October 30-November 5, 2003

artpicks

Hedwig and the Angry Inch

by Joel Tannenbaum

theater

I used to be a painted bride, David Colbert informed the crowd at the Painted Bride during last summer's award-winning Philadelphia premiere of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, the musical celebration of rock 'n' roll mythology and a sex-change operation gone awry.

Colbert is back as Hedwig Schmidt, an East German not-exactly-post-op transsexual musical not-quite legend, this time in Wilmington-based City Theater Company's production of Stephen Trask and John Cameron Mitchell's now famous off-Broadway musical.

Hedwig debuted in 1998 in New York and was adapted for film in 2001. A homage to the Cold War, punk rock, love, celebrity and human sexuality, Hedwig wasn't so much transgendered as it was post-gendered. But its brilliance, on stage and on film, was that despite its camp it was easily the most accessible rock musical ever made. (For those who consider this an overstatement, three words: Kilroy Was Here.) Hedwig contains something for practically everyone. Well, maybe not Rick Santorum.

Opening night is, appropriately enough, Halloween, and admission is half price for those who dress up, cross-dress or show your scar. And if that isn't savings enough, the show's two-week run is just south of the border in Delaware, the self-proclaimed home of tax-free shopping. So if you were blown away by Colbert's cathartic performance at the Bride last summer, then come to Wilmington this Halloween and get blown again!

Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Oct. 31-Nov. 15, $10-$20 , City Theater Company, Baby Grand Theatre, 818 N. Market St., Wilmington, Del., 800-37-GRAND.

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