Water Street Music Hall is presenting
its first fully staged rock musical, a sensational production of John Cameron
Mitchell and Stephen Trask’s Hedwig and the Angry Inch. But you
can bet this won’t be its last.
           Produced
here in Rochester — mostly by Syracuse theater artists and Rochester
musicians — this exciting production is in every way first-class. It’s
scheduled to play through June 20, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see the run
extended.
           I
hadn’t visited the Water Street Music Hall before, and was surprised to find it
a perfect venue for this high-energy production. Despite its 7,000-square-foot
main room, the hall is set up with cabaret-style tables and theater seats close
to its open thrust stage, and it actually feels intimate.
           You
can step outside the theater area to get food, snacks, and drinks at the
80-foot-long bar, but the show holds theatergoers in its own charmed circle.
Hedwig prowls among the audience. We are mesmerized by the powerful, throbbing
rock score, the swirling concert lighting, and the campy high jinks that make
us feel a part of the show.
           If
you don’t know the award-winning film starring creator John Cameron Mitchell as
Hedwig, and haven’t seen this theatrical phenomenon onstage, be alerted that it
is the most quirky, involving, edgy entertainment since The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Like that earlier cult favorite, Hedwig and the Angry Inchcenters on a transsexual dynamo
with a gang of bizarre accomplices.
           But,
though it tells at least as wicked and outlandish a story through rock songs, Hedwig is presented as an actual concert
by “the internationally ignored rock star.” Audible, if the door in the stage
wings is opened, is a simultaneous concert by superstar Tommy Gnosis, once
Hedwig’s protégé. She will tell us how all that happened and all about her
“angry inch.”
           It’s
all she has left of a botched operation to turn this once young boy into a
woman so an American soldier could marry her and get her out of East Germany.
But Hedwig’s war-bride life as trailer-trash USA blew up; Hedwig did her own
share of blowing; and she wound up a singer, writing songs for the kid she
seduced until he discovered her angry inch. Now she tours with a rock band she
calls The Angry Inch.
           This
version has Hedwig haunted by the sounds floating across the water to Water
Street from Rochester’s Blue Cross Arena, where Tommy is wowing a much larger
crowd. In the triumphant finale, the actor playing Hedwig will also play and
sing Tommy.
           Really
skilled performer/instrumentalists are required to back up Hedwig, including
her bearded new husband, Yitzhak, whom she stopped from being another drag
queen. Yitzhak is always played by a woman, and Aysa Morehead looks and sounds
great in the role, even singing one song originally Hedwig’s.
           The
others, all got up in distinctive guises, are Jay Repp, bass; Nate Coffey, lead
guitar; Mike Watson, rhythm guitar; Don Blair, keyboard; and the show’s musical
director, Dennis Mariano, on drums. By any exacting standard, they make up a
top-level rock band.
           But
basically this show belongs to its star. Aaron Berk, who is also vocal director
and co-producer, is not so womanly as the original two Hedwigs, but he sings
brilliantly and is far and away the most physically virtuosic Hedwig I’ve seen.
           Berk
claims to have no formal dance training, but he effortlessly raises a leg in a
six-o’clock extension and slides to the floor in a full side-split. Even
ignoring his showy clowning and star-dazzle, you’ll be astounded by the sheer
intensity of his energy. Most performers even in great physical shape would
still conclude 24 performances like this one in need of a wheelchair.
           Credit
sure-handed young director Ryan J. Davis with the imaginative choreography and
inventive new comic touches in this revival. He and sound designer Scott Selman
manage to make almost every word clear in Stephen Trask’s memorable lyrics,
while everybody does full justice to Trask’s beautiful music.
           The
staging looks great with clever new animation by Steve Rosolio projected onto
David L. Meyer’s large, versatile set. R. Allen Babcock’s lighting hits a nice balance
between dramatic presentation and rock concert.
           And
the same could be said for the whole production. I haven’t a quibble about any
of its values as a musical comedy. But the piece is about a rock concert; and a
rock concert is supposed to arouse its audience into a frenzy of appreciation,
jumping up, dancing, and vocally expressing approval. I’d be surprised if this
show doesn’t get that reaction at every performance.
Hedwig and the Angry Inch by John
Cameron Mitchell, music and lyrics by Stephen Trask, directed by Ryan J. Davis;
plays at the Water Street Music Hall, 28 Lawn Street, Tuesdays through Fridays
at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 7:30 and 10:30 p.m., Sundays at 3 p.m. through June 20.
Tix: $20 to $25, $10 to 15 for students, a portion of the proceeds will benefit
the HIV Trial Unit at the University of Rochester. Tickets available at
Ticketmaster (232-1900) and Aaron’s Alley (244-5044) Info:
www.waterstreetmusic.com.
This article appears in Jun 2-8, 2004.
