Hedwig and the Angry Inch

What stands out first about Hedwig and the Angry Inch is the confidence with which John Cameron Mitchell establishes its comedy identity. Rather than relying on premise alone, Hedwig and the Angry Inch asks John Cameron Mitchell and Miriam Shor to supply personality from the opening stretch. The premise of Hedwig and the Angry Inch is established with useful clarity: A gender queer punk rock singer from East Berlin tours the U.S. with her band as she tells her life story and follows the former lover/band mate who stole her songs. That direct approach lets Hedwig and the Angry Inch use its 1h 35m running time for character, atmosphere and consequence.

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John Cameron Mitchell shapes Hedwig and the Angry Inch with an approach that feels assured without becoming rigid. The best directed passages in Hedwig and the Angry Inch establish an objective, let the characters respond and then allow the pressure to change naturally. Its polish rarely hides the personality underneath in Hedwig and the Angry Inch, particularly when John Cameron Mitchell resists the urge to underline an already clear emotion. My main reservation about Hedwig and the Angry Inch is that one or two themes receive more explanation than they need, a limitation that interrupts rather than defines the experience.

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The craft of Hedwig and the Angry Inch is defined by well judged reactions, supported by well judged reactions rather than overwhelmed by decoration. Killer Films gives Hedwig and the Angry Inch a production framework in which performer rhythm can remain connected to story. Made from a Canada production context, Hedwig and the Angry Inch uses setting and design to clarify mood before dialogue has to explain it. The technical finish of Hedwig and the Angry Inch works because image, sound and editing appear to be serving the same immediate purpose.

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The central idea running through Hedwig and the Angry Inch concerns embarrassment, status and the gap between confidence and reality. John Cameron Mitchell gives that idea a human scale, allowing Hedwig and the Angry Inch to remain accessible even when its world becomes larger. By returning to an important relationship, Hedwig and the Angry Inch turns theme into a source of pressure rather than a message waiting to be delivered. The handling by John Cameron Mitchell lets Hedwig and the Angry Inch leave a little interpretive room, which gives its better scenes an afterlife.

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At story level, Hedwig and the Angry Inch turns East Berlin and the central character into the source of its main tension. The role played by John Cameron Mitchell becomes the viewer's route through Hedwig and the Angry Inch, especially when an important relationship begins to alter the situation. John Cameron Mitchell gives Hedwig and the Angry Inch momentum by allowing choices to create consequences instead of treating each scene as isolated information. Even when a difficult choice pushes the plot toward familiar ground, Hedwig and the Angry Inch remains attentive to what that pressure means for its characters.

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John Cameron Mitchell gives Hedwig and the Angry Inch its most dependable performance, finding a clear emotional intention beneath the plot. Opposite John Cameron Mitchell, Miriam Shor brings Hedwig and the Angry Inch a contrasting pace that prevents the central relationship from feeling flat. Stephen Trask widens the ensemble of Hedwig and the Angry Inch through reactions that suggest a life beyond the immediate scene. John Cameron Mitchell serves the cast of Hedwig and the Angry Inch best when a look or pause is allowed to finish before the story moves on.

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For comedy fans who respond to personality and timing, Hedwig and the Angry Inch is ultimately an easy recommendation. Its most persuasive combination in Hedwig and the Angry Inch brings John Cameron Mitchell together with performer rhythm under the direction of John Cameron Mitchell. The fact that one or two themes receive more explanation than they need prevents Hedwig and the Angry Inch from being entirely seamless. Even with that reservation, Hedwig and the Angry Inch has a clear point of view and enough genuine feeling to justify the journey.