Raw, funny, and unapologetically edgy, “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” is a groundbreaking, off—Broadway award-winner that is so much more than a raucous, rip-roaring glam rock musical. It’s also a poignant love story that explores loneliness and gender confusion.
Staged as a 90-minute club gig headlined by a transgender East German rock singer (Hedwig), and her band the Angry Inch, the show breaks down the barrier between performer and audience. It’s a totally immersive theatrical experience that is both immediate and exhilarating.
Part Ziggy Stardust, part Frank N Furter, and part Marlene Dietrich, Hedwig is embittered by a sexually confusing German childhood, as well as by a lifelong series of disappointments. Adding to the trauma: a horribly botched back-alley sex change operation that left him/her with just a stub of a penis — an angry inch!
Hedwig spends her time onstage coming to terms with the implications of mistakes she made, and of her self-denying masquerade.
Like the campy “Rocky Horror Picture Show,” “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” is an exceptional event that has inspired a rabid cult following. It’s also one show that you don’t want to miss while you’re in Key West!
On stage Thursday, October 15 – Friday, October 23 at The Waterfront Play-house, 407 Wall St in Mallory Square. Info and tickets: 305-294-5015; waterfrontplayhouse.org.
