UNITED KINGDOM: POPULAR TICKET AT THIS YEAR'S EDINBURGH FESTIVAL IS STAGE MUSICAL "HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH"

Record ID: 391879

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM: POPULAR TICKET AT THIS YEAR'S EDINBURGH FESTIVAL IS STAGE MUSICAL "HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH"
  • Date: 18th August 2001
  • Summary: SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) PERFORMER SAYING "This is how we compete basically. We get up on that stage and we do as best we can, and a lot of people do come and see it so that this is good news."
  • Embargoed: 2nd September 2001 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA6MYOQY9FDBQB1QVAWXHI4WXQP
  • Story Text: David Bowie, Lou Reed, Goldie Hawn, Kurt Russell, Danny de Vito, Marilyn Manson, Glenn Close and Barry Manilow are just a few of Hedwig's devoted followers. Not surprising then that the hottest ticket at the Edinburgh Festival is the stage musical of Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Writer, director and star of the film (and original star of stage show), John Cameron Mitchell, was spotted by Reuters Television in the audience. He'd flown from the States especially to watch his show, planning to keep it a secret from his cast. But he shares all with Reuters Television.
    There are nearly one and a half thousand productions from around the world. The Scottish capital of Edinburgh has been transformed into a living theatre. Every single space in the city - from park benches to churches to wine cellars - has become a venue. The choice is overwhelming. But there's one show that everyone is talking about.
    Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Fresh from its run in New York, Boston and Los Angeles, (where David Bowie got so excited by the show that he became an investor/producer), Hedwig has arrived in Scotland. The previous audiences have been very impressive. Danny de Vito, Glenn Close, Marilyn Manson, Barry Manilow have returned again and again to see this rock musical.
    John Cameron Mitchell is the man behind it all, the writer/director/actor in both the original stage show and the film that is currently screening at the Edinburgh Film Festival. The film was a hit at the most recent Sundance Film Festival, winning the dramatic competition director award and the dramatic competition audience award.
    Now he's in town to see both his stage show and film open in Scotland. A special moment considering Mitchell was born in the Scottish town of Glasgow. "I went to boarding school just down the road, Benedict's and Boys school when I was ten, eleven, twelve. And I did my first role there which was the Virgin Mary in the Nativity play being a boys' school!"
    He obviously mastered the art of being a woman at a very young age. Although it's unlikely the role of the Virgin Mary would have required the kind of wigs and make-up Hedwig demands. Mitchell's first public appearance as the German transsexual rock singer Hedwig happened seven years ago at a punk rock drag club in New York City.
    The act became so popular, that Mitchell had to move it to an off-Broadway theatre, where it slowly evolved into a full-fledged rock musical. It became a counter-cultural and underground hit and soon, Michael De Luca and Amy Henkels, executives at New Line Cinema and it's smaller film label Fine Line Features, decided to ask Mitchell to turn it into a feature film.
    Full of rousing rock music numbers and a series of hilarious monologues by the lead character, "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" follows Hedwig's tour of America as she describes her life from growing up as a boy in East Germany, through her botched sex change operation and subsequent journey to America, and her relationship with a hugely popular rock star.
    Kevin Cahoon, who played Hedwig in New York, LA and Boston, is doing the role in Edinburgh. He's playing to packed houses but what he doesn't realise is that Mitchell was sitting in the audience.
    "You know I haven't seen the play in a long time and it was so moving tonight. Kevin was actually my understudy and he was great then but he's totally in the part now, it's so much a part of him. The best time I've had doing Hedwig is actually sitting in the audience seeing other people doing it. It's wonderful." But that doesn't mean Mitchell wishes he was up there as Hedwig. "Oh not at all, not at all.
    I've been doing it for seven years, I'm so over it, I love it to have its own life and own interpretations."
    Producer Sarah Earl has got this production from New York to Edinburgh. Not it's time for her to get it to London.
    --
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