PASSING STRANGE

PASSING STRANGE. Music by Stew and Heidi Rodewald. Book and lyrics by Stew. Directed by and created in collaboration with Annie Dorsen. Belasco Theatre, New York City. 24 February 2008.

Both blacks and whites created and consumed early rock 'n' roll, and it is often romanticized as a great unifier that helped spark civil rights. Yet the style's crossover had less to do with racial harmony than with the music industry's interest in exploiting the exploding youth market. R&B had been made and consumed by blacks for years; rock 'n' roll was essentially the same stuff, ironically renamed for a broader audience by using black slang for sex. As the style caught on, white acts reaped the fruits of a black-pioneered musical revolution. By the late 1960s, rock 'n' roll, shortened to "rock," had become strongly identified with white artists and audiences, while R&B morphed into "soul" and remained largely associated with black musicians and consumers.

Broadway in the 1970s saw a surge in popularity of both black and rock musicals, which should have been mutually beneficial, since productions from each camp courted new audiences by featuring scores with at least passing reference to contemporary popular music. Yet popular music remained segregated by an industry interested in targeting increasingly fragmented audiences, and Broadway reflected the tendency: black musicals weren't marketed as rock musicals or rock operas because "rock" was for white people. Jesus Christ Superstar was a "rock opera"; The Wiz was a "soul musical."

Today, despite the increased presence of people of color in supporting roles, shows like The Who's Tommy, Rent, and Spring Awakening are still labeled rock musicals, while shows by and about black people are...