Passing Strange

I stumbled on this as part of the 'Showtime' cable offering in 2014. The description was: "A young African-American travels to Europe on a journey of self-discovery in order to explore music and become a successful artist" Seriously.

Not: "The Tony award winning Broadway musical that uses styles from Gospel to Punk Rock to illustrate the globe-trotting soul searching journey of a young man searching for "The Real" of life. Directed by Spike Lee and featuring the music of Mark Stewart ('The Negro Problem')." I am a huge fan of 'The Negro Problem' and recognized Mark Stewart's voice instantly. I would rate this up with 'Jesus Christ Superstar' as an epic musical.

See it.

Two of my favorite scenes in movie history in the same movie:

Arlington Hill, where the Rev. Franklin's son talks about experiencing Europe through the eyes of films (Bergman's Persona, Fellini's La Dolce Vita, Godard's Band of Outsiders), and then his rather frank discussion of slaves, cowards, and black people passing for black. Slaves have options - escape, revolt, death. Cowards have... consequences.

Keys, when Marianna sings about giving him the keys to her Amsterdam apartment and opening up her world to him. We're your new family, man.

I think I could watch these scenes everyday of my life and not get tired of them.

"All this might seem obscure, that would depend on who you are." Stew's line that is easy to miss is a good tagline for Passing Strange. I had been waiting over a year to see Spike Lee's filmed version of the Broadway musical. I was lucky enough to see it during its too brief run at the Belasco Theater and it really changed my life. Its corny to say it, but Passing Strange of art really did affect me like no other work of art ever has. It really spoke to where I was at in my life at the time when I saw it. So Passing Strange was filmed by Spike Lee to preserve the show forever and from the moment a director was announced, I became unbearably eager to see the finished product. It got shown on the film festival circuit to nearly universal rave reviews which intensified my desire to see the film. I finally got to catch the film on Pay-Per-View at my girlfriend's parents' house. The verdict? It was truly amazing and just as touching, but very different. Seeing a show live and seeing something filmed are very different experiences because in seeing live theater, your eyes can wander to whatever actor you so desire. In a film, the camera tells you what to look at. So in that regard, the show was different. Also, since a camera can get very close to the actor's face, the emotional impact of the actors was much stronger. One of the aspects that I really picked up on during this viewing was how connected every aspect of this show is. Everything you see and hear happens for a reason and each interaction furthers the main character's story bit by bit. I was also taken by the poetry that is Stew's script. So many portions of the script just flow because of the lyrical quality of his writing. My girlfriend watched the film with me because I have been raving about PS for as long as I've known her. She owed it to me because she made me sit through Legally Blonde the Musical. She did not get into the show or follow it very easily both because of the way the story was presented (the plot jumps in and out a bit) and because she didn't get into some of the more performance art elements of the movie. So for this reason, I will say that Passing Strange is not for everyone. Passing Strange is not your typical musical. It is experimental. It will make you think. It is full of pop culture references. It expresses truths about life. It is a heavy piece of musical drama, but it is also highly entertaining if you can get into it. Needless to say, I highly recommend this movie and, honestly, I'm so attached to the show at this point that if you've seen it, no matter your opinion of the film actually is, I will respect you.

I just hope that it does well in Pay-Per-View and on DVD eventually because, like the Broadway show, they don't seem to be advertising this film very well...

It's difficult to imagine what the few "taste makers" who flogged this lame ego piece to a failed Broadway run saw in the performances they saw Off-Broadway to try and make it the darling of the artistic set or what anyone other than a press agent or Spike Lee sycophant sees in this problematic DVD previously shown on the "festival circuit" and (on the release date of the DVD) on PBS.

Welcoming "rock" musicians back to theatre writing is an admirable, even essential idea, but it's best done when the artist in question has a basic love for the theatre - as in Cyndi Lauper's Tony winning score for the 2013 KINKY BOOTS - or is persuaded to work with those who who know what they are doing. Try it with a self indulgent "talent" like Stew with a contempt for the genre (expressed explicitly at the cast album recording session and in this filmed performance where he makes it clear that he doesn't like being locked into a fixed "book" and the show will never be revived - even if its lack of commercial success had not assured that already) and it's a recipe for disaster - which is what the Broadway run, recorded here at the closing performance, was. As with any fiasco from BUTTRIO SQUARE to CARRIE, there were a vocal few transported by things that seemed fresh to them, but not enough to keep the show or the film alive in any commercial sense. Sadly, sometimes the verdict of commerce is correct.

During the run of what is essentially a narrated rock concert with second or third tier "rock" music (there are three or four interesting "character" songs and the young Stew's sojourn in Amsterdam *almost* catches fire) hung on the barest of frameworks of Stew's reminiscences of parts of his life (for which he won an indefensible Tony Award for "Best Book" - the show's only, but few seriously expected it to win more - some feared the show's noisy exponents might lift it to one for Stew himself for what amounted to a "personal appearance"), we were told by many friends that Stew's cast album (recorded excerpts done in a fairly normal recording session but, for publicity reasons, in the theatre where the show played, before a live audience who paid for the privilege of observing - Stew narrated for the first few numbers until he got bored and told the audience "you don't need this ****" - the four letter euphemism for excrement is a prohibited word on IBDB, but Stew's own referring to his book!) would have a virtual lock on the Grammy Award because "everyone in the music business" knew and loved Stew.

That claim turned out to be a press agent's (or Stew's) fantasy - the album wasn't even nominated! With the death of the "brick and mortar" record and CD store where we could actually SEE who was selling "in the bins", skeptics were left wondering if Stew WAS even a successful rock artist as the show and its hype claimed, or just another "wanna-be" jazz musician with a good press agent.

This messily packaged DVD was made because Stew WAS able to persuade genius film maker Spike Lee that he (Stew) was another self made genius, and throw his name and money behind the project. Before seeing the result, there was considerable concern that the result might be just a documentary on the show without really SHOWING much of it. That fear at least was allayed. All that's here (other than the usual backstage features as "extras") is a filming of the closing performance - although it's an open question how much a new viewer - even one who might have enjoyed the show - will GET it, given the WAY it's filmed.

It's hard to determine from the finished product how much film maker Spike Lee was actually allowed to do. Rather than elevating the project to Lee's level of inventiveness, we're left with a bad concert badly filmed with madly illogical, unilluminating camera angles frequently blocking the story or the person actually singing, and close-ups which make 1950's television look sensitive and rarely adding any style or point of view to the event being filmed.

Any Broadway "completist" will have to have this disc anyway - it was filmed in the beautiful Belasco Theatre with the cast that actually played the show for its 165 somewhat forced performances (Feb 28 - July 20, 2008), and the supporting cast at least is fully professional - even admirable. Daniel Breaker is particularly good as "Youth" (the Young Stew), although the close-ups and camera angles do him no favors.

It just isn't a very good show to begin with, and very poorly filmed. What a pity.

Thanks to Spike Lee, we are finally able to experience one of the very best musicals of the last few years on screen and what a helluva of experience this is. Tony-winning Passing Strange is not your ordinary rock musical as it uses a wide variety of music styles exploring such genres as soulful blues, energetic punk rock, brutal new wave, gospel and cabaret. The force behind this spectacle is Stew, the musician who wrote and co-arranged the whole performance. He is also the narrator displaying his impressive skills especially in singing. Overall, what an amazing guy he is! His partly autobiographical story is universally relatable depicting a young man's struggle for artistic fulfillment. As the main character travels to Europe, Stew spices it with brilliant cultural satire deeply ingrained in history. He steers clear of being oversentimental and often provides us with auto-irony, which is crucial when you want to make people laugh. He even goes as far as to comment on his role as an artist/creator and nails it perfectly building to an ecstatic finale filled with uncontrolled joy. Besides, Passing Strange features superb performances from every single member of the extremely talented cast. Some of them had a difficult task channeling many characters like Colman Domingo, particularly incredible as controversial musician Mr. Venus. I couldn't resist the charms of De'Adre Aziza and Rebecca Jones who appeared to be extremely versatile actresses as well as fabulous singers. Daniel Breaker in a leading role also delivered top-notch performance encompassing the whole range of emotions. Spike Lee's cutting is fast, dynamic and hyper-kinetic to the point that the filmed performance resembles an actual movie. The camera is always in the right place frequently showing sweat on the faces of ideally synchronized performers. To conclude, Passing Strange ranks among the most unforgettable movies I've ever seen. It's refreshing, exhilarating and very special for me.