tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post-74025685682273391852008-07-11T11:08:00.003-04:002008-07-11T11:14:39.082-04:00Yes, it was not meant to be. The forced marriage of Passing Strange and Broadway, that is.<br /><br />The closing notice is <a href="http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117988748.html?categoryid=15&amp;cs=1">up</a>: final performance, Sunday July 20. So that gives me--and everyone else who hasn't seen it (most NYC playgoers, apparently)--only one more week to catch it. And that I will.<br /><br />Things were tough enough before the Tonys. Now, this past week, attendance barely exceeded one-third capacity.<br /><br />The good news is that Spike Lee is hastily assembling a concert-style film for future release, so Stew will live on. In addition to some closed sessions, Lee is filming the live performances at the matinee and evening shows of Saturday, July 19--"thereby," as Variety's Gordon Cox gracefully puts it, "answering the question of whether the production would hang on long enough to reap any potential marketing benefits from the release of the movie."<br /><br />We've told this story oh so many times. And once again, we can rest assured that the show has found its audience already (downtown) and didn't need the glitz of Broadway to be good. But unfortunately--since Broadway is still, sadly the only venue of record in our commercial culture, and it is Broadway (just like the victors in all wars) who writes the history--"Passing Strange" will probably still be tainted by the moniker of "failure" from now on.The Playgoerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02994724588504353485noreply@blogger.com