I recently attended Opening Night of Hedwig and the Angry Inch at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre and it was nothing short of spectacular! The Los Angeles limited engagement of Hedwig (now thru November 27th) is starring Darren Criss that many of you may know from Glee. I’m delighted to tell you that Blaine Anderson was nowhere to be found in Criss’s transformative performance of Hedwig, a charismatic and emotionally scarred transgender rock star who has arrived for this one-night-only special performance to set the record straight about her life, her loves, and the botched operation that left her with an “angry inch.”
I was absolutely mesmerized by Criss’s performance of Hedwig; he completely morphed into to this flamboyant, funny, passionate angst ridden rocker, who you laugh at and cry with. I marveled at the stamina it took to portray this role with all the necessary physicality it takes to dance, sing, walk, jump and gyrate in platform heels. He was absolutely incredible and those abs, don’t even get me started . . .
And Lena Hall was equally as incredible reprising her Tony Award winning role of Yitzhak along side Criss. She was completely convincing as a dude until she actually comes out as a woman! And her voice is out of this world
Given the riveting story (created by John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask) and incredible musical performances, it’s no surprise that Hedwig won 4 Tony Awards in 2014 including Best Musical Revival. Hedwig was originally produced Off-Off-Broadway in 1998 and ran for over two years. That original production also won the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Off-Broadway Musical and both John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask won Obies for this show in 2001.
All I can say is Angelenos RUN! to see Darren Criss during his limited engagement at the Pantages before it’s too late!! You are in for an absolutely amazing night of theater. You will see Broadway caliber performances and be transported into an incredible glam rock world ala David Bowie with top notch talent, incredible staging, fun and provocative musical numbers, singing dancing, licking and some of the best musical theater to grace an LA stage in long time.
Hedwig and the Angry Inch is playing at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre at 6233 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028 through November 27th, 2016
FYI: Darren Criss will NOT appear as “Hedwig” on Sunday, November 13th at 6:30pm; Sunday, November 20th at 6:30pm & Friday, November 25th at 8:00pm. However the incredibly talented Lena Hall will appear as “Hedwig” and Shannon Conley will appear as “Yitzhak” at these performances.
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