The Waterfront Playhouse this month brings to the stage “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” the rock-and-roll musical by John Cameron Mitchell, with music and lyrics by Stephen Trask.
“Hedwig and the Angry Inch” runs Oct. 15-23, with a preview performance on Oct. 14, at the Waterfront Playhouse at Mallory Square.
First appearing Off-Broadway in 1998, “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” is part rock concert, part comedy, part intimate confession. The show tells the story of Hedwig Robinson, an East German rock singer who has crossed borders, reinvented herself and endured a botched operation in pursuit of love, identity and the elusive “origin of love.”
The score draws on glam rock, punk and classic rock. Beneath the wigs, glitter, guitars and humor lies a story about longing, heartbreak, identity and the search to become whole.
“Hedwig and the Angry Inch” won the Obie Award for Best New American Theatre Work and went on to become a cultural phenomenon, inspiring productions around the world and a celebrated 2001 film adaptation directed by Mitchell, who also starred as Hedwig.
This season marks the 25th anniversary of the film version.
At the center of the production is Phillip Cole White as Hedwig, with Natalie Rankin as Yitzhak, Hedwig’s talented but frustrated partner and bandmate, under the direction of Jeremy Zoma.
“Hedwig and the Angry Inch” is a musical you experience — with the volume turned up.
More information is at waterfrontplayhouse.org.
