HEDWIG INCHES
by sylvia rodemeyer
edwig and the Angry Inch is a rock musical about a fictional Rock’n’Roll band, fronted by an East German transgender singer and it arrives at the Costa Mesa Playhouse on Friday, June 8.
Hedwig The text is by John Cameron Mitchell, and the music and lyrics are by Stephen Trask. It premiered in 1998 and has been performed throughout the world in hundreds of stage productions. The experimental musical is just over a decade old, but it’s already become a cult-classic within the LGBT com- munity.
The story is told directly by Hedwig to the audience, in the form of an extended monologue. The concept of the stage production is that the audience is watching the character Hedwig’s musical act as she follows rock star Tommy Gnosis’s (much more successful) tour around the country. Occasionally Hedwig references Gno- sis’s concert, which is playing in an adjoining venue. Hedwig’s band (including the character of Yitzhak) appears on stage for practically the entire duration of the musical, as does Hedwig herself. Alissa Sanchez joins the cast as Yitzhak, Hedwig’s counterpart, lover and band-
mate. Yitzhak shifts and struggles with gender identity throughout the play, but remains devoted to Hedwig even as Hedwig pines for Gnosis. Because of this Sanchez rehearsed long hours to transform her feminine musical theater singing style to conform to the male rock band persona she typifies as Yitzhak, she did this by studying many male singers to get the moves down correctly. “I make sure to portray Yitzhak as an effeminate man—not a manly woman, I think that’s more true to the script,” Sanchez says. “It’s easy for Yitzhak to become part of the Angry Inch and fade into the background, or become a comical characterization. It’s im- portant not to come off as a woman playing a drag king in this role,” Sanchez says. Hedwig recovers from the separation by forming a rock band composed of
Korean-born army wives, which she names “The Angry Inch.” Hedwig befriends a shy and misunderstood Christian teenager Tommy Speck, with whom she writes songs. She gives him the stage name “Tommy Gnosis,” but he leaves her and goes on to become a wildly-successful rock star—with the songs Hedwig wrote alone and with him. “Internationally ignored” Hedwig and her band, The Angry Inch are forced to support themselves by playing coffee bars and strip mall dives. Sanchez remembers being introduced to the film version of Hedwig in high
because of the varied experiences she goes through. Overbearing parenting, gender identity issues, star-crossed love, etc. are very common in the LGBT community.”
“Hedwig resonates with so many different people 20 RAGE monthly | JUNE 2012
school, when it seemed her entire musical theater department simultaneously became obsessed with it. “Hedwig resonates with so many different people be- cause of the varied experiences she goes through. Overbearing parenting, gender identity issues, star-crossed love, etc. are very common in the LGBT com- munity. Hedwig so easily reaches a queer audience because of the performance involved in the story. The format of the story is cathartic and beautiful,” Sanchez says of the popularity of the play. Stephen Hulsey directs this production and Hedwig is portrayed by Dennis Tong. Hedwig and the Angry Inch opens on Friday, June 8 and runs through Sunday, July
8. The cast will be doing a special performance on Thursday, June 7 at VLVT Lounge in downtown Santa Ana. For tickets and more information call 949.650-5269 or go to
costamesaplayhouse.org.
Dennis Tong as “Hedwig” photography by Travis Stolp
IN TO THE COSTA MESA PLAYHOUSE
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