You can’t take your eyes off him. The script for this autobiography of an artist isn’t always nuanced but Giles Terera as its narrator is sublime, filling every line with the weight of time passed, every move with the knowledge of mistakes made. And he has a cracking turn on the electric guitar.
Performed on Broadway in 2008, Stew’s coming-of-age rock musical leapfrogs through styles and genres as Terera’s character watches a younger version of himself (Keenan Munn-Francis) flee the limits of his cosy middle-class life in 70s LA to a highly American ideal of Europe. First it’s Amsterdam, then Berlin, as he tries on different selves in an attempt to find himself through sex, drugs and radical performance art. The rowdiness and high-energy performances amp up every moment under Liesl Tommy’s bright, imaginative direction.
