Ash Moran as Yitzhak and Alec Diem as Hedwig
Photo: Michael & Suz Karchmer
Review by Steve Desroches
From the moment you enter Fishermen Hall it is obvious that the Peregrine Theatre Ensemble’s (PTE) production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch is going to be something special. The set, designed by Thea Goldman, shouts right off the stage, setting the scene for the glam-rock masterpiece written by John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask. And with a live band—the Angry Inch—comprised of Cliff Letsche, Keb Hutchings, Rikki Bates, and Yaron Spiwak, who is also musical director, the show gets an electric jolt that never wavers from beginning to end. But this is all spectacular support for the stars of the show, Alec Diem and Ash Moran, who play Hedwig and Yitzhak, respectively, and who’s performances are so dynamic it gives the illusion that they jut out into the theater, as if we’re wearing 3-D glasses. And their voices register on the Richter scale.
Having found its footing coming out of the pandemic, PTE, a theatrical company whose mission, in part, is to introduce young actors to Provincetown, definitely captured lightning in a bottle when they cast Diem and Moran. The two actors, both recent graduates of Oakland University’s theater program just outside of Detroit, give performances that require an Olympian amount of energy and physical prowess, as well as the talent to make each note explode into glitter and the smarts to make the characters fully formed and not a caricature-like renditions of the iconic queer theater roles. For those unfamiliar, the musical is presented in a concert format, as Hedwig, a genderqueer rock singer from East Berlin, performs with her back-up singer Yitzhak, an aspiring drag queen from Zagreb, who is in a co-dependent relationship with Hedwig, who herself is struggling with the loss of the love of her life, Tommy Gnosis, who has gone on to pop stardom after stealing Hedwig’s work.
In true glam-rock fashion the production blends comedy and tragedy with grit and glitter, in a reimagining of the 1970s genre. At its core it’s a complicated love story as well as a quest to find one’s true self. But it also explores the cultural phenomenon of queer art being co-opted by straight, cisgender performers. Performed in 90 minutes with no intermission, Hedwig and the Angry Inch zips along at breakneck speed in heels. Perhaps the greatest accomplishment is that PTE manages to present an over-the-top glam rock camp musical without making it look ridiculous and never losing sight of its humor and heart, taking a wrecking ball to the fourth wall with the feeling that indeed we are watching a love-sick East German rock star transsexual who’s come to Provincetown to heal and to rage.
The Peregrine Theatre Ensemble presents Hedwig and the Angry Inch Wednesdays through Saturdays, 7:30 p.m. through August 31 at Fishermen Hall, 12 Winslow St. (entrance in the rear of the building), Provincetown. For tickets ($60/$70/$105) and information, call 774.538.9084 or visit peregrinetheatre.com
