PASSING STRANGE Film on Ch 13 (PBS) tonite, NY 9 pm. Yay! — Page 2

Guess you missed Smokey Joe's Cafe and Ain't Misbehavin'.

Yeah, I know what you mean.

I hear ya.

You should see CABIN IN THE SKY!

Regardless of the goofball racist poster, seaweed, how did you miss PASSING STRANGE being a Black person thing?

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Namo - I know that the show has a predominately black cast, but I guess I never looked at it as being a "black person thing". I guess if your definition of a black person thing is something created by a black person, then yes, Passing Strange is a "black person thing". I thought Barocko's comment was saying that Passing Strange was something that was geared towards black people. Sorry if I was unclear. (I should've looked at his profile before I posted anyway......all of his posts are unneccessary and annoying)

I find this an interesting point about Passing Strange. I'm a white Australian, and related very strongly to it. I guess we take what we want from the things we see. The "Negro dialect" joke at the beginning relaxed me as a white audience member and made me recognise that this could be about me, and as it went on I realised it practically was about me in many ways - rejection of the middle class, mainly. It's sense of humour and self-consciousness actually reminds me a lot of that in the Stuff White People Like book/blog. Ultimately you hope that any good theatre piece extends itself beyond its obvious roots, and Passing Strange did for me, very much so.

I loved Passing Strange. I liked it more the second and third time though. I went to one of the first previews which was not as good. I adore Stew and his music and interviewing him was a dream come true.

I saw the film at IFC and really loved it and saw it three times on Broadway.

STEW RULES!!!! Feel the real.

Colman is my favorite part of the show though. I love SCARY COLMAN! What's inside is just a lie!!!!!

Good points, Square Peg2. I hadn't though of Stuff White People like, but it's good comparison. I'm neither white nor black, but enjoy both SWPL and Passing Strange.

And I wonder, those people who oppose "color blind casting", were they able to understand the show when white European characters were played by African-American actors? Did "The Black One" make any sense, when all the actors on stage were black?

I thought the actors were phenomenal, playing, as they were, so many different characters. And the way the show, without use of realistic sets, transports you from suburban LA to Amsterdam and Berlin. But we're able to imagine all those things, and see the actors as slacker teens or white European artists, and see Stew as both a part of (and outside of) the action taking place--while at the same time the story is about him.

Edit: Here's Stuff White People Like for those who don't know it. It's hilarious. http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/

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Updated On: 1/16/10 at 10:33 AM

Just watched our local PBS showing. I had only snippets of this prior and both my husband and I were pleasantly surprised. The music is great and the book engaging. My only issue is with Spike Lee's direction. The mainly claustrophobic, tight shots really made me wish someone with a better Broadway sensibility had filmed and edited it. I felt like I was losing quite a bit of the performances and the natural energy of the piece.