Hedwig Revival?

Came across this on Facebook today, is this the revival that's been rumored to come to NYC recently? http://www.hedwigonstage.com/#!home/mainPage

Anyone know if the NYC engagement is still happening? I really just love this show, it'd be great to see it here in the city again.

Hedwig lived in East Berlin during the time of the Berlin Wall, so I think in terms of age Hedwig can be any age that makes that possible. So nowadays, assuming the show is being presented as in the present, Hedwig would need to be at least in his 30s, and probably older. Too young and it just isn't possible for Hedwig to have lived in East Berlin during the time of the Berlin Wall.

John Cameron Mitchell was in his mid 30s when the show was running in New York and pushing 40 when the movie opened.

According to the script: "One day in the late mid-eighties, I was in my early late-twenties."

So let's say he was 27 in 1987 so she would be around 52 years old now, give or take a couple years.

Of course when the show premiered, she would have been 38. Seems like this will have to be a "Follies"/"Chorus Line" sort of thing where it has to be set in the year it premiered otherwise the actors would be too old for any of it to make any sense.

This show was created to be performed in a low bar. The Jane Street Theatre was a good space - small, decayed, and seedy. A Broadway house would swallow this show whole and spit it out, and would provide the wrong tone the show needs.

I was thinking about this lately- I think you need to set it back a few years. It gets kind of creepy if you have a 50 year old Hedwig putting moves on a teenage Tommy. I think Hedwig should be early 30's at most- so the show would be set maybe 1992-3.

"I really wish Alan Cumming had played that role at some point... too old now?"

Am I the only person on the planet who just can't stand him? And no to him as Hedwig, regardless of his age (and I agree with those who say that HEDWIG has to be a period piece). Cumming is too hard. He doesn't do vulnerable well.

"Did you know that the big song (the one she taught Tommy - is it "Wicked Little Town?" - it's been a long time...) was originally "You Light Up My Life" in German? That's what Mitchell sang down at the Pyramid Club back in the day. The show was such a different animal then, an animal I admit I preferred to the more commercial "finished" version, and the MTV-style movie."

I did know that, and so far, you're the only other person I know who saw it. I did love the Jane St version, but something was lost in translation from the Pyramid (my God, but I loved that place!). The movie I shall not speak of.

I'm not a Cumming fan either. I always find him a little self-congratulatory. I liked him in "Cabaret," though.

Is the Pyramid Club where I used to go see Lypsinka back in my East Village days?

I have to grudgingly admit I love the movie- even though when i first saw it I was less than dazzled. But I watch it all the time and every time I do I get caught up in it so I have to say I love it.

My issue with the movie (and the stage version) is the ending. I don't think any ending I've seen works and the film works least of all. I wish they come up with some sort of satisfying conclusion to the story.

I always thought of the stage version as the "real" story and the movie version is her story through the filter of (low-budget) Hollywood Magic. I think there's ambiguity in the endings of both, but I guess the exact literal meaning of the ending has never really mattered all that much to me; to me it's always been about everything leading up to it.

I believe "Midnight Radio" was the song that replaced "You Light Up My Life" and was written quickly to fill the gap. I also remember reading that eventually they did in fact get the rights to "You Light Up My Life" but liked "Midnight Radio" so much better that they kept it.

"Hedwig" at the Jane Street will always be one of my all-time favorite theatre experiences. I saw it several times, usually at the late night Friday and Saturday shows. I saw all the Hedwigs save for Kevin Cahoon (who I wish I'd seen) and Ally Sheedy (who I'm glad I didn't.) I even saw the last of JCM's three return performances late in the run, which was electric. It was an important show to me and some friends at the time. It certainly inspired me to keep working in Musical Theatre when I was seriously considering a different path; I was convinced that everything interesting had been done and there was nowhere left to go in the form. Then, "Hedwig". I figured there was some life in the old girl, yet. I may have been right the first time......

I love the ending of the play. I don't think there's a definitive explanation for it. I'm inclined to believe that Hedwig never really existed at all and she was simply a stage character played by Tommy Gnosis, like Bowie and Ziggy Stardust. And Tommy really isn't as successful as he claims to be. But that's just one interpretation, and I love that it can be anything.

JCM sat behind me at Carrie and he looks as boyish as ever. He could easily resume the role of Hedwig and pull it off should he choose to.

I had always hoped that JCM would do a night at Joe's Pub or another venue where he just does a cabaret night as Hedwig. As if Hedwig were actually entertaining. I think that would be awesome.

Add me to list of can't stand Alan Cumming. I find him repellant.

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My theater today (trying again)

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"Of course when the show premiered, she would have been 38. Seems like this will have to be a "Follies"/"Chorus Line" sort of thing where it has to be set in the year it premiered otherwise the actors would be too old for any of it to make any sense."

Love Hedwig but don't remember it all that well. Is there any reason it could be set either in 1987 or, if not (but perhaps even) in the present, some time later, allowing for a fairly wide range of age possibilities, "between 40 and death" so to speak, for the role to be played (of course, the role could be played by a younger actor who can convey the age)?