I first saw Hedwig and the Angry Inch on stage in 2014, on Broadway, with Neil Patrick Harris in the lead role. I saw it the week after it won four Tony Awards and the energy in the room was electric. Even though NPH and Lena Hall and the Angry Inch put on a hell of a show, the anger that existed deep within Hedwig’s soul was beginning to feel like an artefact of the past.
Writer and
performer John Cameron Mitchell had debuted the character in 1994, singing
covers of well-known songs with the lyrics changed to tell Hedwig’s story.
Mitchell dug into his own past; the son of a US Army Lieutenant, who at one
time was a Commander in Berlin. The character of Hedwig starts out life in East
Berlin before the fall of the Wall and four decades on, there has to be some
suspension of disbelief.
With
Mitchell and co-creator Stephen Trask developing the character over many years
at cabaret clubs in New York, every future iteration feels ever-so-slightly
like a compromise. Hedwig’s life stretches out far behind her and the places
she plays in the text of the show become grander. The Broadway production even
added in some context about why this gender-bending queer punk icon was at the
1000-seat Belasco Theatre; a musical version of The Hurt Locker had
closed after one performance and Hedwig has convinced the producer to let her
and the band use the space that would have otherwise sat empty.
A character
conceived of in the early 90s, as the AIDS epidemic still raged across the
world, forges them in a kind of fire that had waned by the time she stepped
onto a Broadway stage. By 2014, nearly seventy percent of Americans lived in
states that had gay marriage. The following year, the Supreme Court struck down
all state bans on same-sex marriage.
In contrast,
today the Supreme Court upheld a Tennessee law banning gender transition care
for young people. Trans people are having their rights stripped away in America
week after week. Ejected from military service. Turned away from participating
in sport. In this dark time, the queer rage at the centre of this
boundary-smashing masterpiece is burning brightly again.
Presented
at the Athenaeum Theatre in Melbourne as part of Rising, this new production –
directed with real power by Shane Anthony and Dino Dimitriadis – debuted at the Adelaide
Festival and opens in Sydney in July. It doesn’t pretend to be of-the-past
either. Hedwig is now playing in a ballroom in Tennessee that recently held a
rally for Kamala Harris. And there’s some cutting jokes about the transphobic creator
of Harry Potter, too.
This is
rock-and-roll confessional cabaret par excellence. The band, under musical
direction from Victoria Falconer, greets the audience on the way in, warming up
before the star of the show arrives. The driving beat of “Tear Me Down” sets
the scene beautifully, the audience hollering and cheering as soon as Sean Miley
Moore steps on stage as Hedwig.
Clad in a
patchwork, layered, denim ensemble with a full helmet of platinum blonde hair,
Moore cuts a striking figure in the lead role. We’re in expert hands
throughout, the performance expertly modulated through a myriad of emotions and
vocal stylings. As we watch the character open up and strip away their layers, Hedwig
remains sharp and biting throughout. Moore’s performance is phenomenal.
In the
background for much of the show is Yitzhak, Hedwig’s husband, who is belittled
and put-upon and not allowed out of Hedwig’s shadow. Played here by Adam
Noviello, who towers over Moore, this isn’t a shrinking violet performance in
any way. Noviello stalks around the stage, occasionally biting back, and sometimes
getting the last word. It’s a tricky role because it is designed to be small,
but Noviello makes a meal of it.
Yitzhak and
Hedwig’s relationship is caustic and abusive. I don’t remember Neil Patrick
Harris being this mean this well. Hedwig isn’t an easy character to like, but
as the saying goes – hurt people hurt people. And given the abuse in her early
life, we understand where the pain and anger come from.
The full-bodied
score gets a real workout and in a way each song betters the last. This show
builds on its relationships and traumas, working its way toward an emotional
climax and resolution. Noviello kills it while belting out “The Long Grift” and
I had tears rolling down my cheeks during the powerful rendition of “Midnight Radio”.
For a show
that has been evolving for over thirty years, it remains one of the great small-cast
musicals. It centres two queer characters with complicated pasts and is bold in
its view of the gender and gender expression. Traditionally, Hedwig (whose
gender is not defined in the show) is played by a cis man and Yitzhak by a cis
woman. Moore is gender fluid and Noviello is non-binary and it’s so wonderful
to see them taking these roles with both hands and singing the fuck out of
them.
It was hard
to sit in the theatre and not think about the backlash against the queer
community in America and around the world. If at one time the show might have
felt like a piece from the past, it's vital and relevant in 2025. Hedwig's
righteous anger is front and centre – and the show all the better for it.
- Keith Gow, Theatre First
Hedwig and the Angry Inch is playing in Melbourne until July 6 and then moves to Sydney from July 17
Photos: Shane Reid
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