Simultaneously glamorous and confrontational, energetic and world-weary, Hedwig has a burning need to tell her story, and does so with the aid of her band (like her, all refugees from the former Eastern Bloc) \u2014 including her husband\/backup singer Yitzhak, and with the running monologue she delivers between songs. Hers is a story rooted in the past and tied to the Berlin Wall, which went up the same year Hedwig was born (as Hansel) and came down one year after the botched sex-change operation she underwent to marry an American soldier and get the hell out of East Berlin. It\u2019s a story that feels extra urgent and necessary these days, since the trans community is under fire in ways actor John Cameron Mitchell and songwriter Stephen Trask could not have imagined when they began workshopping Hedwig<\/em> three decades ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As it was presented Off-Broadway in 1998 (debuting, appropriately enough, on Valentine\u2019s Day), Hedwig<\/em> took the form of a cabaret-style show with Mitchell as the self-proclaimed \u201cinternationally ignored song stylist\u201d performing in the shadow of her one-time prot\u00e9g\u00e9, Tommy Gnosis, who sells out arenas with the songs she wrote. At various points during the show, Mitchell also played Tommy, as well as Hedwig\u2019s mother, and Luther, the American soldier she married. When the time came to translate Hedwig<\/em> to the screen \u2013 and it was such a phenomenon, this was all but a given \u2013 Mitchell expanded these roles in his capacity as screenwriter and director. He also created the role of Hedwig\u2019s indefatigable manager Phyllis Stein, who\u2019s only mentioned in passing in the stage play, and made it significant enough to attract SCTV<\/em> vet Andrea Martin, who\u2019s second-billed, although some of her more outrageous moments wound up on the cutting room floor. Then again, Hedwig is outrageous enough that she doesn\u2019t need any competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rather than have the story play out over a single performance in one venue, Mitchell sends Hedwig and her underpaid entourage from one Bilgewater\u2019s Restaurant gig to the next, all of them within spitting distance of one of Tommy\u2019s shows. Playing to bewildered and frequently hostile audiences whose only crime is wanting to have a meal in peace, Hedwig alternates between rave-ups like \u201cTear Me Down,\u201d \u201cAngry Inch,\u201d and \u201cExquisite Corpse,\u201d and downtempo numbers like \u201cThe Origin of Love\u201d and \u201cWicked Little Town.\u201d She even pulls off a literal showstopper in \u201cWig in a Box,\u201d which comes along when she\u2019s at her lowest point, and includes a singalong verse with a bouncing ball.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Moments like these demonstrate how thoroughly Mitchell thought out how to bring his cult stage hit to the screen. In addition to Hedwig\u2019s mother and Luther, he also develops the relationship between Hedwig and Yitzhak. A fleeting moment of tenderness between them early on is ruined by Tommy Gnosis\u2019s version of \u201cTear Me Down\u201d coming on MTV, though, and there are other signs they aren\u2019t built to last. The runner about Yitzhak\u2019s desire to jump ship and join a touring company of Rent<\/em> is proof he has his eyes squarely on the exit. (As in the original stage show, Yitzhak is played by actress Miriam Shor, adding another level of gender-bending to the film\u2019s agenda.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n The other key role, Tommy Gnosis, went to relative newcomer Michael Pitt, who plays him with an openness and malleability that allows Hedwig to mold him into the androgynous rocker who takes off like a shot and, like everyone else in her life, leaves her in the dust. Then again, she does have a tendency to push people away. Hedwig has an edge and a way with a cutting remark \u2013 useful for self-defense, not so great for letting people get close to you. For those in her orbit, Hedwig can be exhausting, even dictatorial, but people wouldn\u2019t remain there if it wasn\u2019t also exhilarating. Is she a pain in the neck sometimes? Absolutely. But she\u2019s authentic and unmistakably her own person, however much she yearns for her \u201cother half.\u201d When people are searching for an identity, someone who has already figured theirs out can be a beacon in the darkness, and an inspiration to don a foam Hedwig wig.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHedwig and the Angry Inch\u201d is streaming on the Criterion Channel in its <\/em>Criterion Edition<\/em><\/a>, with all the features on the <\/em>Blu-ray<\/em><\/a> and more.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/hedwig2-1024x576.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n