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"Exhilarating, hard-rocking . . . New Line rocks on in Passing Strange!"
– Judith Newmark, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
"It's an exciting mélange of musical styles, with seven outstanding performers sizzling across the stage. . .
It's an interesting, fast-paced evening of musical theater with an exciting score,
typical of the off-beat, difficult-to-characterize New Line productions."
– Joe Pollack, St. Louis Eats and Drinks
"The energy and emotion of this production is potent. . .
New Line knows what it’s doing and it shows."
– Harry Hamm, KMOX
"New Line's season opener rocks. Literally."
– St. Louis Theatre Snob
"This production by New Line Theatre provides a passionate experience, emboldened by
excellent performances and top notch direction, and driven by superb work from the musicians."
– BroadwayWorld
"Passing Strange is no Sound of Music and the audience is better for it. . .
You won’t find a more daring, unexpected or entertaining evening of theater anywhere else in St. Louis.."
– Java Journal
Click here to check out all the reviews.
The universe is a toy In the mind of a boy. And life is a movie too, Starring you. Your whole family's the cast and crew. It's a little secret between God and you. . . . 'Cuz the Real is a construct. It's the raw nerve's private zone. It's a personal sunset You walk off into alone. – Passing Strange: The Musical From middle-class Los Angeles to sexually adventurous Amsterdam to politically subversive Berlin and back again, PASSING STRANGE takes musical theatre on a whole new trip. From singer-songwriter-performance artist Stew and his collaborator Heidi Rodewald comes a daring new rock musical that will take you on a journey across boundaries of place, identity and theatrical convention. Stew, a popular performer at Joe's Pub, was commissioned by The Public Theater in New York to develop this heartfelt and hilarious story of a young bohemian who charts a course for “the real” through sex, drugs and rock and roll. Loaded with soulful lyrics and overflowing with passion, the show takes off from middle-class America on a worldwide quest for personal and artistic authenticity. Well-known St. Louis singer and entertainer Charles Glenn (King Herod in New Line Theatre's Jesus Christ Superstar in 2006) starred as the Narrator in New Line's fall 2011 premiere of this amazing rock musical, and he was honored by Judy Newmark in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch with a Judy Award for Best Actor in a Musical for 2011. The cast also included Keith Parker (the Youth), Talichia Noah (Mother), Jeanitta Perkins (Sherry/Renata/Desi), Andrea Purnell (Edwina/Marianna/ Sudabey), John Reed II (Franklin/Joop/Mr. Venus), and Cecil Washington Jr. (Terry/Christophe/Hugo). ► Check out these cool video interviews with the cast.
Watch scenes from New Line Theatre's Passing Strange
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Want
to explore more? We recommend:
The Passing Strange
original cast album, the
published script Director Scott Miller's continually evolving background and analysis essay about Passing Strange. Or read Miller's other show essays by clicking here. Several video interviews with the St. Louis cast of Passing Strange, as well as behind-the-scenes video. New Line's Passing Strange blogs -- Scott Miller's Blog, Keith Parker's Blog, and Jeanitta Perkins' Blog A great interview with Stew about the original production, and a more detailed biography of Stew A great NPR interview with Stew and Heidi about the show A great New York Times article, "Stew in Africa: A Long Time Coming" The monograph Negotiating the 'Negro Problem': Stew's Passing (Made) Strange
Allen Woll's great book
Black Musical Theatre: From Coontown to Dreamgirls
Other surrealistic, autobiographical works of art, including Federico Fellini's
8 1/2
Several films referenced by Mr.
Franklin in Passing Strange, including Ingmar Bergman's
Persona; Federico Fellini's
La Dolce Vita
James Baldwin's novels,
Giovanni's Room and Another Country
The book
Passing Strange: Shakespeare, Race, and Contemporary America St. Louis History in Black and White on the KWMU website |