A musical review

Hedwig and the Angry Inch at Actor's Express. How to describe the experience... at the start of the show the artistic director comes on stage and thanked the sponsors and also explained that some of the proceeds for the evening would go towards CHRIS Kids Rainbow program (this is a program that provides shelter and skills training to sexual minority kids who are homeless). After the house lights went up, I turned to my friend E. and told her that I consider the entire cost of my ticket a donation to this program.

It isn't that the show was terrible... it just wasn't good. The staging was great and I could find no fault with it... well, one. Set in a strip club, the audience was well integrated with the set, but the stripper pole wasn't shiny. I don't know why, but I wanted it to be shiny. A paltry complaint, so I think it counts for nothing.

I had issues with the costumes. Hedwig's costume... if you asked your great aunt Ruth, who works part time at Joann because she just loves to be surrounded by crafts, to make you a stripper outfit out of this old white lounge-wear/pajama set, add some red fringe, staple on an Elvis collar, use a sponge stamp to put some blue stars on the ass and scattered all over the outfit... Then cut the pants into hotpants. The shoes were fabulous shiny red patent stripper shoes. Truly cfm pumps if ever they graced a foot.

And the wig. A lovely bouffant, but the hair was not secured to the voluminous rats' nest and by the end of the show the hair had parted leaving a three inch swath of icky styrofoam and ratted synthetic hair. Blech.

The music was decent and the show nicely paced. The singing was at times quite good, but Hedwig was most definately too much of a boy from Georgia. On occasion, he remided me very much of a high school boy doing drag for the first time - no fluidity in the sashay, no feminine swinging of the hair. A bit effeminate was Hedwig's speaking, but all boy in the singing. Not bad, just boy. The most enjoyable part of the show, for me, was watching Hedwig's legs... beautifully sculpted legs. Gorgeous legs, truly.

So, there it is.