Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a quintessential musical for queer appreciation. The play is based off of a book by John Cameron Mitchell. The story follows Hedwig Robinson, a non-binary and East German singer of a fictional rock band called The Angry Inch. The story inspects the exploration of sexuality and the epicene 1970s glam rock style similar to that of David Bowie and Iggy Pop.
This February, the play is glimmering its magical light onto Missoula. Westside Theater has brought Joe Martinez to direct the show. It was set to open Feb. 2 and run through Feb. 10, but due to illness in the cast and crew, the show has been delayed until the weekend of Feb. 9 with an additional weekend following.
“I think this piece is visually stunning. Mike Steinberg is projection and video designer–mixing live feeds of the actors, archival video and animation –which comprises a lot of the ‘set’. Markus Paminger is our lighting designer, and is equally savvy with a DIY approach to design which works really well in the warehouse-style theater,” said producer of the show, Kelly Bouma.
Bouma shared her personal interest in the show: “I love the music, mostly because I loved the movie. Mike found me a Hedwig and the Angry Inch Original Cast recording on vinyl over a year ago, and I thought, wow, this would be cool to produce. Joe Martinez was directing Next to Normal at Westside at the time and I pulled up the image on my phone, raised my eyebrow and said, ‘how about next year?’”
Bouma booked the rights to the show last February in the height of everything going on with state politics and the drag bill. The show felt like it was slightly off brand for the company, but everyone on the board was excited to produce the show. It’s a significant time in Missoula for theater right now considering the recent production of Rent and Missoula is, quite simply, loving it. “Rent was packed the night I went, and we’ve already sold out our first two shows (of Hedwig),” Bouma said.
“It’s really exciting to be part of Westside Theater right now. We have a lot of creative freedom–but not a lot of money. Hedwig felt like a piece of musical theater we could realistically produce on our own. There are two cast members and six band members, minimal set, relatively budget-friendly costumes and design,” said Bouma.
As Bouma mentioned, the cast is small, the show consists of Hedwig who will be portrayed by Daniel Crary and Yitzhak portrayed by Kaegan Finn and the band portraying The Angry Inch being; Kurt Skrivseth, Scott Hamilton, Vinny Tummarello, Jacob Logan and Lucas Mesenko.
Due to the recent House Bill 359 in the state of Montana, you must be 18 years of age to attend Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Tickets can be purchased at thewestsidetheater.com.
