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Passing Strange (Theatre)

 Passing Strange (Theatre)
type
TVTItem
 Passing Strange (Theatre)
label
Passing Strange (Theatre)
 Passing Strange (Theatre)
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PassingStrange
 Passing Strange (Theatre)
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Passing Strange is a musical by Stew and Heidi Rodewald (of the band "The Negro Problem") that premiered on Broadway in 2008. It was directed by (and "created in collaboration with") Annie Dorsen, and was nominated for several Tony Awards, winning for Best Book.It follows a discontented, middle-class black teenager (referred to only as "Youth"), as he leaves his home and his mom in Los Angeles to find artistic freedom and the ever-elusive idea called "The Real" in Europe, first in Amsterdam, and then in Berlin. The story is loosely based off of Stew's own experiences as a young man. The show is performed by seven actors and an on-stage band, with no set. It is often said to be a combination of a standard musical and a rock concert, being mostly-sung through and somewhat interactive on the part of the Narrator.Its final few performances were recorded by Spike Lee (one of the show's biggest fans) and edited into a "concert movie"-style film version, which is currently playing at the IFC theatre in New York City, and is available On Demand, and on DVD.
 Passing Strange (Theatre)
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2023-07-23T18:15:29Z
 Passing Strange (Theatre)
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2023-07-23T18:15:29Z
 Passing Strange (Theatre)
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DBTropes
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_237404cc
type
Ironic Echo
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_237404cc
comment
Ironic Echo "Right when it was starting to feel real" pops up first when Youth laments in "Stoned", but is repeated to mean other things later on. Also "Welcome to Amsterdam" is sung a LOT in "Amsterdam" and trilled ironically when Youth is singing "Stoned", about the side effects of the drugs and odd love Marianna provides. May fall under Alternative Character Interpretation, but, as mentioned below in Meaningful Echo, "It's alright" and "Is it alright?" pop up quite a bit meaning different things. In the beginning, it's an actual affirmation. But towards the end, Stew's asking the "Artistic" version of The Mother whether it is, in fact, alright (meaning the way he's lived his life). She does confirm that it's alright, however her face seems to imply that she doesn't believe it. Especially ironic considering that this version of the Mother is basically an in-universe fictional version of the earlier character, both created by Stew/The Youth. Meaning that not only is it kind of a ruse to fool himself into accepting his choices and being okay with them, but it's a ruse that he knows he doesn't believe. Also makes the ending downright Downer.
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Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_237404cc
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_27690f66
type
Literary Allusion Title
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_27690f66
comment
Literary Allusion Title - "She swore, in faith, 'twas strange, 'twas '''passing strange'''"
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_27690f66
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1.0
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_27690f66
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Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_27690f66
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_2937826d
type
Hurricane of Puns
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_2937826d
comment
Hurricane of Puns - The lyrics in Passing Strange have a ton of puns, double entendres, and and euphemisms. There is even a visual pun during the song "We Just Had Sex" — somewhere in the middle the stage falls silent and the band falls still, save for The Narrator, who is stroking the neck of his guitar rather...rhythmically.
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Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_2937826d
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_2f7f6351
type
Rock-Star Song
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_2f7f6351
comment
Rock-Star Song - "Passing Phase"
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_2f7f6351
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1.0
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_2f7f6351
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1.0
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Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_2f7f6351
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_35a858b3
type
Cluster F-Bomb
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_35a858b3
comment
Cluster F-Bomb - "What the fuck is going on? / What the fuck is going wrong?"
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_35a858b3
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1.0
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Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_35a858b3
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_38958f33
type
Black and Nerdy
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_38958f33
comment
Black and Nerdy - Youth. Also his high school bandmates Terri and Sherri.
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_38958f33
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 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_38958f33
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Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_38958f33
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_3b4f620a
type
No Fourth Wall
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_3b4f620a
comment
No Fourth Wall - Not for the Narrator anyway. This also fits in with the show being part rock concert, part musical. The Nowhaus group also indulges in fourth wall breaking, particularly when they critique Marianna's song (titled Keys) from earlier in the show. Who starts the argument? Sudabey - who in the first act is actually Marianna! It could be taken that the youth has, in-universe, written that song or even that part of the show already, since the conversation is really about The Youth's merits as a writer and whether it awards him a place in the house. That is, until Desi gives us this gem:
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_3b4f620a
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Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_3b4f620a
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_415b3315
type
Stylistic Suck
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_415b3315
comment
Stylistic Suck - Arguable as to how much it actually sucks, but a few bits are undoubtedly meant to be ridiculous, over-the-top, and Narmy "What's inside is just a lie! W-w-w-what's inside is just a lie!" "Culture is cosmetic, culture is cosmetic, culture is cosmetic..." "Hit the WALL, free at LAST. Hit the WALL, free at LAST." Pretty much the whole of 'Identity'.
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Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_415b3315
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_45007296
type
Metaphorgotten
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_45007296
comment
Metaphorgotten - "...Or if they mimic the phallo-centric narrative of 'verse, chorus, verse, chorus, climax, fade out, smoke a cigarette, turn over, snore all night and never call me again—'" "You know, absence really does make ze heart grow into a state of mind which somehow transforms what you once could not stand about your family into a somehow, quaint pleasure-giving construct."
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_45007296
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1.0
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Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_45007296
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_5e7163c9
type
Alternative Character Interpretation
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_5e7163c9
comment
May fall under Alternative Character Interpretation, but, as mentioned below in Meaningful Echo, "It's alright" and "Is it alright?" pop up quite a bit meaning different things. In the beginning, it's an actual affirmation. But towards the end, Stew's asking the "Artistic" version of The Mother whether it is, in fact, alright (meaning the way he's lived his life). She does confirm that it's alright, however her face seems to imply that she doesn't believe it. Especially ironic considering that this version of the Mother is basically an in-universe fictional version of the earlier character, both created by Stew/The Youth. Meaning that not only is it kind of a ruse to fool himself into accepting his choices and being okay with them, but it's a ruse that he knows he doesn't believe. Also makes the ending downright Downer.
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_5e7163c9
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1.0
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_5e7163c9
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Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_5e7163c9
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_5eb8a669
type
"Angry Black Man" Stereotype
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_5eb8a669
comment
"Angry Black Man" Stereotype - Subverted and played with all day long. The Youth is an "Angry Black Man" Stereotype, but he's angry at the upper black middle class society that has "oppressed" him. (He's been oppressed but not to the extreme that he imagines.) He also masquerades as an "Angry Black Man" Stereotype instead of who he truly is - an artistic Black and Nerdy, to stay at Nowhaus, a halfway house of socially conscious artists who think he's just an "American Pop Song Maker".
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Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_5eb8a669
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_63cf9a3
type
Rage Against the Mentor
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_63cf9a3
comment
Rage Against the Mentor - Youth does this to his choir master Franklin, saying that he and his friends are going to live the life Franklin merely talks about living.
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_63cf9a3
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1.0
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Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_63cf9a3
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_6bd689ca
type
Meaningful Echo
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_6bd689ca
comment
Meaningful Echo -The song "It's Alright" First said by Mr. Franklin trying to convince the Youth that he is okay after he confessed that he is basically a coward. Sung again in Amsterdam when the Youth is openly accepted without question into his "new family". Youth begs his mother to answer the question "Is it alright?" when she rings on the Christmas Eve before she dies right near the end of the show. All she can reply with is "I love you." Finally sung by the "artistic" version of the Youth's late mother, the version of her brought back to life by song. Stew, the grown-up Youth (as we have probably figured by now) repeatedly asks her "Is it alright?" to which she sings "Yes, it's alright" and leaves him. At one point the youth mixes up the German words liebe and lieder, accidentally telling Desi "I song you." Later, the two of them fight and Desi yells, "I don't want to be a song. I want to be loved. And you don't know the difference."
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_6bd689ca
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Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_6bd689ca
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_6d57a234
type
Lemony Narrator
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_6d57a234
comment
Lemony Narrator - The Narrator, who is actually the grown-up version of the Youth, and who constantly breaks the Fourth Wall, and the imaginary wall between him and the cast
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_6d57a234
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1.0
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_6d57a234
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 Passing Strange (Theatre)
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Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_6d57a234
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_6e09e9b9
type
Angry Mob Song
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_6e09e9b9
comment
Angry Mob Song - "May Day"
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_6e09e9b9
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1.0
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Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_6e09e9b9
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_7426582d
type
Token Minority
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_7426582d
comment
Token Minority - Averted and subverted - the entire acting cast is African American or Mixed Race, but in Amsterdam and Berlin are playing European or Caucasian characters which you don't realize until the Youth uses the fact that he is black to stay in Nowhaus. He then basically becomes the Token Minority in a all-black cast.
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_7426582d
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-0.3
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_7426582d
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1.0
 Passing Strange (Theatre)
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Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_7426582d
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_8185b8c6
type
What Is Going On?
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_8185b8c6
comment
What Is Going On?? - Sung literally by the Youth as he enters the Mayday riot of Berlin. Also sung by Stew at the beginning of the play.
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_8185b8c6
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1.0
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_8185b8c6
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 Passing Strange (Theatre)
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Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_8185b8c6
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_8ca89acb
type
I Need to Go Iron My Dog
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_8ca89acb
comment
I Need to Go Iron My Dog - Most of the Nowhaus crew has the good sense to leave during an argument between the Youth and Desi... except Hugo, Desi's ex.
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_8ca89acb
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1.0
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_8ca89acb
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1.0
 Passing Strange (Theatre)
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Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_8ca89acb
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_9603fba3
type
The Something Song
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_9603fba3
comment
The Something Song - "Mom Song"
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_9603fba3
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Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_9603fba3
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_97980a6e
type
First Law of Tragicomedies
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_97980a6e
comment
First Law of Tragicomedies
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_97980a6e
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1.0
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_97980a6e
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Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_97980a6e
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_9dd2cbc2
type
CloudCuckooLander
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_9dd2cbc2
comment
Cloud Cuckoo Lander - A lot of the supporting cast, most of all Nowhaus members Mr. Venus and Sudabey: Sudabey: "My porno films feature fully-clothed men making business deals." Mr. Franklin (pulls scarf over head and sings soprano): Vissi d'arte. Hello - Maria Callas speaking. Yes it's me, darlings, with my funny nose, skinny legs and all and I have nothing to hide. If I were anymore real, child, I'd be fictional!
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_9dd2cbc2
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1.0
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Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_9dd2cbc2
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_a5e0c01
type
As Himself
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_a5e0c01
comment
As Himself - Co-writer Stew plays The Narrator, named... Stew.
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_a5e0c01
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1.0
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Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_a5e0c01
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_ae3d6438
type
Deadpan Snarker
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_ae3d6438
comment
Deadpan Snarker - The Narrator
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_ae3d6438
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1.0
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Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_ae3d6438
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_b3f77675
type
Grass Is Greener
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_b3f77675
comment
Grass Is Greener- The Youth and Europe.
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_b3f77675
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1.0
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 Passing Strange (Theatre)
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Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_b3f77675
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_b5597166
type
Soul Brotha
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_b5597166
comment
Soul Brotha - Youth tries to pass himself off as one to Nowhaus. Lampshaded with the song he and his friends (as amateur punk rock band "The Scary-o-types") sing, called "Sole Brother".
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_b5597166
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1.0
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 Passing Strange (Theatre)
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Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_b5597166
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_b58c51d8
type
My Beloved Smother
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_b58c51d8
comment
My Beloved Smother - Subverted; this is how Youth (unfairly) views his mother, until its too late.
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_b58c51d8
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 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_b58c51d8
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Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_b58c51d8
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_bb18a227
type
It's All About Me
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_bb18a227
comment
It's All About Me: Youth's main problem throughout the play, to the point where he distances himself from everyone who cared about him to focus on his pursuit of the "Real".
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_bb18a227
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1.0
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_bb18a227
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Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_bb18a227
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_c07e2029
type
Europeans Are Kinky
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_c07e2029
comment
Europeans Are Kinky - The youth finds his way to Amsterdam and discovers the promiscuous hook-up culture in the song "We Just Had Sex," where he experiments with single partners, multiple partners, female partners, and male partners. Being the American in the situation, he's the only one who sees anything unusual about this.
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_c07e2029
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Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_c07e2029
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_c75df49a
type
Shout-Out
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_c75df49a
comment
Shout-Out - The lyric "The burning street where she lives", a direct parody of "On the Street Where You Live" from My Fair Lady.
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_c75df49a
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1.0
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_c75df49a
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Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_c75df49a
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_ca87e3ec
type
No Name Given
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_ca87e3ec
comment
No Name Given - Youth and his Mom. The Narrator actually subverts/plays with this in "Prologue: We Might Play All Night" by saying his name is Stew.
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_ca87e3ec
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Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_ca87e3ec
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_e251fae2
type
But Not Too Black
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_e251fae2
comment
But Not Too Black - Partially inverted in-show; Edwina wants Youth to blacken up a bit, but not so much that he'll "become unhireable."
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_e251fae2
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Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_e251fae2
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_f8b3d078
type
True Art Is Angsty
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_f8b3d078
comment
True Art Is Angsty: The very reason the Youth continues on his journey through Europe after arriving in Amsterdam. He's so content in "Paradise" that he can't write songs because he has nothing to complain about.
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_f8b3d078
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Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_f8b3d078
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_fb378c33
type
Oktoberfest
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_fb378c33
comment
Oktoberfest: Youth visits Berlin, and encounters the avant-garde nihilist brand of Germans. And then it turns out they all go home to the bucolic village version for Christmas.
 Passing Strange (Theatre) / int_fb378c33
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Passing Strange (Theatre)

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Passing Strange (Theatre)
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African-American Media / int_468d7b54
 Passing Strange (Theatre)
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All Musicals Are Adaptations / int_468d7b54
 Passing Strange (Theatre)
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As Himself / int_468d7b54
 Passing Strange (Theatre)
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Audience Participation / int_468d7b54
 Passing Strange (Theatre)
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Black and Nerdy / int_468d7b54
 Passing Strange (Theatre)
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But Not Too Black / int_468d7b54
 Passing Strange (Theatre)
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Europeans Are Kinky / int_468d7b54
 Passing Strange (Theatre)
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Freestate Amsterdam / int_468d7b54
 Passing Strange (Theatre)
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Ghost Song / int_468d7b54
 Passing Strange (Theatre)
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Love Epiphany / int_468d7b54
 Passing Strange (Theatre)
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Metaphorgotten / int_468d7b54
 Passing Strange (Theatre)
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Narrator / int_468d7b54
 Passing Strange (Theatre)
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Oktoberfest / int_468d7b54
 Passing Strange (Theatre)
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Rock-Star Song / int_468d7b54
 Passing Strange (Theatre)
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Soul Brotha / int_468d7b54
 Passing Strange (Theatre)
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The Something Song / int_468d7b54
 Passing Strange (Theatre)
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Voice Types / int_468d7b54
 Passing Strange (Theatre)
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Wanderlust Song / int_468d7b54