Some thoughts about "The Real"

Hey everyone, the Broadway show, PASSING STRANGE recently came out on DVD and I wanted to talk about it a little bit. For those who don't know, I got to see this show in New York during March of 2008 and it has stayed with me like no show ever has. If you're curious, please rent or buy the DVD. Spike Lee taped the final 3 performances at the Belasco Theater and he truly makes the show come to life. That said, I'm going to post some thoughts below that are message spoilers (I take a stab at the meaning of the show) and a few plot spoilers as well. You have been warned.

Passing Strange: The Real is a contruct.
“You know it’s weird that morning you wake up and realize that your entire adult life is based on the decision of a teenager - a stoned teenager?” -Stew (narrator)

Passing Strange is a play about the dangers of chasing transcendence, of seeking it as life rather than just a piece of it. Those of us who live our passion for art have an addiction to transcendent moments, that point where art, artist, and audience meet to create magic. It can happen on stage at a play, in a movie theatre, at a rock concert, and in a church. It is the shared moment, a moment of clarity, “the real.”
Passing Strange follows the story of Youth as he struggles to free himself of the oppression of middle class black America. His pursuit of art and sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll lead him first to Amsterdam and later to West Berlin in the 1980s. But Youth is full of excuses and unrest. He cannot stay in Amsterdam because this European paradise has dulled his pain and passion to create art. So he flees to Berlin, and reimagines himself as an authority on all of black culture, and an avant-garde artiste.
In L.A. he wasn’t black enough. He wouldn’t play up the stereotype. In Berlin, he passes as the “blackest” man around. His search for the real is always focused solely on art at the expense of his relationship and his own identity. Towards the end of the play, Youth declares, “life is a mistake, that only art can correct.” Youth attempts to rectify a love taken for granted by putting it onstage, to make it “real.” But art has limits. It cannot return lost time, and it cannot absolve the sin of forgetting the ones who love you. It is a heavy message, and a reminder to artists everywhere that “the real” is only the transcendence found in art. It is not life, and it is not reality. To turn your back on reality in favor of “the real” can result in a loss of the things that make “the real” worthwhile: a family to share it with. Our narrator tells the story of the pretzel man reminding him that “the real is not real. The real is a construct. The real is a creation. The real is artificial. The kid in your play is looking for something in life that can only be found in art.” I think this is a sentiment worth remembering as we strive in our own ways to bring “the real” into the world.

That's all for today, I'll try to do better next time.

p.s. in case you care, I give this show 5 stars, a gold sticker and an A+.