Now at Pasadena Playhouse – “Passing Strange”

Have you ever had a situation where you’re reacting to something on an intellectual level and think you’re secure in that judgment and then suddenly, you’re filled with an emotion that seemingly snuck in past your defenses and demands to be felt? No? Just me? Fine.

As a critic, my job is to not only say what I think about a work of art, but also to hopefully have a considered opinion I can explain and put into context. But theatre isn’t just about impressive ideas or clever badinage (although I love both of those things) – it’s about people, which, at its best, means it’s about empathy. Stew and Heidi Rodewald’s award-winning musical, Passing Strange, just receiving its L.A. debut at the Pasadena Playhouse twenty years after its 2006 premiere, is certainly smart and witty (and receiving a brilliant production here), but to my surprise, I found it quite moving as well, getting choked up at the miracle of theatre itself.

The Narrator (Ty Taylor) sets the scene. The Youth (Britton Smith) lives with his Mother (Saycon Sengbloh) in late 1970s South Central. He’s rebelling against her and her conservative Baptist faith, but actually attending the church and joining Franklin’s (Devere Rogers) youth choir makes him want to try and find what he calls “the real” via music. He rejects the choir to form a punk band and then leaves that to head off to Europe to continue reinventing himself with different groups and different women, putting his trust in Marianna (Tanerélle) in Amsterdam and later avant-garde Desi (Brittany Campbell) in Berlin. All the while his Mother keeps trying to get him to come home, but his pursuit of “the real” may blind him to what is really important.

Smith gives a multilayered, superb performance as Youth, with all that the name implies. At times he’s petulant, cocky, yearning and wounded, but Smith’s portrayal is always expert. Sengbloh is very touching as the Youth’s neglected Mother, but she’s also quite funny, with her character frequently stepping outside the things her son supposes her to represent. Rogers is hilarious as the closeted but stylish Franklin, giving a bravura performance as somebody who may not be out yet but is flamboyantly himself regardless. Campbell, Tanerélle and Johnny Laveie are each terrific in multiple roles. Finally, Taylor is amazing as the Narrator, full of astonishing energy, charm and dramatic subtlety (a tricky combination, to be sure). His performance of “Work the Wound” is the dramatic highlight of the entire show, in which the play makes its point, and his emotionally raw delivery is undeniably powerful – Taylor leaves it all on the stage.

Zhailon Levingston’s direction is vibrant with creativity and skill, and his set pieces for the introductions to Amsterdam and Berlin are dazzling in their energy and invention. Jared A. Sayeg’s lighting design is impressive on many levels, creating a level of visual spectacle not unlike seeing a very high-end live concert performance. On opening night, it seemed that the production may have been having intermittent mic issues, with some vocals less audible, but I’m sure this will be addressed during the run.

The music and lyrics by Stew and Rodewald are excellent, but for me it’s the Tony-award-winning book by Stew that held the most points of interest. His comments about the complexities of African American identity are fascinating and something I don’t usually see discussed in musicals, such as a girlfriend chiding the Youth for not being “black enough,” the line from Franklin that he and the Youth are “black folks passing for black folks” or the satirical song “The Black One,” in which the middle-class Youth poses as a stereotypical “struggling on the mean streets” black man to gain cred with a group he wants to impress. The book is often amusing, as in a scene in which the Youth is embarrassed in front of his punk band by his mom bringing out sandwiches for them. Or when the Youth answers a question, “Yes and no. In other words, yo.”

The Pasadena Playhouse’s production of Passing Strange is an astonishing achievement. The play isn’t perfect – it tells more than shows – but it’s pure theatre. Emotion, intellect, skill, showmanship are all there at a very high level. More than anything, I felt how amazing it was, how incredibly hard it was to bring everything together (the performers, the crew, the creators, the audience) – all collaborating to make something transcendent for that one moment, something that will never be exactly the same again. I didn’t choke up because of the plot; I choked up because this show reminded me how much I love theatre.

Passing Strange is presented by and at Pasadena Playhouse through November 29, 2026. Tickets are available at https://www.pasadenaplayhouse.org/