Photo Flash: New Line Theatre Presents PASSING STRANGE

New Line Theatre, "the Bad Boy of Musical Theatre," opens its 21st season with the St. Louis premiere of the electrifying Broadway rock musical PASSING STRANGE, running September 22 through October 15, 2011, at the Washington University South Campus Theatre (formerly CBC High School), 6501 Clayton Road, just east of Big Bend. Tickets are on sale now through Metrotix, at 314-534-1111.

From Los Angeles to Amsterdam to Berlin and back, PASSING STRANGE takes musical theatre on a whole new trip. From singer-songwriter-performance artist Stew and his collaborator Heidi Rodewald comes a daring new rock musical that will take you on a journey across boundaries of place, identity and theatrical convention. Stew was commissioned by The Public Theater in New York to develop this heartfelt and hilarious story of a young bohemian who charts a course for "the real" through sex, drugs and rock and roll. Loaded with soulful lyrics and overflowing with passion, the show takes off from middle-class America on a worldwide quest for personal and artistic authenticity.

Variety said, "Passing Strange could join Hedwig and the Angry Inch as a rock musical milestone." The New York Times called the show "fresh, exuberant, bracingly inventive, bitingly funny, and full of heart." New York Magazine said it "smashes Broadway clichés with an electric guitar and the funniest libretto I can remember." The Wall Street Journalcalled it "the freshest musical in town! The songs rock harder than anything else on Broadway."

St. Louis singer Charles Glenn (King Herod in New Line Theatre's Jesus Christ Superstar in 2006) will star as the Narrator in New Line's premiere of this amazing rock musical. In addition to his regular rock and jazz gigs here and around the country, the Emmy Award winning Glenn has sung the national anthem for the St. Louis Rams, the St. Louis Cardinals, and the St. Louis Blues. The cast also includes Keith Parker (the Youth), Talichia Noah (Mother), Jeanitta Perkins (Sherry/Renata/Desi), Andrea Purnell (Edwina/Marianna/Sudabey),John Reed II (Franklin/Joop/Mr. Venus), and Cecil Washington Jr. (Terry/Christophe/Hugo). The show is directed by Scott Miller, with costume design by Amy Kelly, scenic design by Todd Schaefer, lighting design by Kenneth Zinkl, and music direction by Justin Smolik.

For more info about the show, visit http://www.newlinetheatre.com/strangepage.html

Photo Credit: Jill Ritter Lindberg