Starring John Cameron Mitchell, Miriam Shor, Andrea Martin, and Stephan Trask
Directed by John Cameron Mitchell
Music and Lyrics by Stephan Trask
There's a lot to celebrate this week, so we're going to begin by honoring Pride Month with one of the most unique musicals of the last 20 years. John Cameron Mitchell's magnum opus began not as a theater workshop, but as a series of gigs in small rock venues and clubs, like the ones played by the title character. It finally debuted off-Broadway in 1998 and was a hit, running two years. It was inspired by his life growing up as a gay youth with a love of mythology whose major general father had the family situated in East Berlin in the late 80's; Hedwig was loosely based after his German babysitter. How does this exploration of gender politics and what it means to be uniquely you look more than 20 years later, at a time when gender politics are more in the news than ever? Let's begin with one of Hedwig's (Mitchell) concerts in the early 90's, as she explains who she is and what happened to her, and find out...
The Story: As we follow Hedwig and her band, the Angry Inch, through a series of gigs for a small chain of ratty clubs, we learn her life story and see why she's traveling. She began life as Hansel Schmidt, an East German boy raised by his uncaring mother after his American soldier father ran out. He's obsessed with "The Origin of Love" that talks about how there were once three beings, and they were split into two halves. He wants to find his other half, and marries American officer Luther Robinson (Maurice Dean Wint) to get out of East Germany. His sex change operation to pass as Robinson's wife is botched badly, leaving him with scar on his vagina that's the "angry inch" of the title.
After Robinson leaves her for a man, she forms a rock band with Korean-born army wives and takes up babysitting. The friend of one of her charges, Tommy Speck (Michael Pitt), strikes up a friendship with her. It becomes something deeper when she teaches him history and songwriting and grooms him for the stage. Renamed Tommy Gnosis, they become a success in local venues...but Tommy leaves her and steals her music after he becomes an overnight star and learns she's not a woman. Hedwig is convinced Tommy is her other half and arranges it so her gigs follow his sold-out tours. Her husband Yitzhak (Shor) is jealous, but she's still in love with Tommy.
The Song and Dance: Mitchell's relationship to the subject matter makes this far more intimate than most musicals. The low-budget works with the down-and-dirty locations, the dingy bars and dump of a trailer where he lives with Robinson after they leave East Germany. There's even pencil-sketched animation representing the mythology Hedwig always talks about with the two halves of the whole. Mitchell's touching and even heartbreaking as the East German who only wants to find the other part of himself; Pitt nearly matches him as the object of his affections, who goes from callow and curious youth to self-centered rock god.
Favorite Number: We open with "Tear Me Down" at the first gig, as Hedwig explains why he wants to stay in drag. He and the band tell the audience about "The Origin of Love" as he describes how the two halves were separated. "Sugar Daddy" and "Angry Inch" relate how Robinson lead him with love and convinced him to have that sex change operation. "Wig In a Box" depicts how he brought the band together and accepted his new feminine persona. "
Wicked Little Town" gives us how Hedwig first met Tommy; "Freaks" and "The Long Grift" go into Tommy's harsh abandonment of Hedwig and his rise to fame. "Hedwig's Lament" and "Exquisite Corpse" bring us to Times Square, as Hedwig finally finds herself in the spotlight...and starts to bring together both sides of her persona...as the band goes from black to white-clad and she literally sheds her layers of clothes and sexuality.
Trivia: Hedwig was a major success off-Broadway from 1998 to 2000; it also turned up briefly in an equally small fringe West End house. While the movie was a flop in 2001, it did see a Broadway revival with Neil Patrick Harris as Hedwig and Lena Hall as Yitzak that ran a year and won a best revival Tony. It's since become a favorite with the midnight movie circuit; the stage show is popular with small theaters looking for more adventurous material.
What I Don't Like: As you can tell, this is very dark for a musical. It's also very indie, with it's non-linear story and obviously cheap and low-budget sets and costumes. It can occasionally get a bit too arty or meta-physical for its own good, especially in that strange finale that has a naked Mitchell walking off into the shadows. The discussion of gender politics, body parts, and Cold War history, not to mention some fairly heavy swearing, makes this absolutely not for children.
The Big Finale: If you're looking for something different in your musicals, are interested in gay theater history, or want to see how a small musical can be done right, you'll want to head down to the concert to check out Hedwig and her band of hard rock-loving misfits.
Home Media: It was re-released on DVD and Blu-Ray by The Criterion Collection in 2019 and can be easily found for streaming as well.
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