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‘Hedwig’ @ Actor’s Express
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
THEATER REVIEW. Grade: C
Poor Hedwig, sad Hedwig. Daddy’s long gone and mommy’s cold as ice. The American GI who loved her insisted on gender-reassignment surgery as her ticket to the States. The surgery, uh, missed, and she’s left with an angry inch in an unfortunate locale. What’s a girl to do? Take the show on the road? Turn it into a cultish rock musical? But of course.
Hedwig is the transsexual alter ego of a German-born girly-boy named Hansel. As she follows another former love (rock star Tommy Gnosis) from town to town, playing dive bars while he sells out arenas, she tells her story mostly in concert and monologue.
To those in the know, this is likely a delicious reunion.
To those of us meeting Hedwig for the first time, it’s a love-hate kind of thing. “Hedwig” was born in 2000 on the off-Broadway stage. In 2001, her movie entertained multitudes. Actor’s Express, which staged the show in 2003, envisions this reprise — with a new set, star and director — as a slam-bang finish to its 20th anniversary season.
Artistic Director Freddie Ashley’s reimagining has plenty of slam-bang, particularly with its rocking band the Angry Inch, again led by Angela Motter, who returns as the devoted and angel-voiced Yitzhak. What it lacks is enough heart and soul to sell its themes — that we all want to find love, that we all want to know ourselves as completely as possible and that we want to like the people we become.
This is, supposedly, Hedwig’s universal journey, but Craig Waldrip’s ride is all attitude and poses. He clearly works hard, in spiky 6-inch heels no less, but never reveals the Hedwig beneath the heavy blond wig or beyond the glam-skank hot pants. He rarely transits past her pout or her pelvis.
The text (by the original Hedwig, John Cameron Mitchell), brims with wit, sass and wry observations. It talks about “the geography of human contact” and how Hedwig is torn in two, like the city of Berlin was by its Wall. Too many of composer Stephen Trask’s song lyrics are muddled, however, either by a lack of balance between band and singer or by Waldrip’s habit of grazing the microphone with his lips. It’s too bad because he has a wonderfully emotive voice when it comes through as it does on the ballads.
“Hedwig” won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, or even pint of ale. The double-entendre-laced text is definitely for an adult crowd. What it comes down to is relationships: How intimately you know Hedwig before the show will determine how much you enjoy her in it.
The 411: 8 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday; 7 p.m. Sunday. Through July 19 (no show July 6). $22 and $25; VIP seats $35. Actor’s Express, 887 W. Marietta St. N.W., Atlanta. 404-607-7469, www.actors-express.com.
Bottom line: Potential unrealized.
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See and Do this Weekend
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Palmetto, Ga., is a lovely spot. It feels like you’re way out in the country, even though it’s only a half-hour drive from downtown Atlanta.
Add a free outdoor concert by a world-class orchestra, and you’ve got a great reason for a short road trip. On Saturday, July 5, at 8 p.m. the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra will perform beloved classics such as Dvorak’s “New World Symphony” as well as pops standards such as Gershwin’s “Girl Crazy Overture” at Hutcheson Ferry Park in Palmetto. ASO assistant conductor Mei-Ann Chen will lead the ASO musicians in the concert.
For more information and link to driving directions, see the ASO’s website.
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Take a “Monster” to the beach
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Usually, “beach books” are paperback novels. Chick lit, thrillers, mysteries, romances, that sort of thing. But the idea is something fun and compelling that isn’t too taxing.
But one of this summer’s hot beach books is non-fiction. “The Monster of Florence” by Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi is No.3 on this Sunday’s New York Times non-fiction bestseller list, and it’s just the kind of book you want to take to the beach, provided you’re not too squeamish.
Preston is an American thriller writer who moved to Italy and met Spezi, a journalist. Spezi was obsessed with a serial killer who was dubbed the Monster of Florence, a man who killed couples who were out parking in the countryside and did some grotesque things to the women’s corpses with a knife. He operated in the 1980s and was never caught; when Thomas Harris was hanging out in Italy researching his novel “Hannibal,” he sniffed around the Monster’s case.
Preston and Spezi tell a story that starts out like your basic true crime non-fiction book. But along the way, as the Monster eludes the police and everyone gets more and more frustrated, the whole narrative switches to political and judicial bungling. Suspects are arrested, even tried and convicted, only to be set free when they are clearly innocent. Increasingly frustrated, some prosecutors actually target the authors, who are showing them up in public, arresting Spezi and trying him in a sequence that would do Kafka proud.
In the end, the Monster is never caught. The authors have theories, but not particularly iron-clad one. Preston acknowledges that the elements don’t really come together to make “Monster” as satisfying as a good novel. “These were murders without motive, theories without evidence, and a story with no end,” he writes. Actually, “The Monster of Florence” works despite those problems. I recommend it.
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How are you saving money on the arts?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The AJC is running a series this month called “31 Ways to Save,” about how people are saving money in a lot of different ways.
The arts need to be part of this discussion. So how are you saving money this summer on arts-related activities, and/or books? Are you getting half-price tickets? Finding hidden discounts? Going to the library more and Borders less?
We’re looking for clever ideas and approaches that you share and that others can take advantage of. If you’re just cutting back, and want to post that, fine, but we’re more interested in strategies over cut-backs.
So please post your money saving ideas here. And if you would use a real email address, I’d like to get in touch with 1 or 2 of the best ones and interview you for a small print feature to run later this month.
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‘High School Musical’ won’t play Fox this summer
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Atlanta’s Theater of the Stars is about to have some disappointed tweens on its hands.
The local Broadway producer has pulled the plug on the August engagement of the wildy popular stage version of “High School Musical.” However, the theater says it will stage a new production of the hit at the Fox Theatre next summer, then send it out on tour.
Disney Theatrical Productions’ first national tour of “High School Musical” was supposed to conclude Aug. 15-24 at the Fox, where Theater of the Stars premiered the show in January 2007. On Monday, Theater of the Stars and Disney said the engagement was being scrubbed “due to unforeseen scheduling conflicts.” The tour will now close in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Aug. 3.
Theater of the Stars President Nick Manos said he recently pitched the idea of producing a second national tour to Disney Theatricals, and once that plan was approved, “it made more sense for us to do it next summer than be the final stop of the tour.”
Details and dates of the second tour are still in the works. “It will probably be a largely new cast,” Manos said.
Meanwhile, patrons with “High School Musical” tickets have three options. Exchange them for seats to Theater of the Stars’ world premiere of “High School Musical 2” (Nov. 7-16 at the Fox); exchange them for seats to next summer’s engagement of “High School Musical,” or get a full refund at the point of purchase.
Exchanges can be made beginning July 8.
For more information: www.theaterofthestars.com.
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Latest comments
I heard through the grapevine that Christopher Skinner was asked to audition for this role. I don’t know if he did or not, but he would have made an amazing Hedwig- I still remember his Marlene Dietrich from Naked Boys Singing and his role (I forget... read the full comment by John | Comment on 'Hedwig' @ Actor's Express Read 'Hedwig' @ Actor's Express
I heard through the grapevine that Christopher Skinner was asked to audition for this role. I don’t know if he did or not, but he would have made an amazing Hedwig- I still remember his Marlene Dietrich from Naked Boys Singing and his role (I forget... read the full comment by John | Comment on 'Hedwig' @ Actor's Express Read 'Hedwig' @ Actor's Express
I heard through the grapevine that Christopher Skinner was asked to audition for this role. I don’t know if he did or not, but he would have made an amazing Hedwig- I still remember his Marlene Dietrich from Naked Boys Singing and his role (I forget... read the full comment by John | Comment on 'Hedwig' @ Actor's Express Read 'Hedwig' @ Actor's Express
Waldrip must carry this show, and he tries very hard, but what with his thick German accent and misuse of the microphone, his attempt is unprofessional. We understood only about half of his spoken lines and none of his lyrics. Shouldn’t this have... read the full comment by Milo | Comment on 'Hedwig' @ Actor's Express Read 'Hedwig' @ Actor's Express