It certainly looks like a musical, at least. Turning the Young Vic into a concert venue with a towering set from Ben Stones, it’s reminiscent of Just for One Day in its mixture of black and white and psychedelic video design, and in being considerably self-indulgent when it comes to its score. Giles Terera (from Hamilton and Death of England) embraces the role of narrator with energising rigour, gesticulating and mouthing along lyrics from other characters as he sweeps his way through the show, but the story he is helping to tell just doesn’t have the same appeal.
In fairness to the production, I didn’t know that it was a semi-autobiographical musical from Stew Stewart, who has written the book and lyrics as well as co-composing the music. But still, surely we must be past the point now where a young man ditching the religious pressure of his mother (Rachel Adedeji – yes, of X Factor fame) and travelling across the world to pursue a music career is an interesting plot on its own? In fact, with its stuffing of waffly musings from the second act to the end about how “the real is a construct”, and music can fill voids, the idea of Youth shunning the preachiness of gospel to end up preaching to us about life and music at the end is frustratingly contradictory.
Only so much of this Tony award-winning musical’s whimsy – amplified in Liesl Tommy’s direction – can be attributed to a tongue-in-cheek parody of the hyperbole of American theatre. Accents are exaggerated, one scene is depicted in a black and white movie style, and heck, there’s a song with a title as on-the-nose as “We Just Had Sex”. “Welcome to Amsterdam”, in all its simplicity with its swooning chorus, is more grating than endearing. Viewing this musical as gig theatre or a concert performance works well to begin with, the braggadocious vibe pulling you into the experience, alongside cast members scrambling into the audience and Terera’s narrator often confiding in us with multiple fourth wall breaks.
The thing is, is that Passing Strange demonstrates that too much insincerity to be able to make a sincere point, and however wild the presentation, a coming-of-age story about an aspiring musician just isn’t refreshing if meaningful context isn’t attached to it.
★★
Passing Strange is now playing at the Young Vic Theatre until 6 July.
It will come with British Sign Language (BSL) interpretation on 30 May, and with captions on 5 and 13 June.
Relaxed performances are scheduled for 8 and 27 June, with a sensory adapted performance taking place on 18 June.
The show will be audio described on 22 and 25 June.
Production Images: Marc Brenner.
Disclaimer: I was invited to watch ‘Passing Strange’ for free in exchange for a review of the performance as a member of the press. I did not receive payment for this article and all opinions stated above are honest and my own.
Liam O'Dell 