PASSING STRANGE Reviews- Page 2

[jaystarr]

Posted: 2/28/08 at 8:32pm

oopsie..double post

J* Updated On: 2/28/08 at 08:32 PM

[Kalimba]

Posted: 2/28/08 at 8:53pm

Wow, my opinion of someone just changed.

[jaystarr]

Posted: 2/28/08 at 8:58pm

I thought Broadway.com's Word of Mouth is a RAVE?

http://www.broadway.com/gen/General.aspx?ci=561554

Click to see some of the clips of the show...

J*
Updated On: 2/28/08 at 08:58 PM

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 2/28/08 at 9:01pm

Mostly positive from the Hollywood Reporter:

""Passing Strange" represents one of the more audacious attempts to bring rock 'n' roll to Broadway, and what it lacks in cohesion and theatrical imagination, it makes up for with musical passion and energy.

This semi-autobiographical, semi-staged musical features a book and lyrics by the acclaimed singer-songwriter Stew (Heidi Rodewald collaborated on the music), and it seemed far more at home in the confines of the Public Theater, where it played last year. But like the current hit "Spring Awakening," it may well succeed in its clear attempt to bring new, younger audiences to the Great White Way."

http://www.reuters.com/article/artsNews/idUSN2860664020080229


And positive from the Chicago Tribune

"Hardly strange but possibly passing though, Stew’s amped-up “Passing Strange” is the newest, mostly likable entry on a growing slate of new, rock-oriented musicals looking either to test the limits of what constitutes a Broadway musical or (if you prefer more revolutionary rhetoric) crash through the prior rules of engagement, except the ticket price to get through the door.

It will spawn renewed debate on whether this show will change Broadway, or Broadway has changed. a show that came from kinder, gentler quarters at the Public Theater downtown after much out-of-town development. Young ad execs will develop Internet-based marketing campaigns to attract the “Spring Awakening” groupies who have enough pocket money for another show and the “Rent”-heads, whose beloved rock-musical icon is about to close.

But regardless of the formative experimentation, the volume of the music and the diversity of the cast, “Passing Strange” really is just as traditionally sentimental a show as something by Jerry Herman. And therein lays both its Achilles heel and, paradoxically, many of its undeniable pleasures."

http://leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com/the_theater_loop/2008/02/passing-strange.html

[kidmanboy]

Posted: 2/28/08 at 9:06pm

I can't help but be confused on how someone, no matter what they think of this show, could consider it "thematically slight" as the reuters review does. Even if you think the show is short on narrative, it's certainly heavy on theme, I think.

[perfectliar]

Posted: 2/28/08 at 9:29pm

Even if this does become the best-reviewed show of the season, I don't see it winning Best Musical.... no one wants to see it.

[WaltSummersPI]

Posted: 2/28/08 at 9:34pm

and the Times Rave!

"But “Passing Strange” just ain’t a show tune kinda show, despite its arrival at a venerable Broadway theater where many a gotta-leave-this-town anthem has surely been sung. Although it is far richer in wit, feeling and sheer personality than most of what is classified as musical theater in the neighborhood around Times Square these days, its big heart throbs to the sound of electric guitars, searing synthesizer chords, driving drums and lyrics delivered not in a clean croon but a throaty yelp."
Isherwood Updated On: 2/28/08 at 09:34 PM

[jaystarr]

Posted: 2/28/08 at 9:35pm

Great!

J*

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 2/28/08 at 9:38pm

Now THAT is a money review.

[Caroline-Q-or-TBoo]

Posted: 2/28/08 at 9:39pm

SO SO SO excited! I'm about to buy my tickets. where's the best place to sit, do you guys think?

[WaltSummersPI]

Posted: 2/28/08 at 9:41pm

Honestly, I think anywhere in the orch or mezz at the Belasco is fine.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 2/28/08 at 9:41pm

Even the balcony is fine - if you don't mind going through a separate entrance.

[CapnHook]

Posted: 2/28/08 at 9:43pm

I see it Saturday night! I'm STOKED!

[Caroline-Q-or-TBoo]

Posted: 2/28/08 at 9:56pm

my discount code had expired yesterday! BAHHH

but i really want to see this-

so I knuckled down and went full price.

SO EXCITED!

[LimelightMike]

Posted: 2/28/08 at 11:15pm

I AM BEYOND STOKED FOR THIS COMING WEDNESDAY!
Here's to PASSING STRANGE, the best new musical of '08!

[blaxx]

Posted: 2/28/08 at 11:44pm

Even if this does become the best-reviewed show of the season, I don't see it winning Best Musical.... no one wants to see it.

You're right! I'm so silly, how could I forget when the Tony committee changed the category from Best New Musical to Best Musical that Everyone Wants To See? My bad.

[Testing1232]

Posted: 2/28/08 at 11:48pm

Very happy for them !!!! :))

[myManCape]

Posted: 2/28/08 at 11:48pm

"But please don’t call it a Broadway musical. You could scare away too many people who might actually enjoy it."

That sums this show up perfectly. I am so happy for these reviews hopefully they can increase ticket sales.

[leefowler]

Posted: 2/28/08 at 11:48pm

I couldn't be happier! After loving this show like nothing else I've seen in years, I think it might actually find an audience.

Updated On: 2/28/08 at 11:48 PM

[Testing1232]

Posted: 2/29/08 at 12:16am

Bumping with a current discount code--

www.broadwayoffers.com

CODE: PSPLM82

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 2/29/08 at 1:11am

I think it's pretty interesting that Isherwood compared it to SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE.
I wish I could go ahead and see this, but I doubt (though I hope) it will be running in the summer.

[Corine2]

Posted: 2/29/08 at 1:20am

Give Matt a break! Updated On: 2/29/08 at 01:20 AM

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 2/29/08 at 1:30am

I definitely agree with the Sunday in the Park parallels. That was one of the most distinct things about the show to me, actually. It's got those really similar themes about love being sacrificed for art, and loving art so much that you cannot fully love another person. There's a part in the show where the Youth is basically like, "well, I'm writing this song about you and that means I love you," and the girl essentially tells him that no, she doesn't want to be a song, she wants to be loved. She wants a real, human connection that being written about in a song, which may be beautiful and flattering, cannot give her. That is so Sunday in the Park With George. Granted, Sondheim handles those themes in a much more moving way, but they're definitely central to Passing Strange, too.

[BustopherPhantom]

Posted: 2/29/08 at 8:41am

Clive Barnes gives the show 2 1/2 Stars out of 4:

HOW best to describe "Passing Strange," which strangely passed from downtown's Public Theater to the uptown Belasco?

Devised by the plump, stately singer/songwriter Stew (real name behind the shades: Mark Stewart) and Heidi Rodewald, is it a pop punk-rock concert without the hoopla - or a lounge act without the lounge?

As a rock concert with a theme, it's not exactly a show that could play Madison Square Garden, and at about 21/2 hours, it clocks in far too long for a lounge act...

http://www.nypost.com/seven/02292008/entertainment/theater/its_not_strange_to_warm_up_to_hearty_ste_99706.htm

[BustopherPhantom]

Posted: 2/29/08 at 8:43am

Bloomberg (Jeremy Gerard) is Very Positive:

If you've heard that ``Passing Strange' is a rock concert in Broadway-musical drag, that's pretty close to the truth. This charming, high-volume tale of a young man's journey to self-knowledge constantly threatens to veer off gleefully into free-form chaos. That's illusory, however. Stew, the single-named musical Wiz behind this trippy journey to Oz, is completely in control.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601098&sid=aqXMmRYHBJ7s&refer=movie