Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001, directed by John Cameron Mitchell)  - Continuing with my current penchant for television and movies with a drag and/or transgender theme, this is the film adaptation of the off-Broadway musical.  Along with directing the film version of the show, John Cameron Mitchell also wrote the score and starred as the title character on stage.  There has reportedly been talk of bringing this show to Broadway (which would be great), and David Bowie himself co-produced the Los Angeles production of the show.

To briefly summarize the plot, Hedwig (Mitchell) is the transgender frontwoman for the "internationally ignored" punk band, Hedwig and the Angry Inch.  She goes from town to town, playing mediocre gigs with her band on a tour that is attempting to parallel that of Tommy Gnosis (Michael Pitt), a much more successful young rock musician.  Hedwig claims that Tommy "learned everything he knows" from her, and that Tommy stole songs that she wrote.  Along the way, we hear Hedwig recount her life story to the audiences she meets:  growing up in communist East Germany as a "girlyboy" who worshipped punk and philosophy, the relationship with an American soldier that prompted Hedwig to agree to a sex change operation (which ended up being botched), her arrival in an army base town in America as the soldier's wife, only to have the soldier walk out on her while she watched the Berlin Wall come down on TV, and finally, the formation of her band and her relationship with Tommy.

It is a really well put-together story, and it seemed to me as though there was something not quite linear in the way the story was presented.  (If you know anything about me, then you know I can always appreciate a good non-linear plot!)  It's also got some really great music in it -- in fact, there is an album out entitled Wig In A Box, in which many well-known rock acts perform tunes from the film/show.  In my opinion, this belongs alongside the greatest "rock" themed musicals of all time.

Watch Ticketmaster to keep tabs on any upcoming stage productions of Hedwig and the Angry Inch near you.  You can also purchase the film, the soundtracks for both the film and the stage show, as well as the tribute album, Wig in a Box, from my Amazon.com associate store!