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A CurtainUp
Review
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
To be free, one must give up a little part of oneself.
-- John Cameron
Mitchell
Elsewhere in the East Village, there is a play called The Most Fabulous
Story Ever Told which purports to retell the Bible story with gay characters. (See link
below.) Labels can be misleading. Hedwig and the Angry Inch also retells the story of
creation story (among much else), and it's the one that's fabulous. It's more creative, funnier, truer
and has much better music.
In my book, and many others, Hedwig was the best musical of 1998. It was also,
probably, the most unusual. It materialized with an unapologetic, take-no-prisoners rock score, an
in-your-face story line that builds on a surprisingly sophisticated foundation and, unlike the typical
show, a creative team that was front-and-center on-stage, not lurking in the wings.
A year later, Hedwig is still going strong, now buoyed by a cast album (see link
below), national media attention and talk of not only other productions but a movie version as
well. At the Jane Street Theatre, only one thing has changed: the immensely talented authors,
John Cameron Mitchell (book) and Stephen Trask (music and lyrics), have passed the baton to
new performers. The question of the moment: is it still the same fiercely original show? The quick
answer: happily, yes.
In Hedwig's construct, the audience is attending the opening night of the New York
gig of Hedwig (Michael Cerveris), an "internationally ignored" transvestite rock star. Hedwig
recounts, in word and song, her search for identity. Intertwined with the sometimes sordid and
raunchy details of the transformation of Hansel, an East Berlin boy, into Hedwig, is a remarkably
acute observation about the nature of love and of self. Oh yes, and a plethora of very
funny material. A sample:
It is clear that I must find my other half. But is it a he or a she? Is it Daddy?
He went away. Or Mother? I was suddenly afraid to go back to bed. What does this person look
like? Identical to me? Or somehow complementary?...And what about sex? Is that how we put
ourselves back together again? Is that what Daddy was trying to do to me? Or can two people
actually become one again? And if we're driving on the Autobahn when it happens, can we still
use the diamond lane?
By the time the Berlin wall tumbles, Hedwig has tumbled too: a botched sex-change
operation has left Hedwig with the "angry inch" of the show's title; and Luther, her ticket out of
East Berlin, has taken her only as far as a trailer park near an army base in Junction City, Kansas.
Music becomes Hedwig's life, a passion eagerly shared with the local general's son, Tommy
Speck. But misfortune continues to plague Hedwig. As Hedwig opens her show in the dingy
ballroom of the seedy Hotel Riverview, irony collides with anguish: Tommy (now sporting the
telling last name Hedwig concocted for him -- Gnosis -- and singing the songs she wrote for him)
is performing across the river for what sounds like a capacity crowd at Giant Stadium.
The backbone of Hedwig is Mitchell's endearing narrative and the stunning collection
of ten songs Stephen Trask has written. Spanning an impressive range of moods and styles, they
accomplish a feat that evades the writers of many new musicals: they relate the feelings they are
intended to express. From the hard-edged opening number, "Tear Me Down," Hedwig shifts into
the lullaby, "The Origin of Love". By the time it ends, the philosophical premise of
Hedwig has been established. To tell the story of Luther, Trask turns to country (the
bouncy "Sugar Daddy"), then shifts into nail-spitting intensity to describe the botched operation
("Angry Inch"). Grim optimism takes hold in the surprisingly poignant sing-a-long, "Wig in a
Box". A plaintive lounge song, "Wicked Little Town," morphs later into a concert mode.
The fear -- that Mitchell's personal charm and Trask's accomplished hand on the musical
throttle are critical -- quickly proves unfounded. While there are moments when the memory of
Mitchell's clever banter results in a bit of wishing for him onstage, Cerveris has added enough of
his own enthusiastic, nuanced shtick to more than make up for what is lost. And then there is his
musical performance. As incredibly talented as Mitchell is, Cerveris is the finer performer. He
brings breathtaking intensity to Trask's songs, and engenders a surprisingly stronger reaction from
the audience. Only in the hollow wails of "Wicked Little Town," where Mitchell's textured voice
is more interesting, did I feel any longing for the original article. Joe Pecorino (replacing Trask as
the band's vowel challenged front man, Skszp) and cohorts (replacing Trask's band, Cheater) are
also fully up to the task.
For those who have already fallen into Hedwig's spell, and those who have until now resisted,
the current incarnation should still rank up at the top of the to-do list. The CD case features a
"Parental Advisory" for "explicit content" that, as the above no doubt makes clear, obtains for the
show as well. Those with a penchant for ear plugs might want to bring along a pair although the
music really veers more into occasional harshness than ear-splitting loudness.
A final note: part of the "ambiance" of the Hotel Riverview is its interesting history, which
includes sheltering the surviving crew of the Titanic when they first reached dry land and
boasting Herman Melville as its one-time desk clerk. It's one of the last unrazed vestiges of this
section of the West Village -- just below the meatpacking district Hedwig claims is now known by
its tonier acronym -MEPA.
LINKS MENTIONED ABOVE
CurtainUp's review of The Most Fabulous Story
Ever Told
Hedwig
And The Angry Inch/The Original Cast CD on Atlantic Records
HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH
Book by John Cameron Mitchell
Music and lyrics by Stephen Trask
Directed by Peter Askin
starring Michael Cerveris with Miriam Shor (seen with understudy Lisa Datz), Jeremy
Chatzky, Werner F., Joe Pecorino and Jon Weber
Set and projection design: James Youmans
Lighting design: Kevin Adams
Costume design: Fabio Toblini
Sound design: Werner F.
Musical staging: Jerry Mitchell
Hair and makeup design: Mike Potter
Jane Street Theatre at the Hotel Riverview, 113 Jane Street (@ West Side Highway) (212)
239 - 6200
opened February 24, 1999
Seen March 15, 1999 and reviewed by Les
Gutman March 17, 1999
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