I received a pair of tickets for this production. However, all views are my own.
STG Presents & Broadway at The Paramount welcome
Tuesday – Sunday; December 13 – 18, 2016
THE PARAMOUNT THEATRE
911 Pine Street – Seattle, WA 98101
Purchase Tickets by Phone: 1-800-745-3000
Reserved Seating Tickets start at $35 (not including fees)
Click here for ASL / OC / AVIA info
Are you someone who likes rock concerts, stand-up comedy, and cabaret performances? “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” offers all three!
I really loved “Hedwig.” It was by far my favorite show I’ve seen at the Seattle Paramount Theatre in the last few years. The music is a highlight, a genuinely rocking band where you definitely hear and see the inspiration coming from David Bowie, Lou Reed, and Iggy Pop. If you enjoy spaced-out glam rock with androgynous singers, you should enjoy the score of this show. The sets are appropriately rock and roll, with a burnt-out car in the center of the stage and huge speakers framing the wings, with enough brightly colored choreographed lights to blind you!
Much of the show is spoken and is done by breaking the fourth wall and speaking and joking directly with the audience. There are a ton of funny-but-dirty jokes and double entendre, as well as a few well-timed political zingers. That being said, this is certainly not a show for children, though I would place it as a mature PG-13.
“Hedwig” follows the story of a transgendered woman and her band, the “Angry Inch.” Originally, Hansel, growing up as a boy in East Germany before the fall of the Berlin wall with only his distant mother around. Hansel takes comfort in the Western music he hears on the American military radio, driving him to eventually start his own rock band. Hansel is eventually approached by a US military officer who offers to marry him and take him to the United States, but only if she can pass as a woman in a full medical exam. Hedwig tells the story of how she became a woman, even after her reassignment surgery was botched, leaving her with the eponymous “angry inch” of flesh.
https://youtu.be/pXi-KQ6L4Ko
Hedwig and her band are performing near the venue of one of her past lovers, Tommy Gnosis, who has now become a huge star using Hedwig’s songs. Hedwig struggles with Tommy’s sudden success and her own feelings of longing towards finding her “other half.” The show closes, perhaps within Hedwig’s own mind, with her finding her other perfect half was always inside of her.
The cast is excellent, especially the actor for Hedwig, Euan Morton, whose raw emotion during Hedwig’s darker turns really stand out, not to mention his brilliant comedic timing during the productions lighter portions. Morton was actually nominated for a Tony in 2003 for best actor in a musical for “Taboo,” so it’s such a privilege to see him on the National Tour here in Seattle! The rest of the cast does an excellent job, especially considering they are playing all the music live onstage.
I honestly can’t recommend “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” enough, I loved every minute of it, the only shame being it’s very limited Seattle engagement.
Check it out December 13th through 18th at the Paramount Theatre, tickets available at http://www.stgpresents.org
Not in Seattle? Find out when the national tour heads your way by visiting HedwigBroadway.com