Review: Hedwig and the Angry Inch 8/8/15

I went to see this show this weekend, because I hoped to see Darren Criss. Darren recently appeared with Josh Groban on a bootleg YouTube video of a free Josh concert. After I saw that video, I looked around for other videos on YouTube and found one with Darren being interviewed by Kelly Ripa (don't remember if Michael was there or not).  During this interview, I found out that Darren was doing Hedwig. Darren was also in Glee, which I watched a few episodes of, after learning that Josh and Charice had appeared there. Darren talked about being a straight actor playing a gay man, which made me curious.

Normally, I think it isn't P.C. any more for a white actor to play a person of color. Is it o.k. for a straight actor to play a gay man? In any case, I wanted to see it.

Criss also played a gay man/boy in Glee.

It turned out that Darren had already left, so I got the new guy, Taye Diggs. I'm not sure if he's the first African American playing this role. He certainly made a lot of comments/jokes about being black.

It was also interesting that the person playing the jealous sidekick/husband was a woman playing a man. I actually liked her singing better than his.

Hewig is a hugely demanding role. They have to keep changing actor playing the lead, because people's voices keep wearing out.

This was not the show I expected in other ways.

It said on the poster that it was a comedy. Actually, it's mostly sad, with some sad/bitter jokes, though it ends with an inspirational song.

Also, I found the show quite hard to follow, which was frustrating. I went with a friend who had seen it off Broadway, years ago. He said it was much easier to understand before, because it was less glitzy and overdone.

Another thing I had expected was that this character would have a high voice and be effeminate. Wrong. He was very masculine and had a low, baritone voice, maybe even bass baritone, certainly no falsetto.  It was a bit difficult to buy him as a gay character, because he was so masculine.

The keyboard artist did have a fine falsetto, tho.

Another thing I expected was a high energy, angsty show. In fact, a lot of it was low energy and melancholy.

It was frequently loud, which wasn't entirely surprising, but it was often quiet, so I was constantly putting the ear plugs in and pulling them out, which was also frustrating.

I expected exquisite belting. The guy had a nice voice, but not spectacular.

This particular performer had some strong points. He was great when doing accents and voices. He gave a very good performance of the angry inch song itself. Also, I liked the part where he was stuck in Kansas, watching the world on a TV screen. I thought he did that very well.

However, I felt that a lot of the time he wasn't really in it, i.e. his acting sometimes lacked authenticity. He seemed to get into it more as the show went on.  He seemed to warm up.

There were some intriguing special effects near the beginning where they put down what looked like a net screen.  They projected cartoons/drawings on the screen, which I hadn't seen before.  In other words, the screen was transparent and in front of Hedwig.  You could see Hedwig singing through it, while the cartoons were projected around him.

As I said, this was an intriguing special effect, allowing addition of CG to a stage performance, but I'm not sure it really fit in this show. It seemed more like the kind of thing you'd want to put in a children's show.

They tried to create drama in several places by having the guitar play a really loud chord to start a song. I happen not to like the sound of strummed guitars, especially not loudly strummed guitars, so this did not work for me.

The theater was very cold. I was wearing a sort sleeved, mid calf length tee shirt dress and a light windbreaker, it being August. This wasn't enough.

They also had that mist stuff in the air that they do for Josh Groban's concerts. That stuff makes me nervous. I think it's just water, but I'm not sure.  I don’t think it really adds anything.  I wonder why they use it.

There were some places where they flashed the lights on and off a lot.  This also bothered my friend, and was one of the reasons he walked out.  I sat there wondering if I would find out if I were the sort of person who gets seizures from flashing lights -- at least not this time, it turned out.

They announced at the beginning that the show had adult content, but there were kids in there. I would say that the content was adult, not only because it was sexual, but because it was complex, melancholy, and intellectual -- also sometimes bitter and disturbing. There were long monologues without much else happening. Even if there were no sexual content, I don't think most children would like it.

My friend walked out early because of the noise. He encountered at least one family that left because of the content. I think they should alert parents with small children on the way in, and offer them a refund if they bought the tickets online.

On the whole, I didn't care for the show. Nevertheless, it got a standing ovation. This is the sort of thing that makes me feel like a space alien. I often find this with music, that I have trouble with stuff that other people like.

warning; do not sit front row center at this show or you may get spat upon