Passing Strange

Original Broadway Cast - Passing Strange

Passing Strange
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CD Details

Artist: Original Broadway Cast
Brand: PBS
Edition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown)
Format: Soundtrack
CD Release Date: 2008-07-15
Music Label: Ghostlight
Soundtracks:
  1. Prologue (We Might Play All Night)
  2. Baptists Fashion Show
  3. Medley: Church Blues Revelation/Freight Train
  4. Arlington Hill
  5. Sole Brother
  6. Must Have Been High
  7. Mom Song
  8. Merci Beaucoup, M. Goddard
  9. Amsterdam
  10. Keys (Marianna)
  11. Keys (It's Alright)
  12. We Just Had Sex
  13. Stoned
  14. Berlin: A Black Hole With Taxis
  15. May Day (There's A Riot Goin' Down)
  16. Medley: What's Inside Is Just A Lie/And Now I'm Ready To Explode
  17. Identity
  18. The Black One
  19. Come Down Now
  20. Youth's Unfinished Song
  21. Work the Wound
  22. Passing Phase
  23. Cue Music
  24. Love Like That

Music reviews of Passing Strange

Music Review: A modern day Pippin... The REAL Deal
Rating: 5 Stars

In 1972, Broadway presented a young prince who yearned desperately to find something "completely fulfilling" in life. That prince was Pippin, son of Charles the Great. He sought for meaning and fulfillment in higher learning, war, sex, politics, religion, art, love and other things. Though set in the Roman Empire in the 9th century, Pippin's quest for purpose was representative of Everyman. Now in 2008, that quest is refreshingly and satisfactorily undertaken by the "Youth" in the phenomenal new musical, Passing Strange.

Passing Strange is subtitled "The Stew Musical" because it presents a semiautobiographical sketch of Stew; the writer of the book and lyrics, co-writer of the music, and the narrator in this recording. Stew's journey, though particularly his own (a California man's search for himself through Amsterdam and Berlin), is also universal. The main character, Youth, is searching for something real, or more poignantly, THE REAL. Not unlike Pippin, his search leads to experimentation with church, drugs, sex, philosophy/rebellion, music, etc. Throughout his journey, every new interest ends up a passing phase. No matter how exciting at first, each ends in ennui. In his words, "She's serving every one of my desires on a platter, but it doesn't even matter anymore... Paradise is a bore." His mother's experience is the same, "Having a big ol' house should make a woman sing... But then you gotta live in it and that's a whole `nother thing." The youth's path leads him in a roundabout from epiphany and fervor to emptiness and confusion.

What's this life for? Perhaps the answer to this universal question is uniquely personal. I am reminded of another musical, the musical episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer - "Once More with Feeling" (season six). Buffy finds herself struggling with life, yearning for something worth singing about. Spike's response, "Life's not a song, life isn't bliss. Life is just this: it's living." Stew sums it up this way: "The Real is a construct... It's the raw nerve's private zone... It's a personal sunset... You drive off into alone." As Pippin's narrator might have said, "Ta-da". Meaning, fulfillment, purpose... they are uniquely our own. So we live.

Beyond the meaning, the story is conveyed with wit, humor, and sincerity. Additionally, this production rocks! Stew, Heidi, and the band have nailed each number taking us authentically from a Holy Ghost Church service to angry punk to a German art-house and beyond. The band and actors all do a fantastic job - beautiful voices, cute accents, believable and touching portrayals. It is even more amazing when considered that this recording is a live performance. Passing Strange succeeds brilliantly both musically and narratively.
More Passing Strange free music reviews:
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Description of Passing Strange

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Following in the footsteps of Duncan Sheik and Spring Awakening, L.A.?s Stew (who?s released albums both solo and with his band, The Negro Problem) made the transition from the pop-rock scene to Broadway in 2008. The show for which he wrote the book and score, Passing Strange, was not as commercially successful as Spring Awakening, but from a musical point of view, it?s an even better, very funny, wildly inventive gem about shaping your identity. Backed by a rocking quartet that includes co-composer Heidi Rodewald on bass, Stew himself acts/sings the narrator, leading us through the coming of age of his hero, Youth (Daniel Breaker), from Southern California to Amsterdam to Berlin and back. Recorded live, this album captures the score?s energy and depth. The songs can be hard-hitting ("Merci Beaucoup, M. Godard," "Berlin: A Black Hole with Taxis"), but Stew writes particularly lovely ballads, like the heartbreaking "Arlington Hill," "Keys," "Come Down Now" and "Work the Wound," which gains power as it builds up to an angry climax. This is a great score that deserves to be heard. -- Elisabeth Vincentelli

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