Hedwig Revival?

[BWayFanatic]

Posted: 7/11/12 at 1:43am

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.

[TheatreFreak05]

Posted: 7/11/12 at 2:14am

How old is Hedwig supposed to be? I really wish Alan Cumming had played that role at some point... too old now?

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 7/11/12 at 8:21am

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.

[Kad]

Posted: 7/11/12 at 8:25am

Hedwig has to be at least in his college years by the time he leaves Germany; a year later the wall comes down. So at the very least, he has to be in his forties.

[temms]

Posted: 7/11/12 at 8:51am

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.

[Jane2]

Posted: 7/11/12 at 9:23am

The Hedwigs were JCM, M. Cerveris, Kevin Cahoon, Matt McGrath, Asa Somers, Ally Sheedy. (and Donovan Leitch on occasion).

This was between 14 and 12 years ago. The actors' ages were approx. 37-39 (jCM, Cerveris) 30, (McGrath)
38, (Sheedy) 30 (Asa), 28(Kevin) and 30 (Donovan).

Updated On: 7/11/12 at 09:23 AM

[newintown]

Posted: 7/11/12 at 10:09am

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.

[Jane2]

Posted: 7/11/12 at 10:24am

Mitchell created the show as a one man performance in a gay bar. He scouted around for just the right venue to bring it to the stage. He discovered the ballroom in the Riverview Hotel (where the survivors of the Titanic were brought). And what a hotel, but that's a whole nother topic!

The ballroom was converted into the Jane Street Theater. Wonderfully ramshackled with old movie theater seats (300) installed, and old bar still inside the house.

Because the building is an historical landmark, it has been totally renovated and is now a boutique hotel. What went from an old ballroom to an off broadway theater is now a gorgeous and sumptuous hotel lounge.

I went back and took a picture of what was my second home for several years. I'd like to post it here if I can find it. *sigh*

Posted: 7/11/12 at 10:41am

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.

[newintown]

Posted: 7/11/12 at 11:34am

The music has a total 70s-80s-90s feel, so I agree. Setting it "today" would be just weird, with no payoff.

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.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 7/11/12 at 11:49am

"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.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 7/11/12 at 11:59am

It's been a while, but I think Hedwig was born behind the wall in the stage version and in the movie she was born on the West side but her mother moved East when the wall went up, which makes her about 40 in the movie and slightly younger in the stage show (when the stage show was originally performed). If the show is done now and the original conceit (that the show Hedwig is doing for the audience is happening now and in real time) she'd have to be about 50, but I agree that that makes her too old in terms of what happens in the story.

I think you'd have to set in the late 90s, early 2000s. The wall only came down in 1989. It was still years before she met Tommy and then there are several more years in between when they separate and when Tommy reemerges having stolen Hedwig's songs, after Hedwig as toured Europe and met Yitzahk.

I haven't seen or been involved with a production in years, so I have no idea how other productions handle the timeline now.

I'm sorry to hear that people don't universally love the movie. I never saw the original production (save for video of it), and I'm sure it couldn't be matched, but I thought the movie was remarkably faithful to the stage version while becoming it's own animal that same time.
Updated On: 7/11/12 at 11:59 AM

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 7/11/12 at 12:02pm

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?

[Jane2]

Posted: 7/11/12 at 12:08pm

Phyllis-you are not alone. Actually, I don't know anyone who doesn't love the movie.

After seeing the show about 300 times, I think I'm in a good position to say that of all films made from shows, Hedwig, along with Cabaret, is the best. So loyal to the show. And for some, Michael Pitt's Tommy answered a big question they had after seeing the show on stage.

JCM would never had allowed his film of his show to be anything less than excellent.


and Reg-I may have seen you at the Pyramid Club!

Updated On: 7/11/12 at 12:08 PM

Posted: 7/11/12 at 12:09pm

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.

[Jane2]

Posted: 7/11/12 at 12:11pm

Joe, I think the ending is purposely left up to one's own conclusion. I've heard a few different versions.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 7/11/12 at 12:15pm

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.

[Jane2]

Posted: 7/11/12 at 12:22pm

Here's my beloved theater today.

Updated On: 7/11/12 at 12:22 PM

[temms]

Posted: 7/11/12 at 2:49pm

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.

Posted: 7/11/12 at 2:55pm

I did hear one good explanation of the film ending which referenced Quentin Crisp's quote "You're born naked. Everything else is drag." So Hedwig has shed her drag and is going out into the world as she truly is.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 7/11/12 at 3:15pm

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.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 7/11/12 at 3:57pm

Phyllis-you are not alone. Actually, I don't know anyone who doesn't love the movie.

I'm glad to hear it. I was about to post that I'm glad I didn't see it at the Jane Street if that would have prevented me from enjoying one of the best films of the past 20 years.

And relative to cost, surely HEDWIG is the best $1 million musical filmed since the 1940s!

[Jane2]

Posted: 7/11/12 at 4:08pm

My theater today (trying again)

[Wee Thomas2]

Posted: 7/11/12 at 4:24pm

Only playing on two Mondays and Tuesdays in Cambridge? But this is such a weekend show!

I guess I'll be worthless at work a few times in August.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 7/12/12 at 9:49am

"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)?