Stew

Though few associate indie rock with mainstream triumph on the Broadway stage, Stew has always operated outside conventional boundaries. As frontman of the Negro Problem, he shaped clever, word-smart, and structurally inventive pop that stood apart from prevailing trends, an impression reinforced by his identity as an African-American creator operating beyond typical expectations of “Black music.” Following years of critical favor and modest but devoted listenership, Stew achieved an unlikely breakthrough when the stage musical Passing Strange—co-created, scored, and headlined by Stew alongside Negro Problem multi-instrumentalist Heidi Rodewald—earned Tony and Drama Desk honors on Broadway.

Born Mark Stewart in Los Angeles in 1961, the artist adopted the stage name Stew to prevent confusion with the British musician who fronted the Pop Group. An insatiable listener from childhood, he joined a local R&B ensemble at fourteen while his personal collection leaned toward psychedelic and progressive rock; by the late seventies he was immersed in the city’s emerging punk community. Stewart relocated to New York City in 1982, entering the avant-garde noise-rock milieu, then departed the country the following year for nearly ten years split between the Netherlands and Germany. In Berlin he performed with several ensembles and collaborated with the mixed-media collective known as “The Wonderful Guise.” After the Berlin Wall fell and Germany reunified, rising racism in the city prompted his return to Los Angeles.

Settling in Silver Lake, Stewart assembled a new band that fused Baroque pop melodies with lyrics offering satirical commentary on modern life. To underscore the mismatch between his chosen sound and prevailing assumptions about Black performers, he called the group the Negro Problem and recruited a racially and sexually integrated roster that included bassist Gwynne Kahn, keyboardist Jill Meschke Blair, guitarist Probyn Gregory, and drummer/multi-instrumentalist Charles Pagano. The Negro Problem issued an ambitious box set of 7" singles in 1995; two years later the album Post Minstrel Syndrome appeared, repurposing several of those tracks, among them a striking reinterpretation of “Macarthur Park.” The original lineup soon fractured, so 1999’s Joys and Concerns relied largely on session players, though former Wednesday Week member Heidi Rodewald joined and quickly became Stew’s chief collaborator, contributing arrangements, production, and leadership in the studio and onstage.

Stew launched a solo career with 2000’s Guest Host, produced with extensive input from Rodewald; Entertainment Weekly named it album of the year. Sweetboot followed in 2001, and 2002 brought both The Naked Dutch Painter and Other Songs—another Entertainment Weekly favorite—and the Negro Problem’s Welcome Black. After Something Deeper Than These Changes appeared in 2003, Stew paused recording to develop a theatrical project. Invited to present his material in Lincoln Center’s American Songbook series, he accepted a director’s suggestion that the songs could sustain a musical. Working again with Rodewald, he expanded an earlier piece, Travelogue, into Passing Strange. The show premiered at Berkeley Repertory Theater in fall 2006, with Stew in the lead role and both artists performing in the onstage band. It transferred to Off-Broadway’s Public Theater in May 2007 and reached Broadway’s Belasco Theater in February 2008, completing 165 performances. Nominated for seven Tony Awards, the production won Best Book of a Musical for Stew and claimed five Drama Desk Awards, including Outstanding Musical, Outstanding Music, and Outstanding Lyrics. Spike Lee captured the final Belasco run for the 2010 documentary Passing Strange.

In 2009 Stew and Rodewald supplied music for a new staging of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and developed their next work, Making It, which opened at St. Ann’s Warehouse in early 2010. The score later formed the basis of an album credited to Stew & the Negro Problem and released in early 2012.