HX Magazine
Hedwig and the Angry Inch ORIGINAL CAST RECORDING
HX Magazine March 19, 1999
By Andrew Velez
Although this play has become one of the biggest off-Broadway hits, the score isn't just wannabe rock. This is the real deal. Co-written by John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask, the tunes are performed by Cheater, Trask's pop-rock combo that played Hedwig's dyspeptic backup band, The Angry Inch. The impressively varied score has lyrics that are well worth listening to. "Angry Inch" - a searing, punk-fuelled report of Hedwig's bleeding "first day as a woman" - completely satisfies musically, and "The Origin of Love" is a memorable anthem to rock. By sifting 1920's Berlin cabaret through a post-Stonewall rock 'n' roll sensibility, Mitchell and Trask created music that easily stands on its own.
