Review: iTheatre Collaborative's PASSING STRANGE Is Phenomenal - Amazing Cast Graces Stew's Music

The journey of a thousand miles, said Lao Tzu, begins with a single step. For Youth, in Stew's PASSING STRANGE, the journey is about a young black man's quest to discover The Real, that intangible and elusive something that might define him and his sense of place in the universe, that does not exist in South Central L.A., where he is defined by others, that cannot reveal itself in the shadow of his mother or in the pews of his church. So, his single step becomes a journey of six thousand miles that takes him to Amsterdam's subculture of free love and free drugs and then to a Berlin commune of anti-capitalist Nowhausers, only to discover that the real of others cannot be his real but must be the one that he creates for himself, just as the play's Narrator explains, The Real is a construct...It's the raw nerve's private zone...It's a personal sunset you drive off into alone.

PASSING STRANGE, Stew's semi-autobiographical tour de force, co-created with Heidi Rodewald, and the 2008 Tony Award-winner for Best Book of a Musical, is now rocking at iTheatre Collaborative in Phoenix. In a word, this production, directed by Jeff Kennedy, is phenomenal!

Miguel Jackson is terrific as Narrator, sustaining a rhythmic cadence that gives power to the poetry of this play. As observer and commentator on the twists and turns of Youth's odyssey, he is the perfect Homer, deciphering with wit and wisdom and a keen gleam in his eyes the inescapable truths of life's journey and the pilgrim's epiphanies.

Matravius Avent is equally compelling as Youth, subtly and seamlessly evolving his character from the frustrated soul seeking to break free from a society in which he sees himself enslaved by stereotypes and social boundaries to the naïve explorer of alternative lifestyles to the awakened and nearly self-realized man.

De Angelus Grisby is superb as Mother, the epitome of the reverent and protective matriarch who wants only the best for her son but cannot keep him from the journey he is compelled to take.

John Batchan, Micah Jondel DeShazer, Jacqueline Monet, and Krystal Pope round out the ensemble and display a rich and deep range of talent as the characters along the tao.

The lyrics that accompany Youth's journey are powerful and prescient: So it was in church that he began his search down a road that would not bend. In stained glass light, the pilgrim went in search of a song that would not end. For this pilgrim, music is the freight train in which god travels. The freight of PASSING STRANGE is an eclectic array of styles ~ including rock, punk, pop, blues, and gospel ~ brilliantly assembled and played by Reynaldo Saenz (keyboards), Jason Brown (guitar), T.J. Maliszewski (bass), and Tom Haberman (drums).

Once again, iTheatre Collaborative fulfills its promise to produce distinctive theatre that moves both the hearts and minds of its audience. PASSING STRANGE is a home run and runs through February 20th, 2016 at the Kax Stage in the Herberger Theater Center.

Photo credit to Christopher Haines