Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Critiqued by Holly Bartges

At 7:29 PM, if I had been asked, and I have been, if Hedwig and The Angry Inch was for everyone, I would have, without hesitation, said, "No."

With mouth still open at the closing of the Avenue Theater's Opening Night of Hedwig And The Angry Inch, I would have said, without hesitation "Yes, by all means".

Why?

Hedwig at the Avenue Theater.

Because of the heartbreaking, vulnerable, emotional, honest story by a performer caught in a political trap, and a trapped identity fighting for meaning, fighting for significance, fighting for love, fighting for acceptance.

Hansel Schmidt, aka Hedwig, invades Nick Sugar to tell her heartbreaking celebratory story. If only everyone could listen. If only everyone could hear. It won't happen, but-------.

The multi-award winning musical, Hedwig, written in 1998 by John Cameron Mitchell, has embraced a near cult following. Produced by Bob Wells and Dave Johnson for the Avenue, and directed by Wells, this production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch has got to be one of the most important productions gracing the stages of Colorado Theatre. Yes, you'll be entertained while poignancy will grab you around the throat.

Sugar not only disappears into the fiber of Hedwig, Amanda Earls defies being identified. The program stated there were four guys in the band of the Angry Inch, but there were five on stage. One of them was Earls as Yitzak, Hedwig's third husband, but not as I could recognize. Following the performance, Earls confidently admitted she is sure this is the most important role she has played. Aiding and abetting Hedwig in her narrative story from growing up in East Berlin behind the Berlin Wall as a slight girl-boy, to his journey to America as a song-writer performer, Yitzak spends a good deal of time looking upon the blond bombshell with irritable distain. The beautiful Earls even manages to dim her bright gorgeous eyes for this one-act production.

When born, his name was Hansel. How did Hansel become Hedwig? That's the story, so beautifully, animatedly told by Hegwig.

Loud the music is. Loud it is meant to be, but balanced to fit the acoustics so that every note is heard, every syllable of the lyrics come across crystal clear. The music so much a part of the narrated story, hearing everything becomes crucial. Amazing, how when loud music is balanced, the loudness belongs.

On a delicately appropriated set designed by Tina Anderson, for Hegwig's World Abomination Tour, the set says simply, "This girly-boy deserves respect, attention, and dignity." Respect, attention, and dignity did not come easy for Hedwig. It's doubtful; even now she would claim the description for her very being.

Hedwig at the Avenue Theatre

The leader of the Angry Inch Band, Skszp (David Nehls) is joined by Scott Smith, Guitar; Austin Hein, Bass; and John Olsson, Drums. The band is magnificent, adding to the intensity of the story.

The Angry Inch is more than a band's name. Braced in a song by the same name, it tells Hedwig's predicament. From behind the Berlin Wall, Hansel falls in love with an American soldier. If they marry, Hansel can cross the Atlantic for America. Marriage is out of the question. Since a physical is required for marriage, it takes more than "dressing up" to pull it off. Hansel's mother comes up with a solution: she will give Hansel her name, and her passport, and arrange for a sex change operation. Something goes horribly wrong. The angry inch is what remains of Hedwig's botched penis. The song details the excruciating experience, physically and emotionally. With Sugar's precise, deliberate, delicate, sculptured interpretation, Hedwig's emotional journey reverberates throughout the entire theatre. In the beginning, the creative team agreed Hedwig should be performed in clubs rather than theatres to preserve its rock nature. However, the Avenue Theatre blows that theory out the window. Yes, it has indeed been performed in other theatres, but the Avenue receives this production with open arms.

Sugar's incredible subtle and not so subtle expressions paint the heartbreaking story behind the creative human being.

Humor slips in and out of the narration. Hansel's remembers the tiny apartment where he and his mother lived, and the frequent moments he lay sleeping with his head in the oven.

A year later, in 1989 living in Junction City, Kansas, the Berlin Wall came down, and Hedwig was divorced when her solder left her for another man. Hedwig forms the rock band the Angry Inch, and meets a shy misunderstood Christian teenager, Tommy Speck teaching him everything he knows. The young man, hungry for knowledge becomes Tommy Gnosis, takes Hedwig's songs and becomes a smashing rock star. Little wonder Yitzak constantly spits out her disdain for her wife, Hedwig remains painfully in love with Tommy. With Tommy's concert performing next door at the Peps Center, there is room for hurting, spiteful comments. Hegwig's eyes cloud with far away looks into what was.

The songs are masterfully written, and awesomely performed. The Origin of Love recounts Aristophanes speech in Plato's Symposium>, explaining the three sexes of human beings that once existed.

Other notable songs include Sugar Daddy, Wig In A Box, Hedwig's Lament, Exquisite Corpse, and Wicked Little Town, to mention a few.

Kevin Copenhaver's costume design for Hedwig metamorphically exhibits the wanting of a boy-girl to be seen, heard, known, and understood: flamboyant, sexy, alarming, and real. The Smithsonian should come knocking at the Avenue's door insisting they have a place just for the costumes. In juxtaposition to Hedwig's outfits, the band relaxes in casual jeans. Yitzak takes another back seat fueling the contempt.

While Gnosis plays large concerts to sell out crowds, Hedwig supports herself with coffee bars and strip mall dives, and The Avenue Theatre.

Hedwig's narration is more than just a story. Sugar turns it into an emotional experience for anyone within hearing distance. In spite of the break up between Tommy and Hedwig, she deeply feels they are soul mates, and they either have to eventually reunite or she must destroy him.

Every flick of Sugar's eyebrow, every twitch of his lips, every slump of a shoulder, every cock-of-the-walk dance step strips Hedwig to bone twisted reality. The performance becomes a sharp glimpse of a naked soul wanting, hungering, and desiring to be accepted as real. Difficult to do when the soul mate turned rock star becomes famous using her songs.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch is not only Earls' most important role to date, it is indeed also Sugar's, and quite possibly the most important production on any Colorado stage.

Hedwig at the Avenue Theater.

Not to be missed by anyone. (Alas, it will be.) In spite of it all, Hedwig ends on a high celebratory note, with Earls belting out a song that won't allow the mouth to close, while Hedwig regains equilibrium, and Sugar gives her a celebratory strut for life.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch has been performed all over the world, but I cannot imagine anyone anywhere at any time giving any finer performance than what currently lives at The Avenue. It just isn't possible in spite of Hedwig winning the Off Broadway Obie Award for the past four years straight from 2006-20110.

The significance of Hedwig is that it's a window into life as it really is, sometimes, and not as so many want it to be.

Brian Freeland's projection design provides historical reality with cold slants of the Berlin Wall, and frequently solicits gasps from the audience. Star Pytel's lighting design cries, laughs, and snarls side by side with Hedwig, Yitzak, and the band.

Astonishing how perspective the Greeks were way back when.

Not to be missed.

Hedwig And The Angry Inch
Text by John Cameron Mitchell; Music & Lyrics by Stephen Trask; Directed by Bob Wells