Passing Strange, with book and lyrics by Stew and music by Heidi Rodewald and Stew, starring Stew and directed by Annie Dorsen, is basically an engaging music concert with the four-piece band on stage. The show starts with a few chairs and elevator pits as its set.
Stew is a charismatic performer/narrator with a mellow but strong singing voice, and it's a pleasure to hear him. The story is simplistic as it expresses a not-fully-formed black consciousness, but protagonist Daniel Breaker as a young man trying to find his life's path is excellent in his range from quietly subtle to wide open and filling the house.
The women are terrific: Elisa Davis, de'Adre Aziza and Rebecca Naomi Jones -- a lot of energy, good voices. It's an uneven show as it goes beyond the limits of its form, including a lame attempt at satirizing French movies. Then comes a section on Amsterdam, and an upstage wall of light, colorful bars and spots, is revealed. It's a kind of throwback to "Hair" and its sexual revolt and exploration, and it gives us a naïve, teenage-level view of smoking marijuana as the young man tries to find his music.
This is where a major flaw in the show is clearly seen -- there is a lot of jumping around (a choreographer, Karole Armitage is named in the program), but no dancing. It really could use some.
Act 2 finds us in Berlin, with a not-engaging mocking of German Performance Art. Breaker's charm shines through as he progresses through this crude satire of German artist/rebels, and Stew's last big number rocks the house.
Interestingly, this show, about the struggles of a black musician has all-black performers and a white four-piece band. Everybody's really good.
All in all I had a good time, but it is not, to me, a Broadway show. It's a good music concert.
