"Passing Strange" - Not Your Typical Broadway Musical

The critically acclaimed musical "Passing Strange," which tells the life story of a black rock guitaris who goes by the name of Stew, is not your typical Broadway musical. For one thing, it's a rock musical, but not a conventional one either.

Now "Passing Strange" has broken new ground again, announcing that it will be the first Broadway musical to release its original cast recording album (which was recorded live) first on iTunes. The "Passing Strange" cast recording will be available on iTunes at the end of May, more than a month before it'll be sold in stores.

Stew is the on-stage narrator of his own story in the semi-autobiographical musical, which tracks Stew's journey from growing up as a black middle-class youth in a religious Los Angeles family through various journeys of self-discovery, including drug and sexual experimentation in Amsterdam.

The New York Times had high praise for "Passing Strange," with the reviewer saying, "I’ll just call it wonderful, and a welcome anomaly on Broadway, which can use all the vigorous new artistic blood it can get."