Photo Flash: Lyricist Stew Visits SRO's PASSING STRANGE at the Obsidian Theater

Stew, who wrote the book and lyrics for PASSING STRANGE, recently attended Standing Room Only Productions' presentation of PASSING STRANGE at the Obsidian Theater. BroadwayWorld has a peek at photos from his visit below!

Stew also co-wrote the music and orchestrations for PASSING STRANGE with musician Heidi Rodewald, a frequent collaborator. After seeing the show, he complimented the SRO company and the show's director Vance Johnson, saying, "We [Stew, original cast mates] often go out of our way to see the show. We're interested in seeing how others do it. This was good." He also complimented the lighting.

Director Vance Johnson said of the visit, "Stew said that he doesn't know how to write humor. He didn't purposely set out to do that. Some theaters do a dark, serious version of PASSING STRANGE, he said, and he liked how we had found so many moments of humor in the show."

PASSING STRANGE is directed by Vance Johnson and produced by Rachel Landon and Tom Stell, with musical direction by Faith Fossett and choreography by Eric Dano. This beautifully written and fierce musical, complete with on-stage rock band, features the talented Rodrick Randall as Narrator, David Allen III as Youth, RaMina Mirmortazavi as Mother, Cantrell Williams as Mr. Franklin/Ensemble, Estee Burks as Marianna/Ensemble, James Phillips as Desi/Ensemble and Orlanders Jones as Rev. Jones/Ensemble.

The story focuses on the uneasy relationship of a young black man (Youth) with his life. Raised in a midclass neighbor in Los Angeles, our hero, a would-be songwriter, stews in a sea of conflicted cultural signals. He chafes under his mother's fixation on family ties and church and her bourgeois aspirations. So he sets out on his own - like pioneers Josephine Baker and James Baldwin - to Europe, seeking something "real." Picaresque misadventures with sex, drugs, politics and art await Youth in far-out Amsterdam and hyper-militant Berlin. His eyes are opened ever wider, even revealing what he left behind.

PASSING STRANGE by Stew, with music by Heidi Rodewald and Stew, directed by Vance Johnson, and produced by Rachel Landon and Tom Stell, continues through March 4 at Obsidian Theater, 3522 White Oak Drive. Remaining performances are at 8 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. For more information, call 832-889-7837 or visit obsidiantheater.org.