An intimate yet raucous reckoning of a man’s life, Passing Strange is performance art meets rock musical. Spike Lee captures the show perfectly from all angles, and knows when to let it speak for itself and just when to add in a little stylistic flair. The energy and closeness of a live show is carried through here as it was in American Utopia. The music rocks your bones and digs into your skin, and while all the cast do great, Stew and Domingo really shine. Stew is achingly raw, putting it all out there, both the sheer joy of creation and the agonizing regret of those left by the wayside etched onto his face. He offers no easy answer, no resolution. It’s never all right. You just carry it, as time keeps passing.

And Domingo is his equal, nailing the more comedic side roles in Europe but truly dazzling as Franklin, vulnerable and human. Together they result in my favorite performance in a show full of showstoppers. Arlington Hill’s soft, reflective, and nostalgic instrumentation is bolstered by Domingo’s charismatic and mournful monologues. The longing in his eyes, how his face falls thinking on his prison, the desperation in his ‘Do you dig me?’, and the simple happiness of two freaks being seen, if just for a moment, by each other. You buy it completely as a life changing moment that drives the rest of Youth’s story.

In the curtain call, Stew wraps an arm around Domingo and Domingo embraces him back, an unscripted moment, and as Domingo sings the refrain of ‘It’s Alright’ that has permeated through the entire show, his face is a cavalcade of emotions. Gratitude, affection, catharsis, and empathy. Empathy for a man who bared his soul in a story for live consumption, months on end. His live confession. And Domingo reassures him, and us all, that it’s alright. Even when it ain’t, because you need to hear it and you need to say it.