Steve On Broadway (SOB)

Broadway's Strange Opening Night

Broadway's Strange Opening Night

Arguably the quirkiest musical to tread the Broadway boards this season -- or in years for that matter -- Passing Strange opens this evening at the Belasco Theatre.

To say it's been a long and winding road on the path to the Great White Way would be an major understatement.

The creation of Stew (née Mark Stewart), Passing Strange is based on the bohemian musician's formative adult years, beginning in LA, with stops in Amsterdam and Berlin and back. It's brought to life through his book, along with the score he co-wrote with Heidi Rodewald, one of his bandmembers from the Negro Problem.

But the decidedly downtown show's path to Broadway began with a collaboration between The Public Theater and the Berkeley Rep, first playing New York last summer during an extended gig before transferring to California's Bay Area.

Now, the tuner is back in the Big Apple, and it's on Broadway.

The show's MySpace page describes the show as:

...the story of a young black bohemian, who abandons his bourgeois roots to journey to Europe searching for "the real." Discovering a world of sex, drugs, rock and roll and art revolutionaries, our rebel-hero explores love, identity and the meaning of home.

Passing Strange is directed by Annie Dorsen and choreographed by Karole Armitage. The musical not only features Stew and his band as an integral part of the staging, but stars Daniel Breaker as Stew's younger self, along with De'Adre Aziza, Eisa Davis, Colman Domingo, Chad Goodridge and Rebecca Naomi Jones.

Might this just become this season's little tuner that could? Find out tomorrow as I not only provide my critics' capsule, but I'll offer my very own SOB Review.

This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).

Click here for tickets.
Related Stories:
Strange Stagefellows (February 20, 2008)
Passing Strange Jersey Boys And Rock 'N' Roll: Downbeat Box Office (February 19, 2008)
Stranger Things Have Happened! (October 19, 2007)
Passing Strange To Broadway? (October 16, 2007)

Labels: Broadway, Daniel Breaker, Heidi Rodewald, Musical, Opening Night, Passing Strange, Stew, The Negro Problem

posted by Steve On Broadway (SOB) @ Thursday, February 28, 2008