Live and in person, produced by Bowtie Productions, at Theatre Passe Muraille, Toronto, Ont. Playing until Sept. 7, 2024.
Text by John Cameron Mitchell
Music and lyrics by Stephen Trask
Directed and choreographed by Meredith Shedden
Music director, Ethan Rotenberg
Set, props by Quynh Diep
Costumes by Irene Ly
Lighting by Niall Durcan
Sound by Parker Merlihan
Projections by Alex Grozdanis
Cast: Jessie James/James Petrasunias
Luca McPhee
The Band: Ethan Rotenberg, music director/keys
Michael Ippolito, bass
Steven John Dale, guitar
Nazariy Zymbovych, percussion
Irreverent, but strangely relevant today, considering the gender issues that are illuminated.
The Story. Hedwig was a ‘girlyboy’ born Hanschel in East Berlin (The Berlin Wall was still up). He always felt trapped: trapped in that section of the divided city, trapped in a man’s body when he considered himself something else and dressed that way; trapped in a society who did not accept this situation.
Hanschel had encounters with men. Tommy was one of them, a young man who wanted to be a rock star. Hanschel helped Tommy write many hit songs (without credit as it turned out). Tommy went on to rock stardom and left Hanschel behind. Then Hanschel met and fell in love with Luther, a GI who wanted to marry him/her and take him/her back to the States. A little operation that would change Hanschel to Hedwig was necessary before they could to that. The operation was botched leaving “one angry inch” of what was once Hanschel. The result is Hedwig, described by book writer John Cameron Mitchell ‘as not a trans woman, but a genderqueer character.’ Hedwig is a person sheathed in glitter and sarcasm.
Hedwig tells her story with all the gory, angry bits kept in. She is her own kind of rock star and is aided by her long suffering “husband” Yitzhak.
The Production. Bowtie Productions is a gritty, fearless company that was formed in 2019 to produce theatrical and multimedia experiences for young and emerging artists. Hedwig and the Angry Inch certainly has its challenges and the company does very well with this tricky piece.
Quynh Diep has designed a grungy-looking set to depict the grungy world of Hedwig. There is a wall at the back (The Berlin Wall??) with graffiti on it with words like “Freedom” and “Trans”. “Trans” is a nod to our present day with our many and various gender references.
Hedwig (Jessie James/James Petrasunias) makes her appearance in a burst of rock music and a blast of light above the stage. She wears exaggerated eye-make-up, an extravagant wig, a skimpy tied up vest, a skirt cut up to here revealing lots of leg and she wears chunky high heels. It’s a startling look and Jessie James/James Petrasunias plays it for all it’s worth. Hedwig is dripping in attitude and arrogance.
Jessie James/James Petrasunias as Hedwig is sassy, flirty and knows how to play an audience. And he sings in a strong, urgent, rock and roll voice.
Yitzhak (Luca McPhee) is a diminutive, androgynous creature with wild hair, baggy clothes, quiet rage and patience who is Hedwig’s stage hand, butt of her jokes and ‘husband.’ In ‘his’ quiet way Yitzhak makes known his contempt for Hedwig with some well-placed expletives and side-long glances at the audience that speak volumes. And since ‘he’ is played by Luca McPhee who is a powerful singer.
The mainspace at Theatre Passe Muraille is not a large space and often the band (especially the percussion) drowns out the singing. Hmmmm.
Director/choreographer, Meredith Shedden has a keen director’s eye and has created a raunchy, deliberately vulgar production with moments of touching sadness. It’s about loneliness with attitude to cover it up.
Comment. When John Cameron Mitchell’s 1998 show first played Off Broadway in New York it was considered edgy, irreverent and bold. In 2024 at times the show seems dated with its references to the time of the Berlin Wall, and with some plays on words and phrases, instead of laughter, the reaction was silence. Perhaps it’s a generational thing.
But Hedwig and the Angry Inch isn’t just a raunchy romp; it’s a show about being ‘other’, not fitting in and trying hard to do so. It’s about politics, displacement, gender issues, androgyny and rock and roll. The run is short. The cast is hard working. Check it out.
NOTE: While Bowtie Productions is a newish company on the theatre scene, they get full marks for seeking out reviews to spread the word and their program is an example to even the most experienced of companies. First of all, there is a physical program!It lists everybody in the production and crew with bios. There is a note about the show, the company and thoughts from the director. Most important to me is that the cover page has all the info one needs to know about the production: the title of the show and who wrote it; where it’s playing; the dates of the run; who is producing it; and how one can get tickets with a link. Now that is classy. Bravo.
Bowtie Productions presents:
Plays until Sept. 7, 2024.
Running time is 90 minutes (no intermission)