Hedwig’s ShoNo stop on her Rust Belt Tour opened this weekend at The Garden Theater to uproarious applause. JJ Parkey returns to the role of Hedwig after winning BroadwayWorld’s Best Actor for the role in 2012 during its Boston run. Parkey is perfection as Hedwig. If you are a fan of Hedwig, or curious about the glam-rock musical, do not miss your chance to see it in the setting of the Garden Theater. With set design painted to look like sections of the Berlin Wall, by local artist Coreroc, the unfinished space enhances the telling of Hedwig’s story.
Parkey’s Hedwig is a remarkable mix of compassion, anger, confusion, beauty, love, honesty -all wrapped up in sequins and glitter, heels and blonde wigs. She’s on the stage with her band, The Angry Inch, and her common-law husband, Yitzhak (Ruthie Stephens). In between rock songs, Hedwig shares her life story and Yitzhak tends to her.
In The Origin of Love, a beautiful song with memorable lyrics and impactful visuals, Hedwig tells of a fable his mother told him. Humans were once creatures with four arms and legs, which the gods later split in half. To be happy, you simply need to find your other half. A task that Hedwig finds to be a struggle.
He finds love with an American named Luther Robinson and Robinson proposes they marry and escape Germany. To marry in communist East Berlin, a couple must be a man and a woman. Hansel’s mother gives him her passport and her name Hedwig, and finds a doctor to perform a sex change operation. The operation is botched, leaving Hansel with a one-inch mound of flesh, an ‘angry inch,’ between his legs. Parkey sings The Angry Inch with such powerful anger, yet acceptance at who she has become.
Her travels to America with Robinson lead to more heartbreak and she finds new love with the Jesus-loving Tommy Speck. The pair nurture each other’s musical abilities and Hedwig gives him everything, she is so desperate to complete herself. Hedwig gives Tommy a new stage name, Tommy Gnosis. Unable to find comfort with their relationship, Gnosis takes off, taking Hedwig’s musical genius with him, and becomes a rising rock star. She is once again left alone.
Gnosis is playing a show at the same time and Yitzhak occasionally tunes in, causing Hedwig distress. During her performance of The Long Grift, Hedwig falls into a complete downward spiral and the show is almost lost, when Yitzhak steps in and saves the song. Parkey and Stephens sing with beautiful clarity and harmony throughout the show.
Yitzhak helps Hedwig realize that she has been ‘one’ her entire life and the musical finishes with the two of them truly happy.
It’s not every day that a piece of theatre comes along with a venue so fitting and actors so perfect in their roles. Add in the fantastic music and deadpan humor, and Hedwig and The Angry Inch is something that will stick with you for some time.
Don’t miss the mural on the front of the building, a collaboration of Coreroc and Julia McCann. “The mural is full of energy and passion and that is the exact vibe we want the audience to leave with,” says Noah Rogers, associate producer for Short North Stage. “I think people who walk past the Garden Theater don’t think of all the activity and sheer awesomeness that is happening inside. The Hedwig mural was a really great way to make a window into our production and get people excited and engaged in our vision.”
Hedwig and The Angry Inch plays at the Short North Stage’s Garden Theater. Remaining shows: Saturday, June 9, Thursday June 13 through Saturday, June 15, and Thursday, June 20 through Saturday, June 22. All shows at 9pm. Tickets are $20. For more information, visit ShortNorthStage.org.