Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
sweeneytodd2
Featured Actor Joined: 10/28/04
#0Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Posted: 3/2/05 at 6:38pmHas anyone seen this live. Is it any good? Updated On: 3/2/05 at 06:38 PM
#1re: Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Posted: 3/2/05 at 6:39pmCreepy? It's brilliant.
"If you are going to do something, do it well. And leave something witchy."
-Charlie Manson
erinrebecca
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/29/04
#2re: Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Posted: 3/2/05 at 6:42pmI have. It's a fun show. I much prefer the stage show to the movie.
sweeneytodd2
Featured Actor Joined: 10/28/04
MargoChanning
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/5/04
#4re: Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Posted: 3/2/05 at 6:45pmAs good as the movie adaptation was, the stage show is better (I saw it at Jane Street four times) -- a really wonderful show.
"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie
[http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/]
"The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney
#5re: Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Posted: 3/2/05 at 6:46pmIt's brilliant. I love it. The movie is outstanding, too.
#6re: Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Posted: 3/2/05 at 6:51pmI'm a huge fan of HEDWIG, but I've only seen the movie. Is the brilliance of the stage version just inherent in the material's theatricality, or in how the original production was staged? I'm asking because it's likely I'll never get to see a restaging of the original, so I want to know if other productions of HEDWIG are equally strong.
BlueWizard's blog: The Rambling Corner
HEDWIG: "The road is my home. In reflecting upon the people whom I have come upon in my travels, I cannot help but think of the people who have come upon me."
MargoChanning
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/5/04
#7re: Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Posted: 3/2/05 at 7:01pmThe staging is very simple -- it's basically a glorified solo act (Yitzak and the band are important, but they barely speak). It all hinges a dynamic performer as Hedwig and there have been several -- John Cameron Mitchell, Michael Cerveris, Kevin Cahoon, Nick Garrison. While the film did a great job of opening up and adapting the material to the screen (showing you scenes that Hedwig merely described in the show), I think ultimately it's a more powerful experience witnessing the show live on stage. Because of its minimal demands in terms of sets, costumes, projections etc, it's done a lot all over the country. Hopefully you'll get a chance to see it at some point -- as long as you have a first-rate Hedwig, you should have a great time.
"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie
[http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/]
"The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney
Updated On: 3/3/05 at 07:01 PM
touchmeinthemorning
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/3/04
#8re: Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Posted: 3/2/05 at 7:04pm
I actually prefer the movie to the stage show...unless I'm seeing JCM or someone as dynamic as he...which is hard to find out of most of the people who do this around the country.
This show was so inspiring to me, I ended up writing my master's thesis about it.
"Fundamentalism means never having to say 'I'm wrong.'"
-- unknown
#9re: Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Posted: 3/2/05 at 7:07pmMargo, don't forget the (unintentionally) hilarious Ally Sheedy! Updated On: 3/2/05 at 07:07 PM
bjivie2
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/13/04
#10re: Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Posted: 3/2/05 at 7:07pmNick Garrison did the show in Seattle and Chicago. (and somewhere else I think) He just finished a remount in Seattle that was extended for 2 months or something crazy like that. I would love to see what Michael Cerveris did with the role.
Eeeeeeyyyyyyyyaaaaaaaannnnnddddd aaaaaaaiiiiiiiiyyyyyyaaaaaammmmmmmm teeeeeeeelllllliiiiiinnngg yyyyooooooouuuuuuuwwwaaaahh...
robbiej
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
#11re: Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Posted: 3/2/05 at 7:08pm
Margo,
As good as the Jane Street production was, the Westbeth version was better. Maybe because I had heard nothing about it and went in completely blind. Maybe because Larry Kramer was sitting so close. Maybe because both times JCM came up to me during 'Sugar Daddy'. Maybe because the setting of the show was the TGI Fridays across from Madison Square Garden (the detail in regards to the set was FRIGHTENING). Or maybe because they still included 'You Light Up My Life' in German. But seeing it at the Westbeth was life-altering.
As for the movie, I agree...it doesn't (and probably can't) capture the rawness of the stage show. But the reprise of Wicked Little Town with a shirtless Michael Pitt (Marni Nixoned by Steven Trask) singing directly to a weeping JCM still haunts me to this day.
And what are you still doing there? Bitch, go home!
"I'm so looking forward to a time when all the Reagan Democrats are dead."
#12re: Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Posted: 3/2/05 at 7:08pmSaw it over 25 times at the "Jane" It is STILL my favorite theatrical experience !
#13re: Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Posted: 3/2/05 at 7:09pm
This show was so inspiring to me, I ended up writing my master's thesis about it.
Are you that girl on the DVD documentary??
BlueWizard's blog: The Rambling Corner
HEDWIG: "The road is my home. In reflecting upon the people whom I have come upon in my travels, I cannot help but think of the people who have come upon me."
#14re: Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Posted: 3/2/05 at 7:11pmwasn't there a rumor that it was going to come to the knitting factory? i sure hope so since i have only seen the movie and thought it was amazing.
"At the opening night party, they had clowns on stilts, jugglers, a chocolate fountain, popcorn, hot dogs. [My son] looked at me like I had been holding back. Like, 'This is what you do?' I had to tell him, 'No, no, darling. Opening nights don't usually look like this.' It's usually a dark bar with a bottle of vodka." ?Chitty Chitty Bang Bang's Jan Maxwell
plus i proudly share the title of the shortest member over the age of 10 with wickedrentq!
#15re: Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Posted: 3/2/05 at 8:54pmHedwig is the one show that made me actually appreciate the rock. I have never been a rock fan but I adored this show - saw it twice at Jane Street, once with John Cameron and once with Cerveris...and loved it both times equally...I've never seen the film, but the idea of both characters being played by different actors instead of the way it's done in the show is sort of incomprehensible to me. I will see it eventually - but It probably won't live up to my memory of the live production.
"I don't really get the ending,all i can go with is when after several months,Judith saw Pat sang,and later she kissed him on the toilet,after that the story back to where Pat went down from the stage after he'd sung,and he went to the italian lady.I just don't get it,what Judith exatcly meant when he kissed Pat that she had seen,and did Pat end up together with The Italian Lady?Please help me,thank u very much!"
Quote from someone on IMDB in reference to a movie he/she didn't understand. Such grammar!
CurtainUp
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/9/04
#16re: Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Posted: 3/2/05 at 9:31pm
This is an amazing, one-of-a-kind show. It seems so specific, but so much of it is so universal. The music is so moving - whether it be uplifting or wrenching.
See it unless you have a freakishly close mind-cause then you won't appreciate.
Rosencrantz: "Be happy - if you're not even HAPPY what's so good about surviving? We'll be all right. I suppose we just go on."
- from Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
cabarethed
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/5/03
#17re: Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Posted: 3/2/05 at 9:40pmUnfortunately, the only time I've seen it live was summer '02, Philadelphia. David Colbert was a great Hedwig and eerily looked quite a bit like JCM. I'm in love with this show and movie and wish it would come close to the area again. JCM and Trask are seriously geniuses.
#18re: Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Posted: 3/2/05 at 10:29pm
A show that I wish I could have seen. Actually I've been looking around for clips from the show and if anyone has them that would be appreciated. I adored the movie and can only imagine how good the stage version was. Seen pictures and read reviews and am now dying to get my hands on some sound bites. 
I wanted to get something that an "ex"-junkie like him would really appreciate and cherish....it's a brick of heroin shaped like a heart.
-Scrubs
#19re: Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Posted: 3/3/05 at 12:05amThe documentary on the DVD has all sorts of clips from various development stages of HEDWIG.
BlueWizard's blog: The Rambling Corner
HEDWIG: "The road is my home. In reflecting upon the people whom I have come upon in my travels, I cannot help but think of the people who have come upon me."
Born4broadway
Swing Joined: 2/11/05
#20re: Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Posted: 3/3/05 at 12:15amThe only person I saw as Hedwig (besides the movie) was my good friend Wade. I saw him twice in Portland, OR and twice in Ashland, OR. He then went to L.A. and did it and some reviewer said he was better than JCM. I think both JCM and Wade are sooooo superb. They both have they're special thing (can't think of a better word) that they bring to Hedwig.
FindingNamo
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/22/03
#21re: Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Posted: 3/3/05 at 12:17am
Nick Garrison did the car wash on my face when my friend the travel agent got him and me DIRT cheap first class flights to Chicago specfically to see that production.
Besides JCM, I saw Ceveris, Cahoon twice, and Anthony Rapp three times. Though they all told Hedwig's basic story, each brought something totally unique to the show.
I am a fan forever of that show.
Twitter @NamoInExile
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#22re: Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Posted: 3/3/05 at 1:00amThe only Hedwig's I've seen are JCM, Rapp, and the guy that played Hedwig when I did the show. I thought JCM (and obviously my guy) were outstanding, but I thought Rapp was literally abominable. I was so so upset when I left that show! Does anyone else agree, or am I alone on that?
"If you are going to do something, do it well. And leave something witchy."
-Charlie Manson
holden
Understudy Joined: 5/20/04
#23re: Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Posted: 3/3/05 at 1:22am
I am another huge fan of HEDWIG. I prefer the stage version, although I love the movie too.
I think that what makes the stage version even better than the movie is the intimacy of it all. There is something particularly powerful about being confronted with the "gory details" (which are somewhat darker in the stage version) in a small, interactive setting, and there is something beautiful and touching about being told the story directly and personally. And on a simpler level, just hearing that great score live is a powerful experience.
Alas, in all the times times I saw the show live, I never got "Sugar Daddied" -- although I was one seat away once.
I would add a special mention of the amazing (and as yet unmentioned in this thread) Asa Somers, who only went on a handful of times, but seemed beautifully comfortable in the role early on. I was lucky enough to see all of the New York Hedwigs and, as FindingNamo (sort of) said, each Hedwig brought something unique and exciting to the show.
cabarethed
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/5/03
#24re: Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Posted: 3/3/05 at 1:52amHolden, that means you saw Matt McGrath? What did you think of his interpretation?
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