One does not attend a major rock concert without proper preparation. We began telling our friends and relatives weeks in advance that we would be seeing Hedwig and the Angry Inch in Olympia. Most people just stared at us, but some knew what we were talking about and would smile and raise their eyebrows. Our oldest granddaughter would have probably joined us if we had invited her.
On Saturday, just as we were almost out the door, the mail arrived. I opened a package and howled. Inside was the perfect T-shirt for a concert and a CD of musical gems. Both were from Zev Brooks, the co-writer and producer of “The Yankles.” We had truly enjoyed the film about an orthodox Jewish yeshiva baseball team. The CD contained the background music of the film including the final number, “Sweeter Than Kosher Wine.” We always liked wine but not necessarily the very sweet varieties. In our wayyyyy earlier days, we drank the cheap Annie Green Springs variety. I was tauntingly called Mr. Tyrolia by my closest friends but it certainly was better than Mogen David.
Most of the music on the CD is Klezmer: “an instrumental musical tradition of the Ashkenazi Jews of Central and Eastern Europe. The essential elements of the tradition include dance tunes, ritual melodies, and virtuosic improvisations played for listening; these would have been played at weddings and other social functions. The musical genre incorporated elements of many other musical genres including Ottoman (especially Greek and Romanian) music, Baroque music, German and Slavic folk dances, and religious Jewish music. As the music arrived in the United States, it lost some of its traditional ritual elements and adopted elements of American big band and popular music.” (Wikipedia)
The Klezmer music soothed our souls as we fought traffic on I-5 all the way from Tacoma. With such a beautiful day, we should have allowed a two-hour window to get there. By the time we took our seats at the Harlequin Theatre, the opening band Sugar and the Spitfires were already several songs into their performance; That was a shame. We easily switched gears from Klezmer and enjoyed Sugar’s singing and the band, some of which also backed Hedwig. Peg enjoyed the music and especially enjoyed “Sugar’s” very expressive dance moves. We could have done without the now ironic period piece, Harper Valley PTA, but we loved her other selections like Come Together by The Beatles and You Don’t Mess Around With Jim, written by Jim Croce.
“He says, I know you, you know me
One thing I can tell you is you got to be free.
Come together
Right now
Over me.”
Each week will feature a different opening act. If we lived in Olympia, we would definitely be returning each week. Perhaps the Angry Inch will grow on you as well.
Twenty-one years ago, the film of Hedwig and the Angry Inch came out: “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.”
In Harlequin’s program there are several Spoiler Alerts as well as Essential Terms relating to gender identity and sexual orientation. Good bios on the Angry Inch band. I tend to only surface read programs and let the acting carry me through the production and then study the programs. It’s like getting two different views for one price.
There are only two members in the cast, besides the excellent band. Mandy Rose Nicholes (they/them) plays Hedwig’s wife and dogsbody Yitzhak. Yitzhak explains to the audience how to cheer on Hedwig. Yitzhak sets up a projection machine for cell photos during Hedwig’s rants and singing. Yitzhak worships Hedwig. Mandy Rose plays the part so well. You feel the effort and the care she gives to the star.
Adam Rennie (he/they) plays Hedwig. Adam is a product of Australia, but now calls NYC home. Hedwig’s beautiful voice covers a wide range. The multiple costume changes, all done on stage, are like layers of her personality . . . and we see them peeled back and reduced to the core. From taunting the audience to taunting Yitzhak, and even the audience. Yitzhak Hedwig tells more than about her trauma she endured to get out of East Berlin before the Wall fell…she thinks she may have wanted to. Hedwig attacks and retreats often in the same breath intake – very well done and worth every second. Hedwig uses the thrust stairs into as well as the runway to attack the audience as he runs through it gathering courage and acceptance at the same time. The only thing that could have improved the production was a hundred more people in the audience.
Hedwig and the Angry Inch was directed by Aaron Lamb. We last saw him on-stage in that wonderful December 2021 production of A Christmas Carol, which he also directed. He has a nice touch. We also enjoyed his production of The Highest Tide. So far in our book, he’s three for three.
Jeanie Beirne (she/her) is the Resident Scenic Designer. Hedwig and the Angry Inch includes a stage littered with boxes, cords, and a dozen more things that roadies have that must be stepped on, over, or around. The stage is just like our lives except for the stairs and ladder which nearly reaches to the roof and the sky. Don’t we all have aspirations like that. Very nice work. The set worked for both the opening act as well as the main attraction.
The show runs 140 minutes – The Angry Inch, with Hedwig Schmidt.
AGE RECOMMENDATION – 12 and older with guidance. Some seniors may need guidance as well.
CONTENT ADVISORY – Difficult themes, frank conversations and language.
Prices – General $42 • Senior/Military $38 • Student/Youth $25
For more information contact harlequinproductions.org/
Do Peg and Don even have to pay for tickets? The fact that they give every local performance a rave (and rarely deserved) review makes me suspicious.
Why even have these two reviewers if they can’t be honest about what they review? Some local productions are good, some are high school level and some just awful. All these two people do is rave about everything which doesn’t help the reader know if they should bother going to a play. Even community theater is expensive for some.
By just giving a positive glow on everything, they lose all credibility. I’ve been to several local productions. Each has a few stand outs but mostly it’s high school level or worse acting. Please stop sugar coating everything.
Mike, thank you for writing and sharing your thoughts on our reviews. I disagree with your comment “Some local productions are good, some are high school level and some just awful.” I only recall two local productions years ago that even came close to your viewpoint. One was from a junior college, and one involved a single actor. I walked out at intermission at both.
Most actors we see in the Tacoma area are honing their craft at little or no pay. Local actors don’t make anywhere near what Actors’ Equity members do, but some do get paid. Peg and I write about the over-all production. We may not be thrilled with each and every play we see, but we are entertained. We get paid nothing for writing a review and we do not pay for tickets. Reviews take hours to think about the play, discuss, write, then rewrite it to hone the review.
Although we don’t pay for review tickets, sometimes we usher at local theaters and see the play for free after we’ve already seen and reviewed it. We also sometimes enjoy a production so much we return for additional viewings. For example, we saw Dirty Rotten Scoundrels twice at CenterStage in Federal Way. Once for the review, and once with friends. I think we saw Smokey Joe’s Cafe at Tacoma Little Theatre three times and paid twice. We can still recall live productions that are forever stamped in our minds at Lakewood Playhouse: Pirates of Penzance, Little Shop of Horrors, and The Producers.
Giving a rave review is not something Peg and I do, unless the production really deserves it. Sometimes all elements in a play don’t work. We are usually seeing a local production either during a last rehearsal, or the first weekend showing. We allow the director and the actors to work it out.
We are not professional reviewers who get paid for their critiques. We are not dramaturgs, professionals who study the plays in all of its manifestations by researching the early history of a play and how it has been presented in the past and the changes is production styles and actor’s presentations.
If you have been going to theater for many, many years, as we have, you’ll have a background in the history of local theaters. Community theaters are not what you’d expect to see at Seattle Rep, ACT or the Fifth Avenue. They are the sincere efforts of directors, actors, some professional and some not, who are doing their best to provide the audience with an evening or afternoon of enjoyment. Providing something to appreciate and think about. We don’t want to make a career of blasting the hopes of directors, costuming, sets, lighting and sound crews.
We want to point out what we enjoyed and emphasize the talents and capabilities of the creators of what we enjoy. We appreciate the efforts and celebrate the improved productions and talent we see local theaters produce. We have our favorite productions, favorites theaters, actors, directors and designers. We’ve been to Tacoma, Seattle, Portland, and Vancouver BC theaters. We watch productions on television and listen to cast records.
We’ve seen televised productions, too. We’ve also taken children as young as almost four to Seattle Childrens Theatre, just to excite them about the magic of theatre. We still take grown grandkids to local productions and they love them. We want the theaters to prosper and continue bringing live productions to people of every age and persuasion. Theater is important to us.
We are always honest about our reviews. Sometimes there are moments when a scene just doesn’t work, but we would never emphasize that because a play is alive. Who knows what the same stage, the same set, and the same actors might pull off the very next day. People are human . . . and things change.
Don and Peg Doman