Stew guides you through the whole thing. At first, I thought he would get annoying. Who the hell does he think he is? Narrating the whole story in song, and with an electric guitar!?
Stew ends up becoming your friend, and you learn to love Passing Strange, a new New York musical, the more it continues. You understand the main character's (not Stew) deepset attachment to music. Its a part of him, despite the fact that he's no good. The young man does performance pieces in Berlin, and love-making in Amsterdam. Stew steers you through the young man's life, city by city, and gives witty introductions to the characters, that you would likely think to yourself, but he's there with you! A guiding light. A shining beacon of truth. And then, he'll break the 4th wall and speak to you personally.
Throughout the musical, the youth, as he has no name, is searching for "the real." What the "real" world is like, outside of Crenshaw, the Los Angeles District. His journey makes him realize what is truly most important to him, a ((warning~~Made Up Word) monomythical model. During his enlightenment, Stew dictates a personal anecdote:
Stew: So I'm hanging with this man at the Telephone Bar in the East Village. Y'all know where that is?
Audience: (a low mumble)
Stew: Anyway, this man sells pretzels in Astor Place. You know, a pretzel vendor. So we were hanging out at this bar. And he tells me, "You know what your main character is looking for the whole time. The Real? Well the Real can't be found in the real world."
He continues to elaborate pretzel man's story until Stew responds moved: "Damn Pretzel Man. You're a deep motherfucker." When Stew shares this moment with you, its just you him and his guitar.
The music is stunningly fun and freakishly rocking. The participation, inclusion, and visibility of the live rock band awoke you to the music in the youth's head and made you part of Stew's creative process. Yet, due to this awesome live band is probably the show's biggest drawback: the steep learning curve. There's some adjustment time to not having fields of dancing lunatics clapping and jumping and screaming to your entertainment. The dancing in Passing Strange is much more subdued, personal movements of human beings and not lion kings. But you're not expecting this. You want shimmer and shine, but you get "the real." So, there's an adjustment period.
Anyway, Passing Strange rocks. period. You find yourself slowly falling into the "youth's" life and and stumbling into Stew's witty and insightful narration. Suddenly you're enveloped in a whole new world. The very reason we experience art. Yet the question as to what the experience is remains unanswered throughout the show (till the end, where these questions are kind of answered). Is art an escape from reality? Or the closest thing we can get to it?
Go find out for yourself. Balcony seats are only $66 bucks a pop and the Belasco Theater is pretty small so you'll still be able to see well.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
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