‘HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH’
Castaway Productions musical performance takes the Center’s stage.
RHINEBECK, N.Y. >> Discover the story of Hedwig, a German transgender rocker in the glam rock-inspired musical “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” opening Friday, Nov. 2, at the Center For Performing Arts.
Sean Matthew Whiteford, who plays Hedwig and is also directing the show for the Hudson Valley-based Castaway Productions, described the play as less of a traditional musical and more like an 85-minute rock concert meets oneman/one-woman show.
“We have an incredible on-stage rock band,” Whiteford said. “I’ve always thrived on immersive, nontraditional music of the rock musical persuasion.”
The show dispels with elaborate scene changes for action that plays out in real time, he added.
“It’s a beautiful revolutionary piece of theater. It’s very raw. It’s real,” Whiteford said.
Hedwig starts as a man who undergoes a botched sex-change operation, Whiteford said.
Eventually, he falls in love with an American soldier who wants to bring Hedwig, his real name is Hanzel, to America.
When the operation goes terribly wrong it leaves him deformed, hence the name “the Angry Inch,” Whiteford added.
“Hedwig is kind of his rock performer persona and the show is Hedwig with his band called the Angry Inch telling his life story,” Whiteford said. “Hedwig has a wicked sense of humor, but the story itself is really quite tragic.”
Whiteford said throughout the production, Hedwig is longing for acceptance.
“A lot of the show is him searching for his other half,” Whiteford said. “All ... she needs, is to accept herself and love herself.”
The play is beautifully written has lots of messages sprinkled throughout the 85-minute one-act show, he added.
Whiteford said the show, which he billed the most important that Castaway has ever done, celebrates the LGBTQ community.
“This is a difficult time for transgender people,” Whiteford said. “Hedwig is here loud and proud.”
Whiteford said he first discovered “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” after seeing the 2001 cult film, which itself was based on the original Off-Broadway musical.
Later on, it was revived on Broadway.
“It was a big success on Broadway a few years ago, it starred Neil Patrick Harris,” Whiteford said.
As time has gone on, the perception of “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” has gone from being a campy thing like “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” to something far bigger, Whiteford said.
“I feel like this show speaks to the community,” Whiteford said. “It’s more relevant than it’s ever been.
Whiteford said playing Hedwig has been a big undertaking.
“it’s challenging, but also therapeutic,” Whiteford said. “I love doing what I do because I love the way people respond.
“I love connecting with people through art and I think this is an incredible time and opportunity for us to all connect together and send out a powerful message.”
He added that playing the character as authentically as possible presents a great challenge.
But one he felt up to that challenge.
“I’m a very empathetic person,” Whiteford said. “I have a lot of friends, transgender, and queer.”
Whiteford said the show flies by and sounds far different from a traditional musical, but instead sounds more like a concert by one of Whiteford’s favorite rockers, David Bowie.
Castaway Productions is no stranger to Bowie, as it produced a tribute show last year to Bowie’s “Ziggy Stardust” album.
The costumes are designed by Whiteford’s wife, Juda Leah, a fashion designer whose credits include working with the band The B52s.
“She put together the amazing couture Hedwig wears throughout the show,” Whiteford said. “It gives a great real, raw glamrock vibe to this, which it needs.”
Whiteford hopes that any audience members who may feel wary of the transgender community will walk away with the message that, “we’re all one.”
Faith Otey portrays Hedwig’s husband, Yitzhak, and she feels the role is a natural fit.
“It’s not actually that off-caliber,” Otey said. “I am trans, it’s lovely to be in a show where I can accurately play my gender, but also have the vocal part for me.
“That’s a pretty spectacular lineup.”
She added that doing Yitzhak’s Israeli accent has not been easy.
“It’s not one I had in my pocket,” Otey said. “Other than that, it’s been fantastic.”
Otey said she worked with Whiteford and Castaway on the “Ziggy Stardust” production before.
So it felt natural to her to work with familiar faces in another show she described as essentially a concert with music she loves.
“The music is natural. Lou Reed and David Bowie genre-wise are some of my favorites,” Otey said.
Otey admitted before this show her knowledge of “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” was limited to seeing the movie as a preteen.
“Everyone else had done the show before, I’m not quite that familiar with it,” Otey said.
Otey said she’s happy that other members of the production are members of the queer community.
“It not only is timely, but actively inclusive, which is an incredible thing right now,” Otey said.