Hedwig and the Angry Inch
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Hedwig and the Angry Inch is an off-Broadway musical theater play (1998) and film (2001) about a fictional rock and roll band. The text was written by John Cameron Mitchell and the music and lyrics were by Stephen Trask. It has become something of a cult hit. It draws on the androgynous glam rock era of David Bowie, as well as influences from Iggy Pop and the later gender bender fashions of the early 1980s. It also draws on Aristophanes' speech in Plato's Symposium, as well as the New York punk culture, which largely grew out of the Squeezebox club in the early-mid nineties, where the show was repeatedly workshopped by Mitchell and Trask before opening at the Hotel Riverview in 1998.
The performance rights for the show have recently been made public, meaning several successful amateur and touring productions can be enjoyed world-wide.
Plot synopsis
The plot revolves around Hedwig, a drag queen rock star, leader of the band called The Angry Inch. In the story, Hansel, a German 'slip of a girly-boy', is stuck in East Berlin until he meets Luther, a US Soldier. Luther encourages Hansel to try on women's clothing and, soon, the two decide to marry, as it would give Hansel the opportunity to escape to West Berlin. However, in order to be married, the couple had to be a man and a woman — anatomically. Hansel's mother Hedwig passes on to her child her name and passport, and has a doctor remove his penis, but the operation is botched leaving her with a dysfunctional one-inch long mound of flesh. Hansel — now Hedwig — goes to live in America as Luther's wife. When Luther leaves Hedwig for another man, Hedwig rediscovers her love for drag and starts making music, eventually forming The Angry Inch, referring to both the band and her genitalia. She befriends the shy and misunderstood teenager Tommy Gnosis (played by Michael Pitt), with whom she shares some of the songs she has written. Tommy steals the songs and goes on to become a huge star, while Hedwig and her band are forced to play diners and sleazy bars to make ends meet. Hedwig resents Tommy's success and plagiarism of her material, and sets out to ruin him.
Analysis
There is a lot of misunderstanding and debate as to whether this is a musical/movie about a transsexual or a drag queen/genderqueer. Many people consider Hedwig to be a transexual due to her having gender reassignment surgery; however, her reasons for having this surgery appear entirely situational rather than being related to her gender. In addition, Hedwig's start was as a drag character of Mitchell's. Other people take Hedwig as a Queer symbol for Queer identity, as a figure of gender variation and freedom to choose your identity according to your heart's desire. Hedwig's genderless (or multigender) partner in the movie, Yitzhak (Miriam Shor) is also reference to that issue. The best source of information on the history of Hedwig and the Angry Inch is interviews with John Cameron Mitchell, including those found on the DVD.