Stirred by Stew in Passing Strange

After seeing Passing Strange, the buzz-iest play going (and soon closing) at the Public Theater, I was dumbstruck. Lord have mercy, our main man Stew puts on a show. Perhaps the best of the slew of rock musicals going (Tony-bestowed Spring Awakening among them) this jamming journey follows the artistic self-discovery of a bored middle class African American, simply called Youth. Traveling from Los Angeles to Amsterdam to Berlin, art becomes life for Stew's alter-ego (played with doe-eyed glee by Daniel Breaker) and love nothin' but a means to a muse. Powerful lessons here, delivered with heavy bass and stomp-your-feet rhythm. Overheard among ticket hopefuls were rumors that the play, written by Stew and co-composed with Heide Rodewald, might be headed to B'way. If so, grab your seat quick before it too sweeps the Tonys and becomes part of theatrical legend.

Bonus: Spike Lee gave a cool thumbs up for Passing Strange when asked for his opinion, as he attended the 7pm show accompanied by Wesley Snipes (researching for that James Brown biopic, perhaps?) Liev Schreiber was at the 11pm performance, and I believe I also spotted Public artistic director Oskar Eustis.

How to Get Tix: The word-of-mouth on this play has been unbelievable so the rest of the run was sold out. Arriving too late for tix to the 7pm Friday show, I stuck around and waited in line for over two hours to get $20 rush tickets for the 11pm show. When trying for rush tickets, which go on sale an hour before curtain, get to the theater early with reading material and bottled water handy.