Broadway’s Passing Strange Now Streaming for Free

The rock musical has music, lyrics, and book by singer-songwriter Stew and tells the story of a young African American's artistic journey of self-discovery.

Filled with Stew's soulful lyrics that overflow with passion, the show takes us from black middle-class America to Amsterdam, Berlin, and beyond on a journey towards personal and artistic authenticity.

Here's how to stream Broadway's Passing Strange now:

The musical originally premiered in 2006 at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre and then quickly moved to off-Broadway's Public Theater. Due to its huge success and terrific reviews from New York critics, the show moved to Broadway's Belasco Theatre the following year and played an extended engagement of 165 performances.

Director Spike Lee filmed the Broadway production just before the show closed in 2008 by capturing the last three performances at the Belasco Theatre. The show was filmed both with and without an audience to allow certain close-up shots.

"Passing Strange: The Movie" had its world premiere on January 16 2009 at the Sundance Film Festival and opened at the IFC Center in New York City's West Village the same year. The filmed performance later aired on PBS' Great Performances series and was released on DVD.

The filmed production is now available to stream for free in the US. We've added a direct link to the stream in our updating list of free streaming musicals and plays.

In his New York Times review, Charles Isherwood called the show "a rock 'n' roll autobiography of an artist in search of himself," and said “Passing Strange” is bursting at the seams with melodic songs, and features a handful of theatrical performances to treasure."

Reviewing the filmed capture for The Rolling Stone, Peter Travers said: "In rethinking the Tony-winning 2008 rock musical Passing Strange for the screen, director Spike Lee made sure to do the right thing: not f*ck up what worked like gangbusters onstage. Lee and the masterful cinematographer Matthew Libatique brought their HD cameras to Broadway’s Belasco Theatre to film two live performances with the original cast. Then, for greater cinematic dynamism, they shot a performance without an audience, letting the cameras rock out in their own freewheeling dance. The invigorating result, zestily edited by Lee’s own inside iron man, Barry Brown, is in every way a knockout."

The stage production was directed by Annie Dorsen, with choreography by Karole Armitage, scenic design by David Korins, costume design by Elizabeth Hope Clancy and lighting design by Kevin Adams.