Anthony Rapp as Hedwig!

[BillyLawlor]

Posted: 8/2/03 at 5:40pm

There's a picture of him on Playbill.comas Hedwig. Oh my god! He looks freaky! It doesn't look anything like him. What is this show about?

[AlienOnBroadway]

Posted: 8/2/03 at 6:26pm

LONG way from Mark, eh?

Here is a synopsis I just came across at http://pittsburghlive.com/x/search/s_133539.html

Written by John Cameron Mitchell with music and lyrics by Stephen Trask, "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" uses the rock concert concept as entry point into the world of Hedwig, a transgendered native of East Berlin searching for his self's other half. The angry inch is the remaining evidence of a botched sex change operation that allowed Hedwig (then Hansel) to marry an American serviceman and move to the states.

As Hedwig and his band of Angry Inchers perform, the oft-abandoned Hedwig narrates "then his/now her" tale of the journey from Germany to Kansas to Pittsburgh and her relationship with rock superstar Tommy Gnosis who's playing at nearby Heinz Field.

A winner of an OBIE award for outstanding off-Broadway musical, "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" was adapted into a movie in 2001.


....there's a little more to the article if you are interested.

[etoile]

Posted: 8/2/03 at 6:38pm

There was also a synopsis from the City Theater near the bottom of the Playbill article.

Updated On: 8/2/03 at 06:38 PM

[BillyLawlor]

Posted: 8/2/03 at 6:57pm

It's an incredibly long way from Mark. Wow- I cannot recognize him for the life of me!

[cabarethed]

Posted: 8/2/03 at 10:54pm

It's actually not what the character of Hedwig normally looks like, but I really can't see Rapp with a feathered blonde wig. I kinda like the new tweak on look...I'd love to see his take.

[luluhed]

Posted: 8/2/03 at 10:56pm

Oh my. That's not only a far cry from Anthony Rapp or Rent-it's a far cry from any Hedwig I've ever seen. Not the general period look of the piece~

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 8/2/03 at 11:32pm

Fun to see a new take on the role.

If you don't know this show, you MUST see the film--the DVD has an incredible documentary that takes you from the first appearance of Hedwig to the Off-Broadway musical to the film.

=)

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/3/03 at 11:28am

Anthony tackles a lot of the issues mentioned on this thread and others, from Hedwig's different look in this new production, to trying to deal with obsessed fans, in an article in The Hartford Courant. And broadwayguy2, before you detail how crazy OTHER Rentheads are (hello pot, hello kettle), as Miss Hedwig would say, "There's no need. No need."
Anthony Rapp on Hedwig, Her New Look, and Obsessed Fans

[etoile]

Posted: 8/3/03 at 12:34pm

Interesting article. Thank you for posting.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/3/03 at 1:06pm

Glad you liked it. When the show opened in Pittsburgh and the first photo of Anthony as Hedwig was released, I thought, "Wow! Hedwig looks like Wendy O. Williams." I'm happy to find out that that was intentional! I'll be seeing the show this week and will report on it afterwards.

[luluhed]

Posted: 8/3/03 at 2:03pm

Thanks for the article, namo. As someone who can discuss and debate Hedwig with the best of them, I'd have to see this production to see if the punk thing works for me. Too bad I won't, but I'm looking forward to hearing an unbiased (if this is possible, lol) report!

[BrdwyThtr]

Posted: 8/3/03 at 4:44pm

Anthony is barely recognizable as Hedwig!

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/3/03 at 4:55pm

Which, unless Hedwig is John Cameron Mitchell, is probably as it should be. Michael Ceveris and Kevin Cahoon were pretty unrecognizable too.

[luluhed]

Posted: 8/3/03 at 5:27pm

Michael's drastic transformation was the most effective for me. That and other things he did.

The least unrecognizable Hedwig - Ally Sheedy.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/3/03 at 10:36pm

Michael's transformation at the end was actually a bit frightening, and I am not easily frightened in a theater that isn't on fire.

[luluhed]

Posted: 8/3/03 at 10:47pm

There are other people who agree with you. I'm much too biased towards Michael to even discuss it fairly, but I understand your view.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/3/03 at 10:59pm

Don't get me wrong, I LOVED Michael's Hedwig. It was just the visual during the transformation with the bald pate and the microphone wire taped down the back like vertebrae and the strobe and the dry ice (were those effects actually used or is my memory of that more haunted house-like than the reality was?) and him looking so primordial that was actually a bit scary.

Luluhed, do you know Anthony from the Jane Street?

[luluhed]

Posted: 8/3/03 at 11:08pm

Namo- what you described about Michael's transformation is so true-but all that is what made it so good for me. And his histrionic-like gyrations (that phrase may not make any sense if I thought about it any longer) which many hated only added to the drama of the moment for me. His transformation was like a rebirth IMO.

Updated On: 8/3/03 at 11:08 PM

[popcultureboy]

Posted: 8/4/03 at 5:19am

I didn't think Wendy O Williams, I thought "My God! Did Cyndi Lauper explode or something?"

Posted: 8/4/03 at 8:04pm

i was thinking the same thing! lol

[BwayTheatre11]

Posted: 8/4/03 at 8:52pm

I love Anthony Rapp!