In his 2008 semi-autobiographical musical "Passing Strange," singer-songwriter Stew sang about leaving behind his middle-class, church-ruled upbringing in Los Angeles to travel abroad in search of his identity.
“Like Baldwin in the day,” he wrote in the song "Amsterdam."
He meant author James Baldwin, who grew up in Harlem. Facing prejudice in the US as a gay African American, he moved to Paris in 1948 at the age of 24.
Stew’s new piece, “Notes of a Native Song,” is about Baldwin. He said he first heard of the author through his teachers in elementary school, who also introduced him to other African Americans who moved to Europe, like jazz musician Dexter Gordon and writer Chester Himes.
“They wanted us to know that there was another reality for black people,” he said. “They always talked about this place where these guys went to concentrate, to be able to walk on the sidewalk and feel normal, to be able to write and feel normal, and that left a big, giant impression on me.”
“Notes of a Native Song,” named after Baldwin's 1955 book Notes of a Native Son, was commissioned and produced by Harlem Stage. The piece is a collection of songs, written by Stew with his long-time collaborator Heidi Rodewald.
Stew said his goal his goal is to take Baldwin out of stuffy tea rooms and put him in dive bars. “For me, he is a rock and roll figure,” he said.
Baldwin wrote Notes of a Native Son when he was living in France, and died there about 30 years ago. But Stew made it back to the US, and wrote his Baldwin musical in Brooklyn, where he lives, and Harlem.
“Notes of a Native Song” is at the Harlem Stage Gatehouse from Wednesday through Sunday.