Thoughts of A Sleep Deprived Mind

tellyleung Backstage with my buddy @darrencriss who came to cheer us on in @allegiancebway.

Telly Leung Big thanks to my @GLEEonFOX mate @DarrenCriss for cheering us on in @allegiancebway tonight! #ohyeah #warblewarble 

On Wednesday night, I took in a performance of “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” playing at the Belasco Theater and starring Darren Criss. Sure, I had seen Darren on television as a cast member on “Glee,” as well as sang with him for a tribute to Alan Menken (plus some drunken musical theater piano bar singing… videos are somewhere on YouTube), so I thought I went in fully prepared for the greatness that I was expecting. Once the house lights went down and the band and Yitzhak (played by the excellent Rebecca Naomi Jones) were all set, the music began and Hedwig descended to the stage from above, strapped to a harness. Trademark look With that trademark wig, glittery blue eyeshadow, Hedwig started to tell her (yes, Hedwig is a transgender woman) story about life in East Berlin, falling in love with an American man named Luther, marrying Yitzhak, and the relationship shared with a young American named Tommy (I can’t give much more away, except to say this particular young man is mentioned a lot throughout the evening). There are a lot of inappropriate jokes throughout the evening that are bound to offend some (people who are particularly sensitive—or in our local parlance, madaling mapikon—might want to skip this show for something more benign). In fact, throughout the night, I’d spot one or two people getting up to leave, mostly older, seemingly more conservative, members of the audience. Intense pain How Hedwig lashes out at the world with the stories and the music leaves the impression of intense pain covered up by a pretense of fabulousness and callous humor. As the night wears on, it becomes very obvious to us that there are cracks in Hedwig’s fabulous outer shell, and—literally and figuratively—it all comes down, and we then see what’s really beneath the huge blonde wig, the makeup, and the costumes. Darren as Hedwig is right at home here with a microphone in his face and the costumes on his back. This could be considered his own Hamlet, blending tragedy and comedy with skill and heart. It is very easy to get lost in his portrayal of Hedwig, balancing his great concert performance skills with sensitivity in his acting. You see the anger, but you also see that there’s more to this character than meets the eye. When Hedwig’s final epiphany arrives, the payoff is hard-won on both sides of the fourth wall, and the audience leaves having been through the wringer, and we are all the better for it. Congratulations to the entire company of Hedwig for one heck of a show!