Passing Strange's cast, band and creative team are hosting the listening party immediately following the 7 PM performance of the new musical. The party is free and open to the public.
Sanju Bistro is located across from Passing Strange's home, the Belasco Theatre, at 120 West 44th Street. The listening party will begin at 9:30 PM.
May 27 will also mark the first-ever iTunes exclusive release of a Broadway cast album.
On April 14, the cast and musicians of Passing Strange preserved the score of the award-winning musical with a house full of friends and fans at the Belasco Theatre. An in-store release date for the album is slated for July.
Sh-K-Boom/Ghostlight Records president Kurt Deutsch Bill Rosenfield serve as executive producers for the original cast recording, with Passing Strange songwriters Stew and Rodewald as the CD's producers. The track list for Passing Strange follows:
"Prologue (We Might Play All Night)"
"Baptist Fashion Show"
"Church Blues Revelation/Freight Train"
"Arlington Hill"
"Sole Brother"
"Must Have Been High"
"Mom Song"
"Merci Beacoup, M. Godard"
"Amsterdam"
"Keys (Marianna)"
"Keys (It's Alright"
"We Just Had Sex"
"Stoned"
"Berlin: A Bloke Hole With Taxis"
"May Day (There's A Riot Goin' Down)"
"What's Inside Is Just A Lie/And Now I'm Ready to Explode"
"Identity"
"The Black One"
"Come Down Now"
"Youth's Unfinished Song"
"Work the Wound"
"Passing Phase"
"Cue Music"
"Love Like That"
In anticipation of Passing Strange's cast recording, Stew said in a statement, "A live recording session of Passing Strange will be a wildly unique event. More than just a live show document or a studio recording, we are aiming for a freaky hybrid of the two. The audience will be in on the process, witnessing it. Heidi Rodewald and I have always tried to bring the spontaneity of live performance into our studio recordings. But now, through the magic of theatre, the studio is coming to the Belasco."
Passing Strange features book and lyrics by Stew and music by Stew and his longtime musical partner Heidi Rodewald of The Negro Problem.
The musical – which opened on Broadway Feb. 28 following a critically lauded run at the Public Theater last summer – features the original Public cast, including Stew, de'Adre Aziza, Daniel Breaker, Eisa Davis, Colman Domingo, Chad Goodridge and Rebecca Naomi Jones.
Passing Strange co-author Rodewald heads an onstage band that features Stew as well as Jon Spurney, Christian Cassan and Christian Gibbs.
The semi-autobiographical musical incorporates elements of Stew's life to tell the story of a young black bohemian who leaves behind his middle-class, church-ruled upbringing in Los Angeles to travel abroad in search of his artistic and personal identity.
Passing Strange features choreography by Karole Armitage, scenic design by David Korins, costume design by Elizabeth Hope Clancy and lighting design by Kevin Adams.
Passing Strange's Broadway venture is produced by the Shubert Organization, Inc., Elizabeth Ireland McCann, the Public Theater and Berkeley Rep.
Tickets are available by calling (212) 239-6200 or by visiting www.TeleCharge.com. The Belasco Theatre is located at 111 West 44th Street in Manhattan.
