Take it from someone who sort of hates musicals: “Passing Strange” on “Great Performances” (8 p.m., PBS, check local listings) is a great musical. It’s not really a musical in the traditional sense. It unfolds without costumes or scenery and is narrated by its creator, who goes by the single name Stew and leads a remarkably tight band through a series of songs that are witty, funny, insightful and, above all, catchy.

“Strange” follows a young black man stifled by a middle-class Los Angeles existence in the late 1970s. He tries to “find himself” through religion, drugs, punk-rock music and goes to Europe, where he discovers that acceptance by “hip” strangers can be as suffocating as that of church and family.

The songs and story travel at the speed of a life on the edge. Almost every character is memorable, from an insecure, smothering mother to the gay, pothead son of a preacher man who extols an avant-garde Europe he’s never seen.

A Tony winner on Broadway, “Passing Strange” was adapted for the screen by director Spike Lee, who avoided the temptation to “cinemize” the stark stagecraft, a la “Chicago” or “Moulin Rouge.” Drenched in sex, drugs and rock and roll, “Strange” is the smartest, funniest and most engaging thing I’ve seen passing for a musical in years.

• Jeri Ryan continues her guest stint on “Leverage” (9 p.m., TNT), returning for the second half of the second season. She’s the good-looking new con-woman in Nate’s (Timothy Hutton) band of heist-masters, former bad guys who pull Robin Hood raids “Mission Impossible”-style, smiting bad guys on behalf of the downtrodden and ripped-off. It’s preposterous, but entertaining.

Tonight, the crew takes on an evil sweatshop owner who imports immigrant workers from China and forces them to pay off their travel costs as virtual slaves. The con involves an infiltration of the high-strung, chichi, fashion-show world.

Tonight’s other highlights

• Meningitis can’t keep three college kids from frisky behavior on “Mercy” (7 p.m. NBC).

• It’s the singer, not the song, on “American Idol” (7 p.m., Fox).

• A stalked daughter loses her parents to violence on “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” (8 p.m., NBC).

• Ambiguous hints about an old pal haunt Jay on “Modern Family” (8 p.m., ABC).

• Scheduled on “Man vs Wild” (8 p.m., Discovery): China, typhoons and ants.

• Rachelle declares war on Ed’s dinner-table etiquette on “Living with Ed” (8 p.m., Planet Green).

• Krusty shares the spotlight on “The Simpsons” (8:30 p.m., Fox).

• Tainted evidence on “CSI: NY” (9 p.m., CBS).

• Betty’s week to forget on “Ugly Betty” (9 p.m., ABC).

• The new series “Solving History with Olly Steeds” (9 p.m., Discovery) examines legends about the Ark of the Covenant.

• Christian thinks a model’s request is too radical on “Nip/Tuck” (9 p.m., FX).

• Lyle Lovett and John Prine appear on “Spectacle: Elvis Costello with … ” (9 p.m., Sundance).