THE HOMECOMING
San Franciscans Darren Criss and Lena Hall return to the city to star in SHN’s production of “Hedwig and the Angry Inch”
On the road to stage and screen stardom, San Franciscans Darren Criss and Lena Hall studied, auditioned, danced, sang and trod the boards from the Eureka Theatre to Feinstein’s at the Nikko. In October, they’ll finally debut at the Golden Gate Theatre, reviving their marquee Broadway roles in the gender-fluid, tragicomic, in-your-face rock musical “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” and launching its first national tour.
“For me and Lena, it’s a huge homecoming,” said Criss, 29, by phone from a drive into the city. “It would have driven me mad if someone else had done Hedwig” in San Francisco.
He relishes the title role in John Cameron Mitchell’s crossover cult musical, the story of a young gay man in 1980s East Germany who undergoes a sex change in order to marry an African American GI and escape to the West. The botched procedure leaves Hedwig with the titular inch — and a lot of anger. “San Francisco theatergoers have a real soft spot for the show, the celebratory nature of the show, the grit and the rock ’n’ roll,” he says. “It’s a very San Francisco show.”
A musician and actor since childhood, Criss debuted with 42nd Street Moon in grade school, joined ACT Young Conservatory at age 7 and starred in plays and musicals at St. Ignatius College Preparatory. After earning a bachelor’s degree in theater at the University of Michi-
gan, he broke out as Blaine Anderson on Fox’s hit musical series “Glee.”
“I was raised backstage,” he says, “hanging out with thirtysomething theater hopefuls. They were taking me out for
hamburgers after the show. That was so exciting for a kid. And the Young Conservatory is the very foundation of everything I’ve ever built.”
“He was a bright light from the get-go,” says Craig Slaight, Criss’ acting mentor at ACT. He also took advantage of his protege’s singing talent: “At one of the galas, I had him in a tuxedo as a strolling musician amongst the diners. I don’t know whether that gave him the edge he has now,” he muses wryly.