Review: ‘Hedwig’ goes the extra inch

Euan Morton as Hedwig Robinson in the touring production. Photo Courtesy: HedwigBroadway.com

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Dec. 21, 2016 (Gephardt Daily) — Surprisingly, the edgy rock musical “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” has quite the history in Utah.

Eighteen years ago, John Cameron Mitchell premiered and starred in his raucously eccentric musical Off Broadway, where it won numerous awards. In the ensuing years, Mitchell worked to refine the film adaptation of “Hedwig” at the 1999 Sundance Institute Screenwriters and Directors Labs before eventually premiering the film at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival. There, “Hedwig” won the Audience Award and the Directing Award.

Since then the stage musical, which takes the form of a concert by a fictional, not altogether successful rock ‘n’ roll band fronted by the East German Hedwig Robinson, has been produced throughout the world in hundreds of productions, including a whopping three times by our very own Plan-B Theatre Company. Local favorite Aaron Swenson, who attended opening night of the touring production at the Eccles Theater with director of the Plan-B version Jerry Rapier, played Hedwig in 2003, 2005 and 2012. He won awards from Salt Lake City Weekly, SLMetro and QSaltLake for his performance. In 2012, he also assumed costume design duties.

The national tour of “Hedwig” is currently in Salt Lake City, at the 2,500-seat Eccles Theater downtown. The opening night was packed and the audience read like a veritable who’s who of the Salt Lake theater scene. It’s a testament to the show that many of the audience members, particularly the younger ones, watched at an almost constant fever-pitch of excitement, yelling as if it were an actual rock show.

This dogged following also speaks to some of the rock musical’s fundamental themes. Particularly in Utah with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint’s stance on gender fluidity, which perhaps could be more inclusive, the piece explores fundamental questions related to male and female sexual identity and the gaping chasm (indeed!) that lies between the two. Hedwig is very specifically identified as genderqueer, the definition of which is: “a person who does not subscribe to conventional gender distinctions but identifies with neither, both, or a combination of male and female genders.” Mitchell has explained that Hedwig is “more than a woman or a man. She’s a gender of one and that is accidentally so beautiful.”

The music is also steeped in the androgynous 1970s glam rock style of David Bowie (who co-produced the Los Angeles production of the show), as well as the work of John Lennon and early punk performers Lou Reed and Iggy Pop.

Solidifying the rock concert vibe are the performances of Euan Morton and Hannah Corneau as Hedwig and Yitzhak, described as Hedwig’s assistant, backup singer and husband. Scottish-born Morton is a giant in the world of edgy musicals; he originated the role of Boy George in “Taboo.” Morton is a bold choice for the role; both Mitchell and, in Salt Lake, Swenson, brought more of a slinky, almost feline grace to the character of Hedwig. Morton is more masculine; even dressed in a revolving door of dresses, wigs and boots, he has a very male vigor. His presence is large; which in that massive theater I was grateful for. His voice too, though tender, is a big rock star voice, similar to Freddie Mercury or Roger Daltrey, particularly when he gets to totally unleash at the end of the show. By contrast, Morton has either been directed or made a decision (I suspect the former) to make his movement seriously clunky. It’s a solid choice; it’s here that the character’s vulnerability seeps out, because he’s not elegant. Also, it re-enforces the idea that’s written into the script that Yitzhak’s talent actually eclipses Hedwig’s; Hedwig is not polished.

For this tour, Yitzhak is played by relative newcomer Hannah Corneau. Corneau is definitely one to watch– her voice is powerful, but vulnerable and slightly ethereal, and she has a beautifully crafted arc through the performance as she blossoms then is tempered until in finality her transformation is complete and her persona is fully realized. It’s a nice directorial touch by Michael Mayer that Yitzhak doesn’t deliberately try to upstage Hedwig. When Yitzhak sings, he lets Hedwig stay in the spotlight, but it’s as if Yitzhak has a voice that can’t be contained and bursts forth when it’s given the chance.

Morton and Corneau are backed up throughout by the ultra-surly but also ultra-talented Angry Inch band.

The production values in this version are brilliant — obviously, “Hedwig” was originally written to be performed in a small, probably quite skanky space, so this version has to somehow fill up the large venues in which it’s playing but try not to sell out on the intimate, rough feel. The scenic designer, Julian Crouch, certainly achieves this; the set is suitably urban and scruffy, but the large theater is fleshed out to bursting by the rock ‘n’ roll lighting design by Kevin Adams and sound design by Tim O’Heir that wouldn’t be out of place at a concert by a major musical act. However, for all we know, the fancy lighting and sound could be the way the concert sounds and looks in Hedwig’s mind, so it doesn’t seem out of place or more sophisticated than is apt.

The other element I really admired was the projection design and animation. It’s an integral part of the piece that one of the songs, “The Origin Of Love,” is depicted with animation, while Hedwig sings. In this case, a scrim falls in front of Hedwig that the animation is projected on, that I thought was actually superior to that which appears in the film. There are also projections during a handful of songs, that scroll like an old fashioned slot machine, and are gorgeous to watch.

This national tour of the show, which began at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Theatre on Oct. 2, is set to go through July 2017.

“Hedwig” plays at the Eccles at 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 22 and 8 p.m. Dec. 23. Tickets are $30 to $75 by phone at 801-355-ARTS (2787) or by clicking here. The Eccles Theater is at 131 S. Main Street.

It’s a brave and degenerate choice for the Eccles to put “Hedwig” up as its Christmas show. It’s not at all Christmasy, but oddly enough, I left the theater with a feeling of some sort of joy and hope.

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