TIME IS RIGHT FOR HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH
Fisher headlines in one-person musical that’s part rock show, part comedy, part drag show
Jason Fisher was so moved by a Broadway performance of the Tony-winning musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch that he knew he had to bring it home to Saskatchewan.
Making its Regina debut, the show is a rollicking rock musical that will run its audience through a gamut of emotions, with all one could want from a live performance.
“Jason was really the impetus behind this production,” explains the show’s director, Karen Jarowicz.
“He said he saw the musical (in New York) and he said he really fell in love with the musical and the character of Hedwig herself. He had put the wheels in motion a while ago to produce it and then had reached out to me to direct it.”
Hedwig and the Angry Inch is essentially a one-woman show performing a variety of characters and telling her story of how he was living in Berlin, decided to have a sex-change to escape Berlin, and then after having the botched sex-change surgery must live in the United States as a woman.
Hence the birth of Hedwig, glam rock goddess.
Performing in the lead role, Fisher has totally impressed Jarowicz.
“I think Jason brings a great vulnerability to the role, which is as a male playing a male transitioned to a female but not necessarily transgender. He brings a lot of vulnerability to a role that can be difficult to portray because Hedwig is such a wild concoction of a bunch of different things.
“She’s a glam rock star, and she’s had to become Hedwig since she’s had to become a woman and live in the United States although not by choice, and near the end of the play she transitions to another character which is her counterpart.
“It’s a lot of shifts throughout the show, whether it’s character, costume, personality, and Jason just keeps moving. Once the ball starts rolling it’s impossible to stop.”
“I have to give kudos to
Jason,” Jarowicz continues, “for taking on such a tremendously challenging role because he’s done a phenomenal job.
“He’s done such a great job of taking on Hedwig. It’s a big piece to take on as one person and he’s been taking everything he’s got and leaving it out there in the audience so you don’t want to miss it. It’s a tremendous thing to take in live.”
With multiple dates, the show has temporarily taken up residence at The Exchange, with an intimate music venue vibe matching well with the dive bar esthetic a performer like Hedwig is accustomed to.
With the first show tonight on the heels of Queen City Pride Week, the show has some pretty powerful messages to go with the kick-ass spectacle of it all.
“I think it’s always a good time for Hedwig,” Jarowicz confirms, “and it’s always a good opportunity to open up a conversation about what we think we know about gender and what we think we know about sexuality. I believe gender, to a certain extent, is performance … What Hedwig does is take those common notions of gender, smashes them up into a ball, and turns them into something completely different because Hedwig is really neither a man or a woman.
“Hedwig is Hedwig. She’s such a unique character and she’s able to go so fluidly between male and female in her story, so it’s such an interesting perspective to look at.
“Hedwig is so many things to so many people. It’s part rock show, part comedy and part drag show.
“She has a very dry sense of humour and she uses it to tell some painful truths about her life but also to make some cutting jokes about all kinds of things.
The music is also fantastic and it really samples from all the greats of all the different eras.
It’s a show that appeals to people interested in more than just Hedwig’s change or who Hedwig is becoming, but also people searching for love and searching for themselves because I think those are all universal feelings that we all have.”
I think Jason brings a great vulnerability to the role, which is as a male playing a male transitioned to a female but not necessarily transgender.