HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH

“Todd Schaefer shows off an amazing voice in this confessional concert piece, which features a kick-ass band and great cross-gender supporting work from Stephanie Brown.” – Deanna Jent, Riverfront Times

“Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a challenging piece of theater, to audiences and to the St. Louis theater community as well… the sort of theatre St. Louisans should be exposed to.” – Joe Pollack, KWMU-FM

“Mr. Schaefer's [Hedwig] gains the edge by having the stamp of a Scott Miller production: clearly thought-out; artistically consistent; and faithful to playwright Cameron Mitchell's intent.. The New Line/WAPP version gives us a Hedwig whose gifts are also indisputable – and whose past, present, and future are even richer, thanks to greater artistic virtuosity.” – Richard Green, KDHX-FM

“The book by John Cameron Mitchell and the music and lyrics by Stephen Trask are so intellectually and musically compelling that a first viewing creates an appetite for a second. One interpretation sparks interest in another.” – Gerry Kowarsky, St. Louis Post Dispatch  

HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH is the world famous neo-glam, post-punk, rock musical that started in the drag clubs of New York, made a big splash off Broadway, and then became a hit movie. New Line Theatre teams up with the Washington Avenue Players Project to bring to St. Louis this ground-breaking, revolutionary rock musical about the search for love and self by an East German transsexual dumped by her American soldier boyfriend in a Kansas trailer park. Funny, heartbreaking, deeply moving, it is a writing and acting tour de force that has become the Rocky Horror for a new generation.

With music and lyrics by Stephen Trask and a book by John Cameron Mitchell (who originated the title role), Hedwig and the Angry Inch first opened off off Broadway at the Westbeth Theatre Center in February 1997. The show then moved off Broadway to the newly christened Jane Street Theatre on Valentine’s Day 1998. It ran for 857 performances and won the Obie Award and the Outer Critics Circle Award for best off Broadway musical. The New York Times said, “Hedwig and the Angry Inch brings theatre alive with the pounding sounds of rock and the funny sad voicing of a painful past. It is also an adult, thought-provoking musical about the quest for individuality.” Time magazine called the music “the most exciting hard rock score written for the theatre since, oh, ever,” and called the show itself “a poignant mediation on loneliness, gender confusion, and the Platonic notion that sex is the effort to reconnect two halves of one ideal being.” The Village Voice called it “the absolutely fabulous glam rock musical.” A rabid fan base rose up around the show, dubbed Hed Heads. David Bowie and Madonna came to see it. New Line Cinema bought the screen rights and released it in July 2001, the midst of the movie musical rebirth. The film won the Audience Award and the Directing Award at Sundance.

HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH runs Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, July 29 to August 21, 2004, at 8:00 p.m. each night at the Art Loft Theatre, 1529 Washington. July 29 is a preview. To charge tickets by phone, call Metrotix at 314-534-1111 or visit the Metrotix website. All programs subject to change.