PASSING STRANGE BROADWAY REVIEWS

Show	NY TIMES	NEWSDAY	USA TODAY	VARIETY	DAILY NEWS

Synopsis: An African-American rock musician's desire for authenticity takes him to some exotic locales to find the meaning of life.

Broadway Reviews

NEW YORK TIMES REVIEW:

""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,....bursting at the seams with melodic songs . . .""

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NEWSDAY REVIEW:

""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.""

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USA TODAY REVIEW:

""Who knew that it would take a bunch of German teenagers and Eurocentric bohemians to rehabilitate the American musical? " & "Strange's playful, passionate presentation will inspire comparisons to rock musicals such as Hair and Godspell. In the end, though, Strange is truly unlike anything you've seen on Broadway. Let's hope that it helps inspire more musical-theater artists — and producers — to dare to be different.""

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VARIETY REVIEW:

""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." & "Breaks the mold with electrifying inventiveness.""

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NEW YORK DAILY NEWS REVIEW:

""The story feels familiar and smacks of warmed-over Wizard of Oz. The stocky, bald Stew wears hipster shades and a dark suit as he narrates, sings and strums guitar. But he might as well be dressed in Dorothy Gale gingham and ruby slippers. What makes the show fresh is the music, which Stew wrote with Heidi Rodewald. Its rhythms and sounds go from hard-thumping rock and groovy blues to funk, punk and gospel....Director Annie Dorsen helped create Passing Strange, and her lively staging gives the show a restlessness to match the Youth's energetic spirit.""

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NEW YORK POST REVIEW:

""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." & "At the core of it is the altogether engaging Stew. He's a fine artist, and although Broadway may not be his alley, his offbeat beatness would be a delight to encounter in cabaret.""

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AM NEW YORK REVIEW:

""How can we best describe Passing Strange? Try thinking of your favorite musical. Now imagine what it would be like if its composer insisted on not just sitting center-stage, but narrating the plot and even telling you why it's a good show. Doesn't that sound condescending?""

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THEATERMANIA REVIEW:

""This fine and funky rock musical works even better on Broadway than it did at the Public Theater.""

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NEW YORK SUN REVIEW:

""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.""

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JOURNAL NEWS REVIEW:

""This show's two major assets are a great, big heart - surprising, as it comes through Stew's super-cool persona - and a wonderful sense of humor that keeps bubbling up unexpectedly. I love this show, which is so different from the standard Broadway musical that it demands its own category. It may be a hard sell to the traditional Broadway audience, but it should draw a whole new crowd to Broadway.""

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