A run-of-the-mill, choreography-intensive, special effects-laden stage musical is excellent fun – but isn’t it refreshing sometimes, to see a show that puts raw talent and creative passion at the forefront?
‘Hedwig And The Angry Inch’ is your ticket to a bloody good night out.
Set pieces are few, and the extent of the visual splendour is a collection of balloons dropped by crew on either side of the audience – who bounce them around during a musical number.
This sense of community and inviting the audience into the performance, elevates proceedings. ‘Hedwig’ is all the proof one needs that a musical can take many forms. It’s an emotionally complex tale of identity, sexuality, love, and expression. . . So opening the fourth wall feels perfect here. We’re all in the room together, and Hedwig is sharing her story with us. . . No holds barred. Angry Inch and all.
Seann Miley Moore’s German accent as Hedwig isn’t perfect – and as the character jumps between impersonations of different people in her life, it can feel a little muddled. But Seann’s embodiment of Hedwig is otherwise gorgeous. . . A hard shell with a gooey centre – she’s built herself a gritty, unapologetic exterior. . . But as things unravel, so does Hedwig – right before our eyes. We see her realising that the world – and the people in it – can be unflinchingly cruel. . . And that acceptance and love of oneself is paramount. But we also see Hedwig’s flaws, including her selfish, threatened treatment of husband Yitzhak, and what that does not only to Yitzhak and their relationship, but to Hedwig.
Image © Shane Reid
Adam Noviello is impressively complex as Yitzhak: a character who feels like such a large and looming presence while remaining, for the most part, in the shadows throughout ‘Hedwig’. There’s a darkness to Yitzhak which rears its head on multiple occasions with sufficiently startled reactions from the audience. . . Before a transformative finale which feels both like a collective sigh of relief and a joyous celebration.
Musical highlights include the strobe light-heavy, charged ‘Angry Inch’, which transforms the Athenaeum into a sweaty, chaotic rock show. . . The hopeful and comforting ‘Wicked Little Town’. . . And the spine-tingling, defiant ‘Midnight Radio’ – a genuinely thrilling and emotional conclusion to the evening: this reviewer could listen to the repeated ‘lift up your hands’ for hours.
Relatively low-key set design and production elements make way for the impressive and all-encompassing talents of Seann Miley Moore (save for a few accent hiccups) and Adam Noviello (not to mention the impressive musical stylings of The Angry Inch band) for this stunning production. When you step into the Athenaeum, you’re stepping into a cabaret bar where the walls are brimming with stories, where the audience transforms into a familial community, and where to perform is to truly bare your soul.
‘Hedwig And The Angry Inch’ is a musical, sure. . . But it feels much more appropriate to refer to it as an ‘experience’.
★★★★☆
