Passing Strange

Spike Lee filmed the final Broadway performances of Stew's rock musical, in which a young Black man leaves middle-class Los Angeles for Amsterdam and Berlin in search of something he calls 'the real'. Stew narrates his younger self's journey from the side of the stage with his band.

The show won the Tony Award for best book of a musical, and Lee's film keeps its energy and its humour. It's a story about art, authenticity and the parts of home you can't escape, and it captures a piece of theatre that might otherwise have been lost.