To Inch His Own

Hedwig rocks Philly so hard.

by David Anthony Fox

	print	email	reply	rss feed

Published: May 6, 2008

(CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

If ever a show seemed completely defined by its original production, it's Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Starring in the title role was the playwright, John Cameron Mitchell, giving an astonishingly brilliant, idiosyncratic performance. The venue was the dilapidated Jane Street Theatre, a former hotel that — believe it or not — housed surviving crew from the Titanic (the actual ship, not the musical or the movie), which served as a source of some of the script's funniest lines. How could anyone else do it anywhere else?

But Hedwig, a wonderful, quirky musical about a transgender performer from East Berlin who searches for love and a sense of identity, was too good to go away. When Mitchell left the cast, new stars including Michael Cerveris and Ally Sheedy (!) kept the piece going.

Now the ambitious Azuka Theatre brings it to Philly. Producing artistic director Kevin Glaccum has staged it cleverly at the Latvian Society: By throwing in a few good new jokes, the location works perfectly. And who better to play Hedwig locally than Dito van Reigersberg? DVR has a successful career as both Dito (leading man with the estimable Pig Iron Theatre) and diva (his alter ego, Martha Graham Cracker, is a favorite cabaret presence).

In many ways, van Reigersberg is everything you could hope for. He looks just right — like Ingrid Thulin on a very bad day — and he can really sing the difficult score, a compendium of pop idioms. But he misses some of the nuances by giving what is more of a drag show performance than a fully acted one, and though he's often quite funny, he curiously fails to land some of the script's subtler jokes.

Still, the production as a whole is a big success, with an excellent on-stage band, a terrific supporting performance by Kim Carson, and really masterful use of projections. If you've never seen Hedwig, you really must. And if you saw it in that wonderful original production ... well, come see how well it works here.

(d_fox@citypaper.net)

Hedwig and the Angry Inch Through May 11, Azuka Theatre, Latvian Society, 531 N. Seventh St., 215-733-0255, azukatheatre.com

Things That Matter To People Who Matter
Pig Latin
Very Long Engagement
Glass Half-Full
Up to Scratch
Moving Research: slip
Philadanco
Iolanta