"Foulmouthed, electrically tuneful and furiously funny, with explicit descriptions of its title character’s bungled sex-change operation and erotic adventures, “Hedwig” developed a cult following that kept it running off Broadway for two years, with subsequent production around the world."
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"Mitchell juices his 1998 script with topical jabs: dating sites, TMZ and Mark Rylance. Director Michael Mayer expertly balances the needs of a messy, punk protest with jaw-dropping visuals."
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"The enormous scale and professionalism of Michael Mayer’s production cuts two ways. It seems to think it’s a work of glam philosophy: part Rocky Horror, part Plato’s Symposium. But musicals do better to bury their abstractions, not animate and project them on scrims, however beautifully. Happily, Hedwig is plenty touching — and fun — most of the time."
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"Transformation is tricky, sometimes even painful. But Broadway’s sensational “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” is a reminder that change doesn’t have to hurt. This raucous pop-rock musical — a show with proudly ratty downtown roots and rabid fans — survives and thrives uptown."
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"A spectacular revival...a rock concert with political as well as psychosexual overtones. What fun! ...The band may be wearing fashionable glam-rock costumes rather than ripped T-shirts and shredded jeans and safety pins in their nostrils, but the music (and the anger fueling it) is closer to punk rock and more in step with Hedwig’s nihilist inclinations."
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"As to the question of how the scrappy, subversive 1998 cult performance piece about gender identity, transformation and pop mythology would sit on Broadway, the show, its protagonist and her pulse-pounding band tear up the Belasco stage like they own it. If screaming rock concert-style veneration is not your thing, stay home."
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If your memory of this brilliant 1998 rock musical is that it works best in a grungy joint, ideally where the floors are sticky, the seats half-empty and the air heavy with tragedy, there is much about director Michael Mayer's new Broadway production to pull you up short...Hedwig, you might say, has emerged triumphant after all these years of graft and toil."
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"“Hedwig” is a tricky animal: Framed like a concert, it requires a charismatic lead who can go wild during the most raucous numbers, but also handle long, narrative banter between the songs — and the occasional audience interaction."
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