BY SCOTT STIFFLER | The “internationally ignored song stylist” currently defying convention and breaking the fourth wall seven times a week on Broadway doesn’t have to go home — but she can’t stay at the Belasco Theatre past September 13.
Retreating to her place of birth isn’t an option, though, since the Berlin Wall fell by the time East German-born “girlyboy” Hansel Schmidt relocated to Kansas, after suffering a botched sex change operation in order to wed her sugar daddy, a US soldier. Jilted a mere year later, Hedwig Robinson embraced her genderqueer nature, then formed a band that references scars both mental and physical.
Struggles, triumphs and betrayals ensued, and that’s the story you get at “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” — the rock concert/cabaret confessional that came to Broadway for an expected 16 weeks, and will close next Sunday after 22 previews and 506 regular performances.
The production won 2014’s Tony Award for Best Musical Revival, with Neil Patrick Harris in the title role. Since then, Hedwig’s gold boots have been taken for a walk by Andrew Rannells, Michael C. Hall and Darren Criss. Taye Diggs, who picked up the baton for the final lap, brings a unique audience rapport, vocal performance and physical presence (plus at least one Idina Menzel reference).
John Cameron Mitchell, who wrote the book and created the role (first at Westbeth, then at the Jane Street Theatre beginning in February 1998), also assumed the Hedwig mantle for a short period during its Broadway run. The downtown production won the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Off-Broadway Musical, and both Mitchell and Stephen Trask (music and lyrics) won Obies in 2001. New York Magazine, Entertainment Weekly and Time Magazine lauded its music, and Mitchell won an Audience and Best Director award at Sundance, for his 2001 film adaptation.
Like the survivor story it tells, “Hedwig” won’t be content to just ride off into the sunset after its final Broadway performance. A national tour will start in San Francisco on October 4, 2016 — and productions are being planned for London’s West End and Australia.
New York has dibs on “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” through September 13. Tuesday through Saturday at 8 p.m. Matinees on Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. For tickets ($47–$142), call 212-239-6200, visit Telecharge.com or purchase at the Belasco Theatre Box Office (111 West 44th Street). On Twitter: @HedwigOnBway, Facebook and Instagram: @hedwigonbway. Also visit HedwigBroadway.com.
