photo by Kevin Berne
The Public Theater
This was a tremendously professional performance experience. For what was essentially a modified, amplified night club act Passing Strange was tight, well-crafted, entertaining and innovative.
Sung and partly acted out autobiography (not a one-man show at all), Passing Strange is a coming-of-age story about a young man who journeys on a quest for “the real.” He searches for the real in geographical locations, the present (not the past or the future) and the then current European art scene. He attempts to inject what he finds into himself.
From the program it would seem that a great deal of the credit for the professionalism goes to the “movement coordinator,” Karole Armitage. The actors used every inch of the small stage. Every smile, stomp, wiggle, and kick felt crafted and choreographed in the best senses of those terms. The movements truly were coordinated and well-executed and perfectly adapted to the theater.
More kudos can be extended to the four person band and STEW, the narrator. STEW has a lovely voice and the band was excellent. The music showed about a million different influences and everything about it supported the story and the show. And, the acting was tremendous, but so good and consistent with all of the actors I might forget to mention it as it pointed to ideas and music, not to self-glorification of acting itself.
My gripe would have to be with the ending. It felt deeply unsatisfactory. Initially, I blamed myself, thinking I have just bought in too deeply to American consumerism as a culture. But, on thinking about it more, I thought it was unsatisfactory because this is a play about finding “the real” in life. Finding “the real” is a young person’s question and it doesn’t necessarily eventually result in an answer of mortgage payments and a zombie following of the crowd. But, it misses another question we must ask in life, “What here is important?”
At the end of the play, the young person loses his mother and has not been around to say good-bye. This isn’t necessarily, as far as I could tell, a turning point in his thought process. It only partially affirms his “seize the day” attitude about life with a hint of regret. If it didn’t do that, then I missed the point as it felt hastily done. An important aspect of life, other people and our relationships with them, was continuously pushed aside in the youth’s quest for the real. And, the impact of that never really worked its way into the piece. I would have hoped for more of an infusion of relationship rather than sheer self-examination. There’s a fine line, it seems between constant and unbending self-examination and pure narcissism. What saves us from narcissism and ourselves, ultimately, is value on relationship with others. I wouldn’t want the moral of the story to be self for self’s sake.
This is a complicated thought process I’ve just brought us through, but it’s a response to a complicated piece. Passing Strange is one of the best theater pieces out there right now. I would expect no less from The Public, at this point, honestly. However, even by Public standards this has a richness that is unique and certainly well worth the time. It’s been reviewed well consistently, but it’s hard to capture in words. There is an appeal to the rock sensibility in everyone, the reminiscence of youth, the feeling of youthful righteousness. But, more than that, I believe it is good thought, but it is excellent theater. It’s also not quiet. My ears ached a bit at the end. Use proper precautions if you need to. This might not be for the Frank Sinatra set.
This was a tremendously professional performance experience. For what was essentially a modified, amplified night club act Passing Strange was tight, well-crafted, entertaining and innovative.
Sung and partly acted out autobiography (not a one-man show at all), Passing Strange is a coming-of-age story about a young man who journeys on a quest for “the real.” He searches for the real in geographical locations, the present (not the past or the future) and the then current European art scene. He attempts to inject what he finds into himself.
From the program it would seem that a great deal of the credit for the professionalism goes to the “movement coordinator,” Karole Armitage. The actors used every inch of the small stage. Every smile, stomp, wiggle, and kick felt crafted and choreographed in the best senses of those terms. The movements truly were coordinated and well-executed and perfectly adapted to the theater.
More kudos can be extended to the four person band and STEW, the narrator. STEW has a lovely voice and the band was excellent. The music showed about a million different influences and everything about it supported the story and the show. And, the acting was tremendous, but so good and consistent with all of the actors I might forget to mention it as it pointed to ideas and music, not to self-glorification of acting itself.
My gripe would have to be with the ending. It felt deeply unsatisfactory. Initially, I blamed myself, thinking I have just bought in too deeply to American consumerism as a culture. But, on thinking about it more, I thought it was unsatisfactory because this is a play about finding “the real” in life. Finding “the real” is a young person’s question and it doesn’t necessarily eventually result in an answer of mortgage payments and a zombie following of the crowd. But, it misses another question we must ask in life, “What here is important?”
At the end of the play, the young person loses his mother and has not been around to say good-bye. This isn’t necessarily, as far as I could tell, a turning point in his thought process. It only partially affirms his “seize the day” attitude about life with a hint of regret. If it didn’t do that, then I missed the point as it felt hastily done. An important aspect of life, other people and our relationships with them, was continuously pushed aside in the youth’s quest for the real. And, the impact of that never really worked its way into the piece. I would have hoped for more of an infusion of relationship rather than sheer self-examination. There’s a fine line, it seems between constant and unbending self-examination and pure narcissism. What saves us from narcissism and ourselves, ultimately, is value on relationship with others. I wouldn’t want the moral of the story to be self for self’s sake.
This is a complicated thought process I’ve just brought us through, but it’s a response to a complicated piece. Passing Strange is one of the best theater pieces out there right now. I would expect no less from The Public, at this point, honestly. However, even by Public standards this has a richness that is unique and certainly well worth the time. It’s been reviewed well consistently, but it’s hard to capture in words. There is an appeal to the rock sensibility in everyone, the reminiscence of youth, the feeling of youthful righteousness. But, more than that, I believe it is good thought, but it is excellent theater. It’s also not quiet. My ears ached a bit at the end. Use proper precautions if you need to. This might not be for the Frank Sinatra set.
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