Hedwig and the Angry Inch at Catalyst Ranch thru Aug. 2nd

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 Hedwig and the Angry Inch at Catalyst Ranch   - Review By: Paul Lisnek   

** ½ / 4

Drag, Rock, and Motion: Hedwig and the Angry Inch’s Rotating-Cast Tour de Force at Catalyst Ranch.

This Hedwig and the Angry Inch at Catalyst Ranch is a funny, live-wire rock musical that somehow gets even more layered by letting three different performers share the roles of Hedwig, Yitzhak, and Tommy Gnosis from night to night in a rotating Sun, Earth and Moon cast rotation. The result is a show that feels less like a single artist’s story and more like a communal story about identity, personal damage, and the messy construction of wholeness. The production doesn’t hide behind the jokes. The story of a botched surgery, a stolen identity, a marriage that survives more than it should, and a star dream that curdles into something hollow is still there, both raw and unvarnished.

The production’s central “gimmick” isn’t really a gimmick at all: director Arlo Kiss has built a production where the “one” Hedwig is actually a chorus of Hedwigs, with three actors alternating through every role from performance to performance. That means the show’s emotional center shifts constantly—who is our Hedwig tonight? Which version of Yitzhak are we getting? The same songs, same plot, but different textures, bodily histories, and drag energies. The rotating cast permits the same cruelty and the same longing to be lived differently depending on who’s in the room.

For a critic, this is both a gift and a challenge: you can’t see the show and say “this is the definitive Hedwig,” because the production explicitly refuses to let any single performer claim that title. Instead, the rotating cast forces you to think about what the story is about rather than which actor “owns” it.

The rock band is live, engaged, and responsive: guitars and drums, punch in and out of Hedwig’s rants like a sometimes supportive and sometimes challenging choir-like moment. The shape of the show is clear: loud, defiant and all taking place in a kind of barroom vibe that makes Catalyst Ranch feel like an apartment for rock stars and gender rebels. And here is where I must note the biggest problem or challenge for the show: the sound system. Clearly the system is rented perhaps from the venue and it may work for a conference being held in the space, but for a loud full-sounding musical, the sound has to be bold and clear. Here, it is a significant distraction; and the actors clearly know it. The mics are in and out, at times they sound tinny. I give the actors credit for forging on with that challenge but it’s one that needs to be addressed and fixed sooner than later. For me, it’s what keeps me from giving this show a notably higher rating.

Drag, glam, and punk sit side by side: spandex, platform boots, and messy hair; a chorus of “Angry Inch” irony that refuses to be cute or polished. I’ve seen the show several times over the years and so in this unique rotating cast it means that some nights Hedwig might read as more broken and vulnerable (like the night I saw it with Kyle Reid Hass as Hedwig), other nights more furious and defiant; Yitzhak (my evening was Sage Reid Priest) can swing from complicit to revolutionary. Tommy Gnosis (played by Zo), sweet boy turned hollow icon, can shift from predatory, to something more tragic.

This is a show that knows how to work a crowd. The audience is literally invited to laugh-sing along (we even get the lyrics posted on the overhead projector…remember those? 

Many theaters have produced Hedwig and the Angry Inch; few if any (to my knowledge) have dared to utilize a rotating ensemble where the roles are shared among all. But, given that Hedwig has always been about fragmentation of person, about the many selves that live inside one person, this production literally stages that idea by refusing to let one body be the whole story.

You end the night with a strange feeling: you’ve seen a version of Hedwig tonight, but you also know you’ve only seen part of the show. You have to see it three times with each cast version to get how various voices and bodies tell the story. The rotating-cast concept doesn’t just make the show more interesting from a staging perspective; it makes the story more collective, and perhaps more fully human. If you’re even a little curious about Hedwig, go see it one night, then go back to see it with another cast lineup—you’ll be watching the same play, but also, a different one.

Hedwig and the Angy Inch at Catalyst Ranch in Chicago runs through Aug. 2nd with tickets at: www.jkentertainment.org/tickets