In the age of Zeus, humans moved around using eight limbs, saw through two pairs of eyes, and had two sets of genitals. Imagine two humans of today’s world fused at the heart. “Children of the sun†is what they called two conjoined men. Two women sharing the same body were known as “children of the earth.†The androgynous folk, or “children of the moon,†were a combination of one male body and one female body.
Eventually, the children were punished for their disrespect towards the gods by being cut in half by Zeus’s mighty lightning bolts. The two halves were then left to spend their lives searching for their perfect complement.
Hedwig and the Angry Inch reminds us via song of this simpler ancient era. Sadly, it’s easy to draw conclusions about how the catastrophic end to that story has led to a time when most people venture into the vast void of the internet looking for companionship.
“The Origin of Love†is one of the first songs composer/lyricist Stephen Trask wrote for the show when it was only a conversation between Trask and Hedwig’s original creator and star John Cameron Mitchell. I imagine that they had no idea then that the rock-n-roll darkly comic musical they were conceiving would go on to occupy a similar place in the cultural landscape to Aristophanes’s speech in Symposium. It explodes any reductive modern concept of gender while engaging compellingly with history and the idea of art as the truest form of self-expression.
How does any musical accomplish all of that in only a little more than 90 minutes? When it comes to Hedwig, it’s merely by being organic.
Hedwig and the Angry Inch sees the titular lead singer, who identifies as genderqueer after being born male as Hansel, telling the story of how she escaped her provincial life in Germany right before the Berlin Wall fell.  She married an American soldier after suffering a botched gender confirmation surgery that left her with a dysfunctional one-inch mound of flesh “where [her] penis used to be and her vagina never was.†Hedwig is touring the country to confront her ex-lover Tommy Gnosis for using the songs she wrote to become a musical sensation.
Hedwig and Tommy’s characters were inspired by elements of Mitchell’s childhood and the drag performers at a New York club called the SqueezeBox! where Trask played in the house band. Together, they decided that the best way to develop the show (comprised initially mainly of cover songs) and Hedwig’s signature look (including those iconic curls) was to play gigs at similarly small, grungy venues. In 1998, Hedwig premiered Off-Broadway at the Jane Street Theater where it ran for 857 performances.
Pittsburgh Musical Theater seeks to continue that legacy of authenticity when it produces the show later this month. PMT has assembled a genuinely all-star team to tackle the show led by director Stephen Santa and lead actor Braden Chapman.
You most likely know Santa from his acclaimed work for various companies around the city and beyond. You most definitely know Chapman, who identifies as gender non-conforming, primarily as drag queen Mimi Imfurst, who infamously (famously in my opinion) made waves as a contestant on RuPaul’s Drag Race for his hands-on, all-in approach to the competition. It’s fortuitous that they now have the chance to tell Hedwig’s story together because the show profoundly impacted both of their lives.
Santa sees this opportunity to be at the helm of Hedwig as a rare “full circle moment.†He recalls seeing a production of the show at City Theatre starring Rent’s Anthony Rapp 15 times. It was the show he “didn’t know he needed as a young gay high school student†that ultimately inspired him to pursue directing.
After Chapman’s parents discovered that he’d been dressing in women’s clothes, they kicked him out of the house. Besides a change of clothes, pretty much the only thing he had was a copy of the musical’s original cast recording. He credits the music with having “saved [him] in every possible way during those times.†It’s no wonder that this production marks his sixth time working on the show.
Hedwig has literally and figuratively touched millions more since its premiere over 20 years ago. The show graduated from genuine cult hit to bonafide sensation when it was adapted into a feature film in 2001 and finally made it to the Great White Way in 2014.
Mitchell, who directed, wrote, and starred in the film, earned a Golden Globe nomination for his performance. The Broadway production featured a cavalcade of stars in the lead role including Darren Criss, Taye Diggs, and Neil Patrick Harris. Harris opened the show, earned rave reviews, and won a well-deserved Tony Award.
While they admit, it’s impossible not to rock out to showstoppers like “Midnight Radio†and “Sugar Daddy,†Chapman and Santa agree that score’s quieter moments like “Wicked Little Town†are just as thrilling. If there’s any proof of Aristophanes’s proposed origin of love, it’s this show where the rock musical has found its soulmate in Hedwig’s tragic and transcendent story.
Hedwig and the Angry Inch, presented by Pittsburgh Musical Theater plays at the Gargaro Theater from November 9-17. For tickets and more information, click here.Â
Brian Pope is a playwright and pop culture obsessive who has been writing for Pittsburgh in the Round since February of 2016. His plays have been produced by his own theatre company, Non-State Actors, as well as Yinz Like Plays?!, Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, and Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company. He’s also served as dramaturg for City Theatre’s 2018 Young Playwrights Festival and as both stage manager and actor for Alarum Theatre. When he’s not making or reviewing theatre, he’s actively pursuing his other passions, listening to showtunes and watching television.
Categories: Feature