Passing Strange

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You left the neighborhood to find yourself and came back fluent in a language nobody at home speaks. That ache has a soundtrack now, and it has taken almost twenty years to reach the city it was written about. Stew's rock musical follows a kid from South Central who runs to Amsterdam and Berlin chasing the real, and discovers the thing he was running from was the only honest material he had. It won the Tony for its book and became the show people quote at each other in parking lots, and somehow Los Angeles never staged it until now. Zhailon Levingston directs a live band onstage rather than tucked in a pit, so the guitar is a character with opinions. Opening night falls on a Wednesday, November 4 at 7:30pm, which Pasadena Playhouse runs as Wine Wednesday with a pour before curtain. It plays El Molino Avenue through November 29. Bring the friend who also moved away.