom Song").
The Youth and his mother argue about his travel plans in a satire
of the overly dramatic styles of European
experimental cinema (according to the Narrator's own description). The Youth's explanation to his mother of what he desires in journeying to Europe merge onstage into the actual journey itself ("Merci Beaucoup, M. Godard"). Now in promiscuous Amsterdam
, with its easy access to drugs and sex ("Amsterdam"), the Youth experiences his first sense of acceptance when a young local, Marianna, invites him to live in her apartment without questioning his black identity ("Keys"). After squatting with Marianna and other free-spirited artists ("We Just Had Sex"), he finds he cannot write songs when he has nothing to complain about. Claiming paradise is a bore, he heads to Berlin, leaving behind Marianna, who tells him not to return ("Paradise").
Act 2 begins as the Youth arrives in politically chaotic West Berlin
during a May Day riot ("May Day"), falling in with some of the protesters who are avant-garde
performance artists ("Surface"). His integrity falters though when he misrepresents his identity as poor to be accepted by the revolutionary artists whom he now lives with, collectively called Nowhaus. Desi, his new girlfriend who is an activist, intellectual, and the Nowhaus leader, tells him that only love is real ("Damage"). In Berlin, though, he finds he can never bring himself to be honest about his background ("Identity"), though he relishes in the romanticized African-American stereotype he has tried to fulfill among his radical German friends ("The Black One"). Desi finally expresses her feelings that the Youth is concealing aspects of his true personality ("Come Down Now"). Meanwhile, he feels irritated by his heartsick mother's phone calls and offhandedly promises that he will come home to visit her when he has time. With Christmas approaching, the other members of Nowhaus suddenly return to their homes and families, leaving the Youth to try to convince Desi to stay with him during the holiday season, though the two consequently fight over their differing views on love and she leaves him ("Youth's Unfinished Song"). The Narrator's self-reflections promptly enter into the story ("Work the Wound"), concluding with the unexpected scene of the Youth at his mother's funeral. With this surprisingly dramatic event, the tone of the play shifts from largely comedic to suddenly heavy-hearted. In the eulogy
for his mother, the Youth explains that although he rushed back to Los Angeles when he heard his mother was dying, she died before he could see her. The Narrator and the Youth encounter each other directly and in a serious moment for the first time as the Youth copes with his grief; dealing with the loss of the same mother, it is clear now that the Narrator and Youth are representations of the same man but at two different ages ("Passing Phase"). The Youth, after declaring that only art can correct the mistake known as life, resurrects his mother's spirit through his art ("Is It Alright?"). Ultimately, however, only the Narrator remains onstage; he professes the need for something beyond the real and that this is love ("Love Like That").
Act 2
† In the staged performance, this song is heavily interspersed with or broken up by dialogue
and/or spoken narration.
‡ The two titles here enclosed within a single pair of quotation marks and separated by a slash
refer to two songs that play in counterpoint
.
made a permanent record of the Broadway production "for generations and generations to see" by filming the last three performances at the Belasco Theatre
. His documentary had its world premiere on January 16 at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival
and opened at the IFC Center
in New York City
's West Village on August 21, 2009.
: "Although it is far richer in wit, feeling and sheer personality than most of what is classified as musical theater in the neighborhood around Times Square these days, its big heart throbs to the sound of electric guitars, searing synthesizer chords, driving drums and lyrics delivered not in a clean croon but a throaty yelp... Passing Strange is bursting at the seams with melodic songs, and it features a handful of theatrical performances to treasure... 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... I'll just call it wonderful, and a welcome anomaly on Broadway." Hilton Als praised the storyline of the musical in The New Yorker
: "Passing Strange is a brilliant work about migration — a geographical migration but also its hero’s migration beyond the tenets of “blackness” and toward selfhood. ...Stew, who created Passing Strange, which is an autobiography of sorts, doesn’t distract us with exoticism or nostalgia; his story centers on a young black man who discovers his own Americanness while growing up, first, in Los Angeles and, later, in Europe. The Youth (Daniel Breaker) is a rock-and-roll Candide — a wanderer whose innocence is never entirely corrupted."
Spike Lee's documentary of the play also received a positive review by A. O. Scott
in The New York Times
: "Here’s the strange thing. When I saw Spike Lee’s film adaptation, 'Passing Strange: The Movie,' in effect a video recording of a performance identical to the one I’d witnessed at the Belasco Theater in 2008, I was blown away. Loose ends ceased to dangle; soft spots were smoothed away and slow passages tightened up." Laremy Legel of Film.com called the film “vibrant and compelling” noting that Lee’s decision to shoot it as a play was the right one: “Spike Lee, to his credit, realized the beauty of the musical was right there on stage – no further tinkering was needed. Spike used 14 cameras at once to capture the action like it's never been done before. Amazingly, you never see a camera you weren't meant to see. Intimate shots were gathered in gorgeous high-definition over the course of three shows and seamlessly edited together. It's a technological triumph as well as an artistic one."
Rock musical
A rock musical is a musical theatre work with rock music. The genre of rock musical may overlap somewhat with album musicals, concept albums and song cycles, as they sometimes tell a story through the rock music, and some album musicals and concept albums become rock musicals...
about a young African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
's artistic journey of self-discovery
Journey of self-discovery
The term "journey of self-discovery" refers to a travel, pilgrimage, or series of events whereby a person attempts to determine how they feel, personally, about spiritual issues...
in Europe, drawing on heavy elements of existentialism
Existentialism
Existentialism is a term applied to a school of 19th- and 20th-century philosophers who, despite profound doctrinal differences, shared the belief that philosophical thinking begins with the human subject—not merely the thinking subject, but the acting, feeling, living human individual...
, metafiction
Metafiction
Metafiction, also known as Romantic irony in the context of Romantic works of literature, is a type of fiction that self-consciously addresses the devices of fiction, exposing the fictional illusion...
al comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
, and the Künstlerroman
Künstlerroman
A Künstlerroman , meaning "artist's novel" in German, is a narrative about an artist's growth to maturity. It may be classified as a specific sub-genre of Bildungsroman; such a work, usually a novel, tends to depict the conflicts of a sensitive youth against the values of a bourgeois society of his...
. The musical's lyrics and book are by Stew
Stew (musician)
Mark Stewart , known by his stage name Stew, is a singer/songwriter/playwright from Los Angeles. In the early 1990s, he formed a band called The Negro Problem and later went on to release albums under his own name...
with music and orchestrations by Heidi Rodewald and Stew. It was created in collaboration with director Annie Dorsen.
The musical was developed at the Sundance Institute
Sundance Institute
Sundance Institute is a non-profit organization founded by Robert Redford in 1981 that actively advances the work of filmmakers and storytellers worldwide...
Theatre Lab in 2004 and 2005, one of the only works there ever to be invited back for a second round of development. It had productions in Berkeley, California
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
and Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
before opening on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
in 2008, garnering strong reviews and several awards. Spike Lee
Spike Lee
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, has produced over 35 films since 1983....
filmed the musical on Broadway as a documentary, premiering the film in 2009.
Background
Stew had never written a play before Passing Strange. In an interview with Berkeley Rep, where the play premiered, he said he was initially inspired by reading about the Old Globe Theatre where Shakespeare productions were originally performed in front of rowdy audiences. A longtime rock musician and performer, he wanted to combine the energy of a rock show with the lively potential of a theater setting. Stew stated that the title "Passing Strange" comes from Shakespeare's 1603 play Othello, the Moor of Venice. In the play, the title character utters the following lines:- My story being done,
- She gave me for my pains a world of sighs;
- She swore, in faith 'twas strange, 'twas passing strange ;
- Twas pitiful. 'twas wondrous pitiful,
- She wish'd she had not heard it, yet she wish'd
- That heaven had made her such a man.
- —Othello, the Moor of Venice, act 1, scene 3, lines 158–163
In the same interview, Stew commented that the quote reminds him of a rock musician who tries to attract a girl with his on-the-road stories. "Passing" also refers to the history of African Americans passing as white
Passing (racial identity)
Racial passing refers to a person classified as a member of one racial group attempting to be accepted as a member of a different racial group...
, as well as the passage of time.
The plot itself involves an anonymous protagonist, called the Youth, who travels on a picaresque journey to find “the real,” complicated by his need to rebel against his mother and society, "passing" through place to place and from lover to lover. His experiences are shaped by his black, American, and middle-class identity. As a musician, he attempts to express his true self through a number of musical genres, including gospel, punk, blues, jazz, and rock; however, the musical itself is most prominently grounded in rock music.
The musical was nominated for seven Tony Awards, winning one, for best book. It won three Drama Desk Award
Drama Desk Award
The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
s, however, for outstanding musical, music and lyrics (out of seven nominations), among a number of other awards and nominations. The musical was also awarded the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical; the Audelco Award for Best Musical, as well as Best Director (Annie Dorsen), Best Musical Director (Rodewald), and Best Performance (Daniel Breaker); and an Obie Award
Obie Award
The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given by The Village Voice newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City...
for Best New Theatre Piece, as well as Outstanding Ensemble.
Production history
Passing Strange premiered on October 19, 2006, at the Berkeley Repertory TheatreBerkeley Repertory Theatre
Berkeley Repertory Theatre is a regional theater company located in Berkeley, California. It was founded in 1968, as the East Bay’s first resident professional theatre. Michael Leibert was the founding artistic director, who was then succeeded by Sharon Ott in 1984. The company runs seven...
in Berkeley, California
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
. It was then produced off-Broadway at The Public Theatre in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, running from May 14, 2007, through June 3, 2007. The musical began previews at the Belasco Theatre
Belasco Theatre
The Belasco Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 111 West 44th Street in midtown-Manhattan.-History:Designed by architect George Keister for impresario David Belasco, the interior featured Tiffany lighting and ceiling panels, rich woodwork and expansive murals by American artist...
on Broadway on February 8, 2008, and officially opened on February 28, 2008, with the same cast that starred at the Public Theatre. After 165 performances, it closed on July 20, 2008. Directed by Annie Dorsen, the musical was choreographed by Karole Armitage
Karole Armitage
Karole Armitage is an American dancer and choreographer currently based in New York City. She is Artistic Director of Armitage Gone! Dance, a contemporary ballet company that performs several times annually in New York City as well as touring internationally...
, with scenic design by David Korins, costume design by Elizabeth Hope Clancy and lighting design by Kevin Adams
Kevin Adams
For the NHL player, see Kevyn Adams.Kevin Adams is an American theatrical lighting designer. He has earned three Tony Awards for lighting design.-Biography:...
.
The first regional production opened at The Studio Theatre in Washington, D.C. on July 18, 2010 with a revised script and ran through August. It did not include co-creator Stew as the Narrator, and the cast was expanded from seven to fourteen players.
Plot summary
At the start of Act 1, the Narrator introduces himself as Stew ("Prologue"), openly referring to himself, Heidi, and the rest of the band, and occasionally interrupting the plot and interacting directly with the charactersMetafiction
Metafiction, also known as Romantic irony in the context of Romantic works of literature, is a type of fiction that self-consciously addresses the devices of fiction, exposing the fictional illusion...
throughout the performance. The Narrator prefaces his story
Exposition
Exposition may refer to:*Exposition *Exposition *Trade fair*Exposition , the debut album by the band Wax on Radio...
with the description of the initial setting
Setting
Setting may refer to:* A location where something is set* Set construction in theatrical scenery* Setting in fiction* Setting up to fail a manipulative technique to engineer failure...
: the home of the male, African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
protagonist
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
, the Youth—whom the Narrator also sometimes calls the "hero" or the "pilgrim"—in a church-going, middle-class, late 1970s South Central Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
neighborhood. The story of the Youth's spiritual journey to discover "the real" commences at his teenaged years, during which he has turned briefly to Zen Buddhism, going against his single mother's conservative Christian faith ("Baptist Fashion Show"). She urges him to find God and he begrudgingly attends her church ("Listening is Waiting"), but when he compares the church's gospel band to rock & roll during an epiphanic moment of joy, she slaps him ("Blues Revelation/Freight Train"); he realizes that the rush he experienced was not due to a religious experience as much as the power of music. This inspires him to become more and more interested in music, though he mostly now joins the church choir because of his attraction to its most popular girl member ("Edwina Williams"). There, he befriends the pastor
Pastor
The word pastor usually refers to an ordained leader of a Christian congregation. When used as an ecclesiastical styling or title, this role may be abbreviated to "Pr." or often "Ps"....
's son and choir director, Franklin Jones, who as a marijuana-smoking closeted
Closeted
Closeted and in the closet are metaphors used to describe lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning and intersex people who have not disclosed their sexual orientation or gender identity and aspects thereof, including sexual identity and sexual behavior.-Background:In late 20th...
gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
man turns the Youth on to drugs, New Negro
New Negro
New Negro is a term popularized during the Harlem Renaissance implying a more outspoken advocacy of dignity and a refusal to submit quietly to the practices and laws of Jim Crow racial segregation...
culture, and the concepts of European autonomy and resistance ("Arlington Hill"). The Youth eventually develops an attachment to the guitar, deserts Franklin's choir, and forms a punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
band with two other ex-choir members, Sherry and Terry ("Sole Brother"). During a bad LSD
LSD
Lysergic acid diethylamide, abbreviated LSD or LSD-25, also known as lysergide and colloquially as acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the ergoline family, well known for its psychological effects which can include altered thinking processes, closed and open eye visuals, synaesthesia, an...
trip ("Must've Been High"), the Youth abandons his bandmates to their chosen life of middle-class materialism and starts saving money to travel to Europe where he hopes to work on truly developing as a musical artist, something of which his mother and community disapprove ("Mom Song").
The Youth and his mother argue about his travel plans in a satire
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
of the overly dramatic styles of European
Cinema of Europe
Cinema of Europe refers to the film industries and films produced in the continent of Europe. Some notable European film movements include German Expressionism, French Impressionist Cinema, Poetic realism, Italian neorealism, French New Wave, Polish Film School, New German Cinema, Portuguese Cinema...
experimental cinema (according to the Narrator's own description). The Youth's explanation to his mother of what he desires in journeying to Europe merge onstage into the actual journey itself ("Merci Beaucoup, M. Godard"). Now in promiscuous Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
, with its easy access to drugs and sex ("Amsterdam"), the Youth experiences his first sense of acceptance when a young local, Marianna, invites him to live in her apartment without questioning his black identity ("Keys"). After squatting with Marianna and other free-spirited artists ("We Just Had Sex"), he finds he cannot write songs when he has nothing to complain about. Claiming paradise is a bore, he heads to Berlin, leaving behind Marianna, who tells him not to return ("Paradise").
Act 2 begins as the Youth arrives in politically chaotic West Berlin
West Berlin
West Berlin was a political exclave that existed between 1949 and 1990. It comprised the western regions of Berlin, which were bordered by East Berlin and parts of East Germany. West Berlin consisted of the American, British, and French occupation sectors, which had been established in 1945...
during a May Day riot ("May Day"), falling in with some of the protesters who are avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
performance artists ("Surface"). His integrity falters though when he misrepresents his identity as poor to be accepted by the revolutionary artists whom he now lives with, collectively called Nowhaus. Desi, his new girlfriend who is an activist, intellectual, and the Nowhaus leader, tells him that only love is real ("Damage"). In Berlin, though, he finds he can never bring himself to be honest about his background ("Identity"), though he relishes in the romanticized African-American stereotype he has tried to fulfill among his radical German friends ("The Black One"). Desi finally expresses her feelings that the Youth is concealing aspects of his true personality ("Come Down Now"). Meanwhile, he feels irritated by his heartsick mother's phone calls and offhandedly promises that he will come home to visit her when he has time. With Christmas approaching, the other members of Nowhaus suddenly return to their homes and families, leaving the Youth to try to convince Desi to stay with him during the holiday season, though the two consequently fight over their differing views on love and she leaves him ("Youth's Unfinished Song"). The Narrator's self-reflections promptly enter into the story ("Work the Wound"), concluding with the unexpected scene of the Youth at his mother's funeral. With this surprisingly dramatic event, the tone of the play shifts from largely comedic to suddenly heavy-hearted. In the eulogy
Eulogy
A eulogy is a speech or writing in praise of a person or thing, especially one recently deceased or retired. Eulogies may be given as part of funeral services. However, some denominations either discourage or do not permit eulogies at services to maintain respect for traditions...
for his mother, the Youth explains that although he rushed back to Los Angeles when he heard his mother was dying, she died before he could see her. The Narrator and the Youth encounter each other directly and in a serious moment for the first time as the Youth copes with his grief; dealing with the loss of the same mother, it is clear now that the Narrator and Youth are representations of the same man but at two different ages ("Passing Phase"). The Youth, after declaring that only art can correct the mistake known as life, resurrects his mother's spirit through his art ("Is It Alright?"). Ultimately, however, only the Narrator remains onstage; he professes the need for something beyond the real and that this is love ("Love Like That").
Roles and original Broadway cast
- Narrator — StewStew (musician)Mark Stewart , known by his stage name Stew, is a singer/songwriter/playwright from Los Angeles. In the early 1990s, he formed a band called The Negro Problem and later went on to release albums under his own name...
- Youth — Daniel BreakerDaniel Breaker-Life and career:Born in Manhattan, Kansas, the son of a career military officer, Breaker grew up partly in Germany and attended Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, a performing arts school in Florida. He then earned a BFA degree from the Juilliard School in 2002...
- Edwina/Marianna/Sudabey — De'Adre AzizaDe'Adre AzizaDe'Adre Danielle Aziza is an American actress and singer. She received a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for Passing Strange, in which she played "teenage goddess" Edwina Williams, Dutch neo-hippie Marianna, and German revolutionary/filmmaker Sudabey...
- Mother — Eisa Davis
- Mr. Franklin/Joop/Mr. Venus — Colman DomingoColman DomingoColman Domingo is an American actor, playwright and director.Domingo graduated from Temple University where he majored in journalism...
- Terry/Christophe/Hugo — Chad Goodridge
- Sherry/Renata/Desi — Rebecca Naomi Jones
Song list
Act 1- "Prologue"
- "We Might Play All Night" — Narrator and the Band
- "Colored Paradise" — Narrator and Band
- "Baptist Fashion Show" — Narrator, Band and Ensemble
- "Blues Revelation; Freight Train":
- "Listening is Waiting" † — Heidi (from the Band) and Narrator
- "Church Blues Revelation" — Reverend Jones, Narrator and Ensemble
- "Music is the Freight Train in which God Travels" — Narrator and Ensemble
- "Edwina Williams" — Edwina and Narrator
- "Arlington Hill" †; "Everything's Alright" — Narrator; Narrator and Ensemble
- "Sole Brother" — Youth, Terry and Sherry
- "Must've Been High" † — Narrator
- "Mom Song"; "PhilistinesPhilistinismPhilistinism is a derogatory term used to a particular attitude or set of values perceived as despising or undervaluing art, beauty, spirituality, or intellectualism. A person with this attitude is referred to as a Philistine and may also be considered materialistic, favoring conventional social...
" — Narrator, Mother and Ensemble; Youth and Ensemble - "Merci Beaucoup, M. GodardJean-Luc GodardJean-Luc Godard is a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter and film critic. He is often identified with the 1960s French film movement, French Nouvelle Vague, or "New Wave"....
" — Narrator and Stewardesses - "Amsterdam" — Band and Ensemble
- "Keys":
- "Keys #1 (Marianna)" — Marianna and Youth
- "Keys #2 (Narrator)" — Narrator
- "It's Alright" — Narrator and Ensemble
- "We Just Had Sex" — Youth, Marianna and Renata
- "Paradise":
- "Paradise/Stoned" ‡ — Youth, Marianna and Ensemble
- "Keys (Reprise)" † — Youth and Narrator
- "Paradise (Reprise)/Starting to Feel Real" ‡ — Youth, Marianna, Band and Ensemble
Act 2
- "May DayInternational Workers' DayInternational Workers' Day is a celebration of the international labour movement and left-wing movements. It commonly sees organized street demonstrations and marches by working people and their labour unions throughout most of the world. May 1 is a national holiday in more than 80 countries...
":- "Berlin: A Black Hole with Taxis" — Narrator
- "May Day (There's a Riot Goin' Down)" † — Narrator, Heidi, Youth, Nowhaus and Ensemble
- "Desi" † — Narrator, Youth, Desi and Ensemble
- "Ready to Explode" — Narrator and Ensemble
- "Surface (Mr. Venus's Riot Cabaret)":
- "What's Inside is Just a Lie" — Mr. Venus
- "Ready to Explode (Reprise)" — Mr. Venus, Youth and Ensemble
- "The System Does All Kinds of Damage" † — Narrator, Desi and Youth
- "Identity" — Youth
- "The Black One" — Narrator and Ensemble
- "Come Down Now":
- "Listening is Waiting (Reprise)" † — Heidi
- "Come Down Now" — Desi and Heidi
- "Starting to Feel Real (Reprise)" — Narrator, Desi, Heidi and Ensemble
- "Youth's Unfinished Song" — Youth
- "Work the Wound" — Narrator
- "Epilogue":
- "Passing Phase" — Youth and Narrator
- "Cue Music: Is It Alright?" † — Narrator and Mother
- "Love Like That" — Narrator and Heidi
- "It's Alright (EncoreEncore (concert)An encore is an additional performance added to the end of a concert, from the French "encore", which means "again", "some more"; multiple encores are not uncommon. Encores originated spontaneously, when audiences would continue to applaud and demand additional performance from the artist after the...
)" — Narrator and Ensemble
† In the staged performance, this song is heavily interspersed with or broken up by dialogue
Dialogue
Dialogue is a literary and theatrical form consisting of a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people....
and/or spoken narration.
‡ The two titles here enclosed within a single pair of quotation marks and separated by a slash
Slash (punctuation)
The slash is a sign used as a punctuation mark and for various other purposes. It is now often called a forward slash , and many other alternative names.-History:...
refer to two songs that play in counterpoint
Counterpoint
In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and rhythm and are harmonically interdependent . It has been most commonly identified in classical music, developing strongly during the Renaissance and in much of the common practice period,...
.
Passing Strange: The Movie
Director Spike LeeSpike Lee
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, has produced over 35 films since 1983....
made a permanent record of the Broadway production "for generations and generations to see" by filming the last three performances at the Belasco Theatre
Belasco Theatre
The Belasco Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 111 West 44th Street in midtown-Manhattan.-History:Designed by architect George Keister for impresario David Belasco, the interior featured Tiffany lighting and ceiling panels, rich woodwork and expansive murals by American artist...
. His documentary had its world premiere on January 16 at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
and opened at the IFC Center
IFC Center
IFC Center is an art house movie theater in Greenwich Village, New York City in the United States of America. It is located at 323 Sixth Avenue, on the former site of the Waverly Theater, which was itself a well known art house movie theater...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
's West Village on August 21, 2009.
Critical reaction
Reviews on and off Broadway were positive. Charles Isherwood wrote in The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
: "Although it is far richer in wit, feeling and sheer personality than most of what is classified as musical theater in the neighborhood around Times Square these days, its big heart throbs to the sound of electric guitars, searing synthesizer chords, driving drums and lyrics delivered not in a clean croon but a throaty yelp... Passing Strange is bursting at the seams with melodic songs, and it features a handful of theatrical performances to treasure... 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... I'll just call it wonderful, and a welcome anomaly on Broadway." Hilton Als praised the storyline of the musical in The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
: "Passing Strange is a brilliant work about migration — a geographical migration but also its hero’s migration beyond the tenets of “blackness” and toward selfhood. ...Stew, who created Passing Strange, which is an autobiography of sorts, doesn’t distract us with exoticism or nostalgia; his story centers on a young black man who discovers his own Americanness while growing up, first, in Los Angeles and, later, in Europe. The Youth (Daniel Breaker) is a rock-and-roll Candide — a wanderer whose innocence is never entirely corrupted."
Spike Lee's documentary of the play also received a positive review by A. O. Scott
A. O. Scott
Anthony Oliver Scott, known as A. O. Scott , is an American journalist and critic. He is a chief film critic for The New York Times, along with Manohla Dargis.-Background and education:...
in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
: "Here’s the strange thing. When I saw Spike Lee’s film adaptation, 'Passing Strange: The Movie,' in effect a video recording of a performance identical to the one I’d witnessed at the Belasco Theater in 2008, I was blown away. Loose ends ceased to dangle; soft spots were smoothed away and slow passages tightened up." Laremy Legel of Film.com called the film “vibrant and compelling” noting that Lee’s decision to shoot it as a play was the right one: “Spike Lee, to his credit, realized the beauty of the musical was right there on stage – no further tinkering was needed. Spike used 14 cameras at once to capture the action like it's never been done before. Amazingly, you never see a camera you weren't meant to see. Intimate shots were gathered in gorgeous high-definition over the course of three shows and seamlessly edited together. It's a technological triumph as well as an artistic one."
Original Broadway production
| Year | Award Ceremony | Category | Nominee | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Drama Desk Award Drama Desk Award The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category... |
Outstanding Musical Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical was first awarded at the 1974-1975 Drama Desk Awards and has been awarded every year since. Before the 21st Drama Desk Awards, acting awards were given without making distinctions between roles in straight dramas as opposed to musicals, nor were there... |
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| Outstanding Book of a Musical Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical is presented by the Drama Desk, a committee which comprises New York City theatre critics, writers, and editors... |
Stew Stew (musician) Mark Stewart , known by his stage name Stew, is a singer/songwriter/playwright from Los Angeles. In the early 1990s, he formed a band called The Negro Problem and later went on to release albums under his own name... |
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| Outstanding Actor in a Musical Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical was first awarded at the 1974-1975 Drama Desk Awards and has been awarded every year since... |
Daniel Breaker Daniel Breaker -Life and career:Born in Manhattan, Kansas, the son of a career military officer, Breaker grew up partly in Germany and attended Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, a performing arts school in Florida. He then earned a BFA degree from the Juilliard School in 2002... |
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| Outstanding Choreography Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Choreography -1970s:* 1970: Ron Field – Applause** No nominees* 1971: Michael Bennett – Follies and Donald Saddler – No, No, Nanette** No nominees* 1972: Patricia Birch – Grease and Jean Erdman – Two Gentlemen of Verona... |
Karole Armitage Karole Armitage Karole Armitage is an American dancer and choreographer currently based in New York City. She is Artistic Director of Armitage Gone! Dance, a contemporary ballet company that performs several times annually in New York City as well as touring internationally... |
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| Outstanding Lyrics Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics is an annual award presented by the Drama Desk, a committee of New York City theatre critics, writers, and editors... |
Stew Stew (musician) Mark Stewart , known by his stage name Stew, is a singer/songwriter/playwright from Los Angeles. In the early 1990s, he formed a band called The Negro Problem and later went on to release albums under his own name... |
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| Outstanding Music Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music is an annual award presented by the Drama Desk, a committee comprising New York City theatre critics, writers, and editors... |
Stew Stew (musician) Mark Stewart , known by his stage name Stew, is a singer/songwriter/playwright from Los Angeles. In the early 1990s, he formed a band called The Negro Problem and later went on to release albums under his own name... and Heidi Rodewald |
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| Outstanding Orchestrations Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Orchestrations The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Orchestrations is presented by the Drama Desk, a committee of New York City theatre critics, writers, and editors... |
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| Drama League Award Drama League Award The Drama League Awards, created in 1935, honor distinguished productions and performances both on Broadway and Off-Broadway, in addition to recognizing exemplary career achievements in theatre, musical theatre, and directing... |
Distinguished Production of a Musical | |||
| Distinguished Performance | Daniel Breaker Daniel Breaker -Life and career:Born in Manhattan, Kansas, the son of a career military officer, Breaker grew up partly in Germany and attended Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, a performing arts school in Florida. He then earned a BFA degree from the Juilliard School in 2002... |
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| Stew Stew (musician) Mark Stewart , known by his stage name Stew, is a singer/songwriter/playwright from Los Angeles. In the early 1990s, he formed a band called The Negro Problem and later went on to release albums under his own name... |
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| Lucille Lortel Award | Outstanding Musical | |||
| Outstanding Director | Annie Dorsen | |||
| Outstanding Lighting Design | Kevin Adams Kevin Adams For the NHL player, see Kevyn Adams.Kevin Adams is an American theatrical lighting designer. He has earned three Tony Awards for lighting design.-Biography:... |
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| New York Drama Critics' Circle Award New York Drama Critics' Circle The New York Drama Critics' Circle is made up of 24 drama critics from daily newspapers, magazines and wire services based in the New York City metropolitan area. The organization was founded in 1935 at the Algonquin Hotel by a group that included Brooks Atkinson, Walter Winchell, and Robert Benchley... |
Best Musical | |||
| Outer Critics Circle Award Outer Critics Circle Award The Outer Critics Circle Awards are presented annually for theatrical achievements both on and Off-Broadway and were begun during the 1949-1950 theater season. The awards are decided upon by theater critics who review for out-of-town newspapers, national publications, and other media outlets... |
Outstanding New Score | Stew Stew (musician) Mark Stewart , known by his stage name Stew, is a singer/songwriter/playwright from Los Angeles. In the early 1990s, he formed a band called The Negro Problem and later went on to release albums under his own name... and Heidi Rodewald |
||
| Theatre World Award Theatre World Award The Theatre World Award, first awarded for the 1945-46 season, is an American honor presented annually to actors and actresses in recognition of an outstanding New York City stage debut performance, either on Broadway or off-Broadway.-History:... |
Daniel Breaker Daniel Breaker -Life and career:Born in Manhattan, Kansas, the son of a career military officer, Breaker grew up partly in Germany and attended Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, a performing arts school in Florida. He then earned a BFA degree from the Juilliard School in 2002... |
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| De'Adre Aziza De'Adre Aziza De'Adre Danielle Aziza is an American actress and singer. She received a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for Passing Strange, in which she played "teenage goddess" Edwina Williams, Dutch neo-hippie Marianna, and German revolutionary/filmmaker Sudabey... |
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| Tony Award Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway... |
Best Musical Tony Award for Best Musical This is a list of winners and nominations for the Tony Award for Best Musical, first awarded in 1949. This award is presented to the producers of the musical.-1940s:* 1949: Kiss Me, Kate – Music and lyrics by Cole Porter, book by Samuel and Bella Spewack... |
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| Best Book of a Musical Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical The Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical is awarded to librettists of the spoken, non-sung dialogue, and storyline of a musical play. Eligibility is restricted to works with original narrative framework; plotless revues and revivals are ineligible... |
Stew Stew (musician) Mark Stewart , known by his stage name Stew, is a singer/songwriter/playwright from Los Angeles. In the early 1990s, he formed a band called The Negro Problem and later went on to release albums under his own name... |
|||
| Best Original Score Tony Award for Best Original Score The Tony Award for Best Original Score is the Tony Award given to the composers and lyricists of the best original score written for a musical in that year. The score consists of music and lyrics... |
Stew Stew (musician) Mark Stewart , known by his stage name Stew, is a singer/songwriter/playwright from Los Angeles. In the early 1990s, he formed a band called The Negro Problem and later went on to release albums under his own name... and Heidi Rodewald |
|||
| Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical The Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical is awarded to the actor who was voted as the best actor in a musical play, whether a new production or a revival... |
Stew Stew (musician) Mark Stewart , known by his stage name Stew, is a singer/songwriter/playwright from Los Angeles. In the early 1990s, he formed a band called The Negro Problem and later went on to release albums under his own name... |
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| Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical This is a list of the winners and nominations of Tony Award for the Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical. The award has been presented since 1947... |
Daniel Breaker Daniel Breaker -Life and career:Born in Manhattan, Kansas, the son of a career military officer, Breaker grew up partly in Germany and attended Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, a performing arts school in Florida. He then earned a BFA degree from the Juilliard School in 2002... |
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| Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical This is a list of the winners and nominations of the Tony Award for the Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical. The award, introduced in 1950, was previously named as Best Performance by a Featured or Supporting Actress in a Musical until 1976.... |
De'Adre Aziza De'Adre Aziza De'Adre Danielle Aziza is an American actress and singer. She received a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for Passing Strange, in which she played "teenage goddess" Edwina Williams, Dutch neo-hippie Marianna, and German revolutionary/filmmaker Sudabey... |
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| Best Orchestrations Tony Award for Best Orchestrations -1990s:1997*Jonathan Tunick – Titanic**Michael Gibson - Steel Pier**Luther Henderson - Play On!**Don Sebesky and Harold Wheeler - The Life1998*William David Brohn – Ragtime**Robert Elhai, David Metzger and Bruce Fowler - The Lion King... |
Stew Stew (musician) Mark Stewart , known by his stage name Stew, is a singer/songwriter/playwright from Los Angeles. In the early 1990s, he formed a band called The Negro Problem and later went on to release albums under his own name... and Heidi Rodewald |
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Passing Strange: The Movie
| Year | Award Ceremony | Category | Nominee | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Black Reel Award | Best Documentary | ||
| Best Ensemble Black Reel Award: Best Ensemble -Winners/Nominees:... |
||||
| Best Director Black Reel Award: Best Director -Winners/Nominees:... |
Spike Lee Spike Lee Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, has produced over 35 films since 1983.... |
|||
| Best Original or Adapted Song | "Keys" by Daniel Breaker Daniel Breaker -Life and career:Born in Manhattan, Kansas, the son of a career military officer, Breaker grew up partly in Germany and attended Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, a performing arts school in Florida. He then earned a BFA degree from the Juilliard School in 2002... and De'Adre Aziza De'Adre Aziza De'Adre Danielle Aziza is an American actress and singer. She received a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for Passing Strange, in which she played "teenage goddess" Edwina Williams, Dutch neo-hippie Marianna, and German revolutionary/filmmaker Sudabey... |
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External links
- Official web site
- "Drama Desk Nominees Announced; Catered Affair Garners 12 Noms", Playbill, April 28, 2008, Retrieved 5-2-2008
- "Young Frankenstein Tops Outer Critics Circle Awards Nominations", Playbill, April 21, 2008, Retrieved 5-2-2008
- "74th Annual Drama League Award Nominees Announced", Playbill, April 22, 2008, Retrieved 5-2-2008
- "Adding Machine Gets Six Lucille Lortel Noms; Opus, Passing Strange Recognized", Playbill, March 31, 2008, Retrieved 5-2-2008