'Passing Strange' Transfers to Broadway Feb. 2008

Passing Strange, an original narrative musical which made its acclaimed and extended engagement at the Public Theatre last summer, will arrive on Broadway in February 8, 2008 at the Belasco Theatre; officially opening February 28, 2008.

Performance dates and tickets (on-sale through Telecharge) will be available shortly.  The Belaso Theatre is located at 111 West 44th Street, New York.

Passing Strange is a new rock musical by singer/songwriter and performance artist Stew and Heidi Rodewald.  A co-production with Berkeley Repertory Theatre that was developed at the Sundance Theatre Lab and at the Stanford Institute for Creativity and the Arts, Passing Strange made its New York premiere May 1 at the Public Theatre.  

Annie Dorsen directs, with choreography by Karole Armitage.  The Passing Strange design team includes David Korins (sets), Elizabeth Hope Clancy (costumes) and Kevin Adams (lighting).

"Passing Strange takes musical theatre on a whole new trip," state press notes, "Stew, a popular performer at Joe's Pub, was commissioned by The Public and Berkeley Rep to develop this moving and hilarious story of a young black bohemian in search of self and home who charts a course for "the real" through sex, drugs, and rock and roll...It's a quirky journey from L.A. to authenticity, crossing boundaries of place, identity, and theatrical convention on the way.  Stew's unique sound has been dubbed Afro-Baroque cabaret, and Entertainment Weekly has twice named his CDs 'Album of the Year."

The entire off-Broadway company of Passing Strange will follow the project to the Belasco, showcasing the talents of African-American actors and singers, who performed in the Berkeley Rep production this past fall.  The cast features de'Adre Aziza, Daniel Breaker (Bway: Lisa Kron's Well; off-Bway: Fabulation with Playwrights Horizons, Pericles with The Culture Project), Eisa Davis (Showtime's "Soul Food"), Colman Domingo (off-Bway: American Maul, Bright Ideas, Henry V, Up Jumped Springtime, and Wet; director Single Black Female), Chad Goodridge (off-Bway: Cherry Lane Theatre in The Debate over Courtney O'Connell and Home Free!), Rebecca Naomi Jones (Fallen Angel of New York International Fringe Festival; tour: Caroline, or Change).

Stew is the critically acclaimed singer, songwriter, founder, and leader of The Negro Problem, a pop rock combo from Los Angeles. The group's albums "Post Minstrel Syndrome "and "Joys & Concerns" garnered nationwide acclaim and numerous accolades. In 2000, Stew and Rodewald co-founded the Afro-Baroque cabaret ensemble known as STEW, and their CD Guest Host was named 'Album of the Year' by Entertainment Weekly.

Heidi Rodewald is the thinner, lighter half of the multidisciplinary ensemble known as STEW. For almost a decade she has been a performer, arranger, producer, and composer in both STEW and The Negro Problem. With Stew, she co-wrote the screenplay We Can See Today and, when it was invited to the 2005 Sundance Screenwriters Lab, they became the only artists ever to have projects in both the Film and Theatre Labs simultaneously.

Photos by Kevin Berne