Passing Strange

Finally making its UK debut almost two decades after it premiered in the US, idiosyncratic rock musical ‘Passing Strange’ is an autobiographical work by musician Stew. In it, he looks back upon his formative years as a young Black man trying to find himself, grappling with his musical taste and finding himself in punky LA and liberated Europe in the ’80s. Mashing up musical styles but with a focus on rock, it was beloved on Broadway – Spike Lee made a film of it! – but it never made it over here for whatever reason. Now the Young Vic bags the European premiere as part of Kwame Kwei-Armah’s impressive last season, directed by heavyweight US director Liesl Tommy and starring the wondrous Giles Terera, alongside Rachel Adedeji and Keenan Munn-Francis.