Fringe Show Reviews

Winnipeg Free Press - ONLINE EDITION

Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Written by: Text by John Cameron Mitchell, Music & Lyrics by Stephen Trask

Presented by: Breathe Feel Love / Toronto, ON

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Our Rating: Your Average Rating:

07/15/2011 10:24 AM | Comments: 0

Pyramid Cabaret (Venue 13), to July 23

“When it comes to huge openings, many people think of me,” blond bombshell Hedwig Schmidt says with a wink and a smile, offering up one of many sexual double-entendres in this 80-minute adaptation of the hit off-Broadway rock opera. Even the Angry Inch has two meanings: it is the name of the singer’s band and the amount of flesh left between her legs after a botched sex-change operation she had in order to escape communist Germany to marry an American soldier.

Toronto’s Breathe Feel Love’s production is a fun, fast-paced raunchy rock ’n’ roll romp filled with tragedy, humour and a kick-ass band in the perfect venue for the show. Seth Drabinksy seems born for the role of Hedwig as he completely and believably transforms himself into the transgendered, trash-talking song-stylist.

It might help to have some prior knowledge of the story going in — the animosity between Hedwig and his partner Yitzhak isn’t fully explained, for example — but the group doesn’t give an inch anywhere and Hedwig fans should be pulling out their wigs for this one.

— Rob Williams

From the official Fringe Festival program:

Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a rock concert with plenty of biographical interludes courtesy of trans-bombshell Hedwig, former East German twink and lead singer of nonchalant indie band The Angry Inch. This production takes the audience through a tragic story of love, emotional and physical sacrifice, and betrayal.

http://www.breathefeellove.com/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/BreatheFeelLove/394627063899?v=info

Recommended For: Mature Audience

Length: 90 MIN

Tickets: $10

Under 18 not admitted.

Warnings: Subject Matter, Language, Strobe Lights, Licensed Venue – Under 18 must be accompanied by a legal guardian

History

Updated on Friday, July 15, 2011 at 10:24 AM CDT:
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