Passing Strange comes off Broadway and goes to the movies

Passing Strange used to be a Broadway play, which had a respectable six-month run on the circuit. The writer and director of the production, called Stew, even garnered a Tony Award for best book at the 2008 awards. Now as the play has closed, director Spike Lee has produced a film about the play, aptly titled "Passing Strange: The Movie."

The New York Daily News reports that the original story of "Strange" follows the life of a young man known simply as "Youth," who grew up in the Compton district of Los Angeles trying to make it as a songwriter in the '70s. In the play, Youth travels to Berlin and Amsterdam to discover himself, which is a plot that parallels Stew's own life experiences. Stew and Spike Lee became friends when Stew was making his own rounds in Europe. The New York Times states that the "Passing Strange" movie will debut in New York on Friday and on Demand on August 26.