Review: The Stage Austin's Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Alex Freeman on bass (l-r), Buddy Novak as Hedwig, Heath Allyn on guitar, and Susannah Crowell as Yitzhak in the Stage Austin's Hedwig and the Angry Inch (photo by Tony Zavaleta)

In mainstream musicals about musicians, like Jersey Boys (The Four Seasons), Beautiful (Carole King), and On Your Feet (Gloria Estefan), the artist's songs are woven into the narrative to help tell the tale. But John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask's Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a gig musical, performed in its entirety as if it were a live concert, which is just one of the things that makes this show more exhilarating than most.

Another is that it is propelled by intimate self-disclosure, agonizing pathos, and a soundtrack loaded with face-melting punk rock. An off-Broadway sensation in the late 1990s and a Broadway hit in more recent years, Hedwig takes us on the very personal journey of a self-proclaimed "slip of a girly boy" named Hansel Schmidt, born in communist East Berlin. Now named Hedwig (Buddy Novak) and on a bare stage with her band, she explains her past, her becoming an internationally ignored song stylist, and the Barbie doll crotch she earned through a botched sex-change operation that has come to define her gender fluidity and queerness.

Hedwig has been abandoned by song collaborator and soul mate Tommy Gnosis, who stole her music, plays to sold-out stadium crowds, and happens to be gigging next door. She is currently in an unhealthy, codependent relationship with Yitzhak (Susannah Crowell), a drag queen from Croatia, who is her backup singer, second husband, and psychological punching bag – a rechanneling of all the abuse Hedwig has suffered in her life.

Even loud and bold theatrical works can be delicate creatures, where wonderfully talented parts don't necessarily come together to form a wonderful whole. That describes this well-intended but ultimately underwhelming production by the Stage Austin, under Jeff Hinkle's direction.

The main problem is that no faces are melted in the making of this musical. Novak – a fine and fully invested actor – generates a physical and attitudinal manifestation of Hedwig that has all the earmarks of a glam punk rocker. But their delivery of much of the high-camp storytelling – including local references, improvisations, and an abundance of blow job jokes – is too slow to be engaging. And Novak's voice is better suited for ballads like the lovely, angst-filled "Wicked Little Town" than the more kickass songs that make this musical.

The show's punk quotient is not helped by the band, who rock hard and well but are handcuffed by a sound mix that neuters its edgier efforts and prioritizes the piano (Audrey Barrett) over bass (Alex Freeman), lead guitar (Heath Allyn), and drums (Lerone Williams). Nothing kills punk rock defiance faster, more painfully, and more efficiently than a piano.

Also impacted by the mixing is Novak's enunciation. Lost are many of the punchlines to the aforementioned blow job jokes. Lost, too, is Novak's position as featured singer when Crowell's incredible backup and harmonic vocals are allowed to dominate. A talented performer, Crowell is given little to say, but Yitzhak's nonverbal responses to Hedwig during and between songs speak volumes.

Twenty-plus years after her creation, Hedwig is still the flamboyant voice for outsiderness, and her story about embracing one's genuine self will continue to find an audience. But those also seeking great storytelling will likely find this production wanting.

The Stage Austin's Hedwig and the Angry Inch