Passing Strange - Young Vic

[zahidf]

www.youngvic.org/whats-on/passing-strange

14 May 2024 - 6 Jul 2024

[sam22]

This didn't get any traction!

Has anyone seen it before? I recognised the name but only know what I've read on Wiki!

[shownut]

Feb 13, 2024 7:17:33 GMT sam22 said:

This didn't get any traction!

Has anyone seen it before? I recognised the name but only know what I've read on Wiki!

Saw the Broadway production which was a minor hit.

It was an instantly forgettable show and I am scratching my head wondering why The Young Vic is producing it.

[sam22]

Feb 13, 2024 9:08:12 GMT shownut said:

Feb 13, 2024 7:17:33 GMT sam22 said:

This didn't get any traction!

Has anyone seen it before? I recognised the name but only know what I've read on Wiki!

Saw the Broadway production which was a minor hit.

It was an instantly forgettable show and I am scratching my head wondering why The Young Vic is producing it.

Thanks. Ah interesting. I will see what the music is like before I book

[shownut]

Feb 13, 2024 9:12:35 GMT sam22 said:

Feb 13, 2024 9:08:12 GMT shownut said:

Saw the Broadway production which was a minor hit.

It was an instantly forgettable show and I am scratching my head wondering why The Young Vic is producing it.

Thanks. Ah interesting. I will see what the music is like before I book

It has a Blues/Rock vibe and was written by an artist named Stew. It certainly had its fans and won a few awards including the Drama Desk for Best Musical in 2008, but I don't recall much else about it versus the other hit musicals that year (IN THE HEIGHTS, XANADU and CRY BABY all of which were quite memorable).

[blaxx]

Feb 13, 2024 7:17:33 GMT sam22 said:

This didn't get any traction!

Has anyone seen it before? I recognised the name but only know what I've read on Wiki!

On the other hand, it is one of the most heartfelt and exciting things I've ever seen, to each their own.

Listen to Arlington Hill.

[sam22]

Feb 14, 2024 3:10:12 GMT blaxx said:

Feb 13, 2024 7:17:33 GMT sam22 said:

This didn't get any traction!

Has anyone seen it before? I recognised the name but only know what I've read on Wiki!

On the other hand, it is one of the most heartfelt and exciting things I've ever seen, to each their own.

Listen to Arlington Hill.

Great, thanks!

[matildaswinton]

This is a favorite of mine, I am so looking forward to it!

[catcat100]

Saw this tonight and was generally pleased for seeing it. First preview but in a reasonable shape, 1 technical stop and a couple of fluffed lines but nothing significant.

Overall its a kind of rites of passage play with a Black American Young man trying to find themselves in Europe. Ending didn't quite hit home for me but heard a few sniffs so did for some. Very quick standing ovation at the end.

Did enjoy the music and although some are rock/blues in style it does get heavier going into punk and quite loud.

Acting is pretty Good, With both leads performing well and Giles Terera showing of his guitar and drum playing.

Overall a good 3.5 edging towards a 4.

[thedrowsychaperone]

I have SUCH a soft spot for Giles Terera's voice - show didn't do an awful lot for me (I'd watched Spike Lee's filmed version YEARS prior) but the singing and musicianship is pretty fantastic across the board, definitely worth catching for a brilliant cast and some wonderful staging too.

3ish stars.

[showgirl]

Was going to book originally when the new season went live; then hesitated. Recently I listened to a sample track the YV posted and felt I'd made the right decision as it simply sounded to me like a horrible noise, so if typical, not for me.

[BurlyBeaR]

Cheap ticket on the Noticeboard for tonight.

[Dave B]

Well, Giles Terera is an absolute star. 

It's not that the rest of the cast isn't good, it is just that he is doing so much more. He sells the heartbreak, the regret the stupidity with every look at the end of Amsterdam. No dialogue, he doesn't need to do anything more than look back with regret. It's really beautiful Such great work with, I assume, the director as Terera is always doing something, leading the band or reacting to his younger self.

The pastiche of French movies is excellent and sets up a bonkers and brilliant start to the second half as we go to Berlin and oh my the music goes Berlin and then it just goes wild. It has several moments of brilliance and a couple of what the hell too and again watching Terera's reactions is a joy.

I loved the meta elements and the ignoring the fourth wall. Clearly still an early preview with some bumps into set decoration (and a late start due to a stuck door) but the sense of camaraderie on stage is really obvious, cast and band working together and supporting each other - more than just acting but slight moments where you can see 'em supporting and laughing with each other. Some adlibs and some light reaction to audience reaction.

I suspect this is going to be another marmite but Terera is superb and it is another play that has such a clear idea of what it wants to be and what it wants to do and goes out and delivers on that.

Four stars. Ended at 22:22 this evening.

[aloysius]

I wasn't expecting to enjoy this quite as much as I did but I left thinking this is the first production of anything I've seen this year where I will be booking a second ticket to see it again.

Giles Terera is a fantastic helmsman but I thought the younger him, Keenan Munn-Francis, stole the show - he was so vivid and charismatic and energetic. I think a massive future awaits him. The rest of the cast were variable and while the band were impressive my only major complaint is the sound mixing was so shoddy that I could only hear the odd line of dialogue during the numbers.

I thought the plot sagged a little in the second act but the third, after the interval, was fantastisch. All in all a really impressive evening, lots of fun, and I've already started listening to the Broadway recording (mostly so I can finally hear the lyrics...)

[Dr Tom]

Will definitely see this. Is this one of those shows with a very small cast? I’m sure this should be obvious, but I’m only seeing the names of the leads mentioned.

[Dave B]

May 19, 2024 17:10:11 GMT Dr Tom said:

Will definitely see this. Is this one of those shows with a very small cast? I’m sure this should be obvious, but I’m only seeing the names of the leads mentioned.

A cast of seven and four band members on stage throughout.

[frankubelik]

This ultimately wasn't for me. Having listened to the OBC in preparation, I almost cancelled but had a last minute change of heart. I rather enjoyed Act 1 but it lost me in Act 2 which I found pretty interminable. Giles was very charismatic but I did not find his younger counterpart as compelling (sorry). The score is very mixed but music & lyrics repetitive which suggested poor musicianship to me. I found the constant drone of tuneless music pre-show and post interval very annoying. Audience seemed to love it.

[Steve]

I thought this was fantastic!

Its like a more grown-up, more relatable, more specific version of Pippin, a story of a life, and a story of how to live.

Its hilarious. Its moving. Its deep. And Giles Terera is an absolute knockout!

Its the best £13 I ever spent, though objectively, the front two rows are too close, and like watching a tennis match, where your neck gets a strenuous workout from constantly looking left and right lol.

Some spoilers follow. . .

I had a quick look at YouTube clips of the Spike Lee archive recording of this, on the way home, and from the clips, I suspect Terera is even more charismatic, and a more talented actor, than the chap who wrote and originated the part, Stew.

Terera is just SUCH an emotive narrator, the way he feels it all, and makes you feel it all, which for the most part is to feel good and laugh at the vicissitudes of life.

Although this is specifically a black man's story, its also an immensely universal story about growing up and trying on different personas.

With Pippin, I feel we are led by the nose to a specific conclusion, that one way of living is best, whereas this bildungsroman feels leagues more deep, arguing that we are ever-changing, always performing, that there is no authentic us, that life has no predetermined perfect place, and that playing inauthentic roles has great value.

This complexity is hinted at in the very first scene, where the main character's mother has two ways of talking, one more performatively "black" than the other. The musical does not judge her for this, but celebrates both her "voices." It simply accepts that life IS performing.

In Stew's complex and profound vision of humanity, if inauthenticity makes art feel more "authentic," then its cool. Thus, if Terera is better at being Stew than Stew is, then that's great too lol!

I loved Caleb Roberts' poignant and hilarious performance of being deeply in the closet; I loved Keenan Munn-Francis as Youth, the protagonist, who is always faking it to make it, a wide-eyed, sometimes sheepish, typically ebullient life force seeking validation and expression.

The greatest contrast with Pippin is that the narrator here is not a rock and roll villain, but a much more benign co-protagonist narrator, expressing forgiveness, compassion, while milking the humour of Youth's every mistep, every progression, and ultimate fate.

This production for me is a 5 star joy, and I just booked to go again.

[foxa]

If Giles Terrera is in it, it's going to worth a look and he was, as others have said above, charismatic and compelling to watch. But I was disappointed - and I liked it better than my two companions.

I didn't find the younger protagonist interesting or sympathetic (essentially he uses people in pursuit of what seems to be his not very good art - punk influenced music.) I was confused by the church scene and didn't entirely understand why his mother slapped him. Many of the lyrics were repetitive. Sometimes the play would splutter to life. Caleb Roberts has an interesting scene in which he urges the young man to follow in the footsteps of James Baldwin in order experience the freedom that Europe might give him, something that Roberts' character would love to have done. There are some laughs and pertinent playing with identity (a middle class Black young man capitalising on an assumption of street knowledge that he doesn't possess.) And though I don't know if it was actually a good song, the Her Keys number has stuck with me. The staging was varied and the cast talented so that I wasn't bored, though the 'Pain Ego' song was pretty unbearable.

I believe this production has been struggling to sell tickets, but it got a standing ovation from much of the audiece the afternoon when we were there. For the right audience, it works - just not us. Probably 2 stars from my companions, nudging up to 3 stars from me.

[theatrefan77]

For me this was just ok. A bit too self-indulgent for my liking. Terera is of course excellent, but the show left me cold. I just couldn’t connect with the story. 3 stars from me mainly for the hard working cast.

[annette]

I’m surprised that this show seems to be flying under the radar somewhat.
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen anything so electrifying and powerful.

I’d say that Giles Teresa was born to play the lead role. He oozes charisma and really is a prodigious talent. His engagement with the audience was superb and his interaction with his fellow performers felt genuinely warm and intimate.

The entire cast were fabulous - not a weak link among them.

I thought the direction was spot-on,ditto the choreography and projections which were used to enhance the production rather than distract from it, a rarity these days.

The score is very powerful utilising a variety of musical styles. I also really liked the book and the way the music and dialogue were so cleverly integrated.

The Young Vic is the perfect space for a production like this ( I found myself wishing that A Strange Loop could have landed there rather than the cavernous Barbican space).

I’ll definitely be returning to see the show again before the run ends and would highly recommend anyone not familiar with the show to give it a try. It’s an absolute blast and certainly left me on a high.

[annette]

Apologies for the predictive text typo above…it’s Giles Terera, as opposed to Giles Teresa (whoever he may be).

[MrBunbury]

I am afraid it did not do much for me. Giles Terera is fantastic and I found Keenan Munn-Francis really believable in his role, but the music felt really bland and anonymous and I did not understand much of the ending (probably because I was in the first row, basically in Berlin in the second act :-), and it was difficult to understand the words with the music). I also thought that the representation of both Amsterdam and Berlin fell into stereotypes.

[Mark]

I really liked this for the most part, except for the first bit of act two in Berlin. Giles brilliant as always.

[osdtdg]

Just got an email that Giles will not be performing at my show (next Wednesday mat) and that Brandon Lee Sears will be taking on the role of alternate narrator with two shows a week! Just so everyone is aware