Yes, I love PBS. They seem to keep the art of the “documentary” alive with their programs: American Masters, Great Performances, American Experience etc.
This week, the filmed version of the play, “Passing Strange” is coming to the Great Performances series. Spike Lee documented the last 3 days of the musical’s Broadway run (it won the 2008 Tony for Best Book) originally for HBO, but it will be released in DVD next week and also be shown on PBS.
I saw the play 2 years ago and loved it. It is clever, funny and has great music. The terrific band, whose members, along with the few actors, tell the story of a black young man, “Stew”, trying to look for the “real” by moving from middle class L.A, where he feels he doesn’t fit in and everything is a fraud, to Amsterdam and Germany.
In Europe, he is more “American”, than he was in California. To gain friends and acceptance in the avant garde scene, his new girl friend is only impressed with the oppressed, he “passes” as the stereotype of a ghetto youth and writes songs about the “struggle”. After doing this for a few years, he wonders what if the only thing real is your “art” and “reality” is phony?
He eventually returns to America to pursue his art and just be himself. He is amazed that the direction of his life was decided by the decisions he made as a teenager.
Serious questions, but told with humor and music. Hard to describe, a different type of musical, but, very entertaining.
“Passing Strange”, Book and lyrics by Stew, Music by Stew and Heidi Roderwald
Directed by Spike Lee
