‘Hedwig and the Angry Inch’ revival rocks

FLIPPING OUT FOR ‘HEDWIG’: Neil Patrick Harris gives the performance of his career. Photo: Joan Marcus

A LOVABLE LOW LIFE IN HIGH HEELS: Neil Patrick Harris in ‘Hedwig & the Angry Inch.’ Photo: Joan Marcus

By Scott Harrah

Phenomenons are rare on Broadway, but here is one with two once-in-a-decade things in its favor: It is a beautiful production of a cult-rock opera with a fanatical following of both the Off-Broadway and indie film incarnations, and stars TV and stage icon Neil Patrick Harris at the pinnacle of his career, giving an electrifying performance that has the whole city (and soon, the entire nation) abuzz with gender-bending glee. No, this is not another Book of Mormon since it will be difficult for any star to fill Mr. Harris’s killer pumps when he leaves the run, but it has arrived with Mormon’s unprecedented spirit and irreverence. The revival of Hedwig and the Angry Inch for the mainstream theater is far more complex and ground-breaking than anything critics can shower with mere adulation in the April crush of back-to-back shows opening to meet the Tony-nomination deadline. Hedwig is a show-biz anomaly, something reviewers cannot easily categorize, making it all the more revolutionary.

One could not find a more fitting actor to sell Hedwig to the masses than Neil Patrick Harris, the openly gay star of TV’s “How I Met My Mother,” “Doogie Howser, M.D.” and beloved Tony Awards host. He has the powerful voice necessary to sing the complicated rock ballads and the triple-threat skills and comic timing and charm to mesmerize audiences with the many jokes and stage antics.  Granted, Mr. Harris doesn’t have the haunting, David Bowie-style vocal delivery that John Cameron Mitchell did when the show played Off Broadway at the Jane Street Theatre in 1998. Yet it does not matter, for this is one hell of a glamour makeover.  With his toned biceps and all-American look, tottering across the Belasco stage, through many costume changes, in runway-model stiletto heels and gold platform boots, sporting numerous wigs, denim cutoffs and  glittery thrift-store hooker dresses, Neil Patrick Harris sheds any traces of his goody-goody “Doogie” persona at last and morphs into a self-proclaimed “internationally ignored song stylist” and a lovable freak. He’s Ziggy Stardust, Farrah Fawcett and an amalgam of a younger Madonna or Kylie, Gaga, young Marlene Dietrich and every diva worth lip-synching to, all at once.  In fact, in his first entrance, he is lowered onto the stage in a bejeweled jumpsuit in a rocket-style landing, very similar to the opening of recent Kylie Minogue and Lady Gaga concerts.  It’s the sort of razzle-dazzle, high-tech spectacle that was not possible Off Broadway, but is magical here. However, the glitzy androgyny ends with Arianne Phillips’ fabulous costumes and Mike Potter’s make-up and wig designs because this is not a drag show or a pop diva’s concert.  In order for Hedwig to gel with audiences, male charisma, copious amounts of testosterone and stage presence are needed.

While Book of Mormon had traditional foundations of musical-theater storytelling (songs that propel the plot) in its score, Hedwig is still a bit too avant-garde for its own good, so the uninitiated might make little sense of “The Origin of Love” (about how humans were once one sex). Just savor Mr. Harris’s heartfelt vocals and Stephen Trask’s emotionally charged lyrics and his music played by The Angry Inch band (Justin Craig, Matt Duncan, Tim Mislock and Peter Yanowitz). “Angry Inch” is the one number that actually explains Hedwig’s confusing backstory. When Mr. Harris sings the most infectious song of the night, “Wig in a Box,” a ditty about self transformation, complete with a contraption that drops down from the ceiling to the stage to project the sing-along lyrics, everyone in the audience joins in the fun, offering the type of interactive Broadway experience people paying top dollar for tickets crave. Visual projections by Benjamin Pearcy and Julian Crouch’s set, complete with what looks like an old AMC Gremlin and a grid of wig mannequins, add to the excitement.

Timing is always part of success, and Hedwig opens at a time of great change in America, when both the people and the federal government have finally recognized equality for people regardless of sexuality. Gay men and lesbians can legally marry in many states, and LGBT activists now focus on enlightening the ignorant (straights and especially gays) about why transgender people are human, too. Just 16 years ago, when John Cameron Mitchell first mounted the show, talk of transgender people and sex changes was still in the realm of camp and the unexplained, relegated to sordid tabloid stories.  It is part of the reason why Stephen Trask’s glam-rock score and Mr. Mitchell’s book, about a “girly” boy in Soviet-controlled East Berlin, who had a botched male-to-female gender-reassignment surgery, originally worked so well. What was “punk” in the late 1990s, however, has a curious poignancy and relevance today that will win over new, younger audiences.

John Cameron Mitchell has made tweaks to this version for Broadway, from lewd Catholic jokes about a phantom bishop at the Belasco to a zinger about the stage tasting like Kathy Griffin to an imaginary one-night-only performance of Hurt Locker: The Musical.

The subplot about Tommy Gnossis, Hedwig’s lost love who eventually leaves him and becomes a star singing songs Hedwig wrote, remains intact. However, the purpose of the character of the other love interest, Yitzhak (Lena Hall), a former drag-queen backup singer, forced by Hedwig to be a butch male—and her subtext—can be confusing. She seems little more than an excuse to make jokes about playing a gig at the Sizzler near the salad bar and being “the only Jew singing Barbra Streisand songs from Yentl on Kristillnacht” (please, don’t ask). However, the golden-throated Ms. Hall does a spine-chilling replication of Whitney Houston’s octave range in “I Will Always Love You” near the end, and her overall portrayal is dynamic and worthy of a Tony nomination.

Director Michael Mayer somehow binds all the changes and the original narrative from a once-intimate musical (which began as a few songs performed at the alt-rock drag club Squeezebox in the Village long before Jane Street) together, assembling a genuine Broadway blockbuster as the finished product. No need to say anything more other than you may have to max out your credit cards trying to get tickets for this now.

WIG ROCK: Neil Patrick Harris. Photo: Joan Marcus

SPITTING IMAGE: Neil Patrick Harris channels Marlene, Madonna, Kylie, Gaga & more. Photo: Joan Marcus

ROCK & RAUNCH: Neil Patrick Harris, as Hedwig, gets nasty with Justin Craig. Photo: Joan Marcus

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published April 24, 2014
Reviewed at press performance April 23, 2014