[FA Worldmusic] And on a completely unrelated note...

[Bill Bragin]

Thanks!  It's been thrilling to see a piece this artistically inventive be received the way it has. The cast recording is currently on iTunes exclusively and then comes out as a physical object in 2 weeks, on July 15, so even those not in NY will be able to hear it. I actually wrote the liner notes for the CD.

For those not familiar, Passing Strange is about a black middleclass youth from LA who feels contrained by the conservatism of his community, and discovers rock and roll, foreign film, drugs..... He decides to become an expatriate artist in Europe like Josephine Baker or James Baldwin and travels to Amsterdam and then Berlin, to search for "the real" and figure out who he is as an artist, and as a person.  It's a very rich piece that has a lot to say about being an artist, about the struggles to balance love and work, life and art, about what does it mean to be authentically "black"....and all told through a kick-ass rock show with an all-african american cast playing multiple roles of various races.  

It's on Broadway now, but not sure how long it's going to run, so if anyone is intrigued, I suggest seeing it soon. It also rewards repeat viewing - I've seen it more times than I care to admit, and still see new things in it - it's a very rich piece, that's both hilarious and moving. 
All the best,
Bill Bragin

-----Original Message-----
From: fa-worldmusic-bounces+bbragin=lincolncenter.org at folk.org <fa-worldmusic-bounces+bbragin=lincolncenter.org at folk.org>
To: fa-worldmusic at folk.org <fa-worldmusic at folk.org>
Sent: Tue Jul 01 15:23:31 2008
Subject: [FA Worldmusic] And on a completely unrelated note...

Just wanted to send a big belated kudos to Stew (and, indirectly, to
Bill Bragin who championed Stew early on), for his Tony for Best Book of
Musical for his show Passing Strange.  I haven't seen it, but am
planning to.  If it's at the level of the one CD I know of Stew's "The
Naked Dutch Painter," it should be pretty cool.  Way to be Bill!
Marco Werman

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