Hedwig and the Angry Inch
by Greg Evans
Variety, February 23, 1998
A love child of Marlene Dietrich and Ziggy Stardust might come close to resembling the
character of Hedwig Schmidt, but actor/writer John Cameron Mitchell's wildly original creation
defies even that description. As the normal star of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Mitchell's
comedy/drama as rock concert, Hedwig recounts a life story (between songs) that's funny, sad
and as unforgettable as the Farrah Fawcett feather winged hairdo Hedwig favors.
Directed by Peter Askin as a mock rock concert (though there's nothing mock about Stephen
Trask's excellent rock score), Hedwig begins as a fairly conventional, if humorous drag show,
with Mitchell (in wig, glitter eye shadow, denim & pink-fringe mini-dress and a massive
red-white-and blue cape) parading up the aisle to the blaring sounds of "America the Beautiful." The campy quips begin immediately: "I do love a warm hand on my entrance."
But the very talented Mitchell (well known to New York audiences in the Secret Garden, The
Destiny of Me and others) has more on his mind than camp (though Hedwig includes no
shortage of that.) In the type of German accent that has come to signify world-weary
decadence, Hedwig recounts a life story that would make Genet blush: An East German "girly
boy" whose family apartment was so small he had to use the oven for privacy, Hedwig's troubled
childhood gave way to a disasterous adolescence. Seduced by an American G.I., the shy boy
underwent a botched sex change operation that left him neither completely male nor female.
Hence the name of his/her rock band, "the Angry Inch."
It's a portent of Hedwig's bad choices that she flees East Berlin just before freedom comes to
that city. Ensconced and abandoned in a Kansas trailer park, Hedwig watches with envy as the
Wall come down.
But the central plot point involves Hedwig's former true love Tommy, her former back-up singer
and protege, now a big-time rock star playing at the Meadowlands arena in New Jersey, just
across the river from the West Village dive where Hedwig performs. In one of the play's most
inspired bits, Hedwig occaisionally opens a backstage door so that both she and the audience
can hear Tommy's show (and the enthusiastic applause) all the way from Jersey. Recently the
target of a tabloid sex scandal in which he was discovered in flagrante (and in a speeding car)
with the transexual Hedwig, Tommy spends much of his concert spin-controlling and
denouncing Hedwig.
Given the improbabilites that abound in Hedwig if only of little wonder that the show is as funny as it is. Mitchell knows how to write and deliver a joke: Explaining the red paint splatter on her mink coat, Hedwig says an activist asked "What poor unfortunate creature had to die to give you that," to which the diva responds, "My Aunt Trudy."
More unlikely and less easily explained is the poignance that underscores so much of Hedwig.
Granted, Mitchell, occaisionally stretches for a seriousness that the story can't support, but
more often than not the stage banter anecdotes find their marks, and their cumulative effect is
oddly affecting. By the end of the 90 minute concert, Mitchell has enacted a bittersweet portrait of regret, disappointment and the strength to survive it all.
Of course, Hedwig wouldn't work at all if the music were any less convincing than the
performance. Backed by a terrific New York rock band (in real life called Cheater, here called
the Angry Inch), Mitchell is a rarity among musical theater performers: He's entirely credible as a rock singer. The 10 songs written by Cheater's Trask are also impressive. Several numbers
stand out ("The Long Grift", "Wig in a Box", "Wicked Little Town"), but the entire score is more than CD-worthy, and makes a much stronger argument than "Rent" that musical theater can
accommodate authentic rock music. Mixing such glam-rock influences as Lou Reed and the
New York Dolls with, among other styles, today's alternative sound, Trask announces himself as
a talent to watch.
Also on stage is actress Miriam Shor, playing the bearded male backup singer (and comic foil)
Yitzak. Through no fault of Shor's the underwritten character doesn't quite come across, and
the interactions with Hedwig often fall flat.
If Hedwig and the Angry Inch isn't quite perfect, it's choice of venue certainly is. The
production inaugurates the newly named Jane Street Theater, an auditorium in a riverfront
hotel that, before serving as any number of rock halls, was a seaman's lodge that housed the
surviving crew members of the Titanic. A seedy, dilapidated aura has been retained, and
Hedwig has found a safe haven at last.
Review Grade A
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