With a powerful rock score, the talent on display in the new Australian tour of Hedwig and the Angry Inch is phenomenal. With music and lyrics by Stephen Trask and a book by John Cameron Mitchell (JCM), the storyline is hardly conventional. The musical burst onto the scene off Broadway in 1998, before beginning a West End run two years later. Its origins are in rock gigs and clubs, rather than in the theatre, starting in a New York City drag-punk club in 1994.
Hedwig was originally a supporting character, loosely inspired by a German babysitter and prostitute who worked for JCM’s family when he was a teenager in Kansas. So, it is that in the show, which is part monologue, part rock concert and part drag show, Hedwig is a fierce and fragile character. He is a survivor whose “mask” conceals deep vulnerability. Hedwig is an immigrant to America from East Berlin with a colourful back story, which originates before the fall of the Berlin wall.
A girlboy who loses herself in western rock music, she is being brought up by an emotionally distant mother after her American soldier father abandoned the family. Hedwig convinces herself that she must find her other half and so starts a fraught journey during which, more than once, she has her heart broken. Firstly, it is in her twenties when she falls in love with an American soldier who convinces Hedwig to undergo gender reassignment surgery that is botched.
Thereafter, the couple moves to Kansas, but the soldier leaves Hedwig, who forms a rock band called The Angry Inch. Subsequently, she begins a relationship with a 17-year-old misunderstood Christian teenager who is repelled by Hedwig’s imperfection and skedaddles. Mind you, he takes all the material Hedwig has written for him to become a wildly successful rock star, while Hedwig remains on struggle street musically. Hedwig’s story unfolds when she is with her husband and backup singer, Yitzhak, being a Jewish drag queen from Zagreb, whose natural talent she is threatened by. The pair has an unhealthy, codependent relationship, as Hedwig endeavours to find acceptance within herself.
Seann Miley Moore, who played the EnginQueer in Opera Australia’s Miss Saigon with distinction, slays us again as Hedwig. I don’t say this lightly, but Seann’s characterisations, confidence and vocalisation are as great as I have seen on stage. Bold and brazen, time and again, it is just wow. What a wonderful performer, who brings all the elements together, revelling in breaking the fourth wall. Seann is the living heartbeat of Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
Mind you, Adam Noviello, is no slouch either as the subjugated Yitzhak. From their professional musical theatre debut in The Production Company’s La Cage Aux Folles, it has become clear that they have talent to burn. Just how good is clearly on display when they perform a moving solo number late in the piece in this production. They are simply commanding. The four-piece band, led by musical director Victoria Falconer on keyboards, too, is a revelation. With her is associate musical director Glenn Moorhouse on guitar, Felicity Freeman on bass and Jarrad Payne on drums.
In fact, all the elements, highlighted by the musical mastery, come together perfectly in Hedwig and the Angry Inch. I speak of Hedwig’s provocative costuming (Nicol & Ford are responsible), an attractive round set design by Jeremy Allen, along with Geoff Cobham’s lighting, Jamie Mensforth’s sound and choreography by Amy Campbell. Co-directors Shane Anthony and Dino Dimitriadis have brought us something special – distinct and triumphant. The power, the passion and the strength of the performances in Hedwig will remain seared in my brain.
Hedwig and the Angry Inch is playing at Athenaeum Theatre until 6th July, before moving to Carriageworks in Sydney from 17th July to 3rd August, 2025. For more information and to book tickets, go to https://hedwig.com.au
Alex First
Other reviews you might enjoy:
- Miss Saigon (Her Majesty’s Theatre) – musical theatre review
- One Day in September (Athenaeum Theatre) – musical theatre review
- Elvis: A Musical Revolution (Athenaeum Theatre) – musical theatre review
Alex First is the editor of The Blurb. Alex is a Melbourne based journalist and communications specialist. He also contributes to The Blurb on film and theatre.
