STILL ANGRY AFTER
ALL THESE YEARS

A daring revival proves the musical’s
power endures, even when one major
directorial gamble doesn’t

Kyle Reid Hass as Hedwig, Sage Reid Priest as Yitzhak

When people think of musicals, the stereotype is a show with a large cast, lots of singing and dancing, an orchestra, and usually an elaborate set. And that’s not entirely untrue. But there is a subgenre of musical theater with a deliberately narrow focus, where the scale is small and the themes skew heavily toward the personal. These shows forgo spectacle in favor of intimacy. They’re usually performed in small spaces with casts of only a few. When done well, they are frequently more emotionally wrenching than their larger counterparts—with a few notable exceptions.

Zo as Hedwig, Kyle Reid Hass as Yitzhak

Zo as Hedwig, Sage Reid Priest as Tommy Gnosis

In terms of scale, one would be hard-pressed to find a more modest musical than Hedwig and the Angry Inch, a sui generis show with music and lyrics by Stephen Trask and a book by John Cameron Mitchell—who also originated the title role—that made its Off-Broadway debut to much acclaim in 1998. Mitchell later adapted the show into an excellent feature film, and more than fifteen years after its debut, it finally arrived on Broadway in 2014, winning Tony Awards for both its performers as well as Best Revival of a Musical.

Zo as Yitzhak, Sage Reid Priest as Hedwig

Sage Reid Priest as Yitzhak

In a seedy nightclub, Hedwig, a genderqueer person—more on this designation later—performs a sort of cabaret act with her backing band, The Angry Inch. Between some wonderful songs, crafted in the glam-rock style, she weaves anecdotes from her life: her childhood in 1980s East Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall; falling in love with a U.S. soldier; a botched sex-change operation that leaves her with an inch-long mound of flesh between her legs; marriage and immigration to the United States; divorce and isolation in the American Midwest; performing in drag; and finally meeting the love of her life in Tommy, a shy, introverted, and deeply religious young man who eventually abandons Hedwig, taking with him the songs they wrote together before becoming a rock star. Now Hedwig, with her small backing band, follows Tommy around the world, performing in dingy venues next to the stadiums and oversized arenas he effortlessly fills.

Zo as Hedwig, Kyle Reid Hass as Yitzhak

In terms of a set, all the musical requires is a corner of a performance space. The set, such as it is, consists simply of the band and their instruments crammed into a tiny spot, with a stool up front for Hedwig. An overhead projector off to one side displays charmingly lo-fi illustrations to accompany Hedwig’s songs and stories. That’s about it. There isn’t even a set-design credit.

Zo as Tommy Gnosis, Kyle Reid Hass as Hedwig

Hedwig and the Angry Inch is JK Entertainment’s second production and is being performed at Catalyst Ranch with a slight twist: the show rotates its cast of three through the different roles, so depending on which performance you attend, you’ll get a different cast—and, by extension, a different show. The Children of the Moon cast—the production I experienced—featured Kyle Reid Hass as Yitzhak, Sage Reid Priest as Tommy, and the mononymic Zo as Hedwig.

Zo as Yitzhak, Hailey Hance as Skszp

Director Arlo Kiss has made a few minor edits and one major one to the show. Unfortunately, none of them work. The banter about performing in the West Loop with Tommy at Wrigley Field falls mostly flat, and given the distance between the two locations, a further change involving the concert being broadcast live on the radio doesn’t work at all. In the original, every time a door to the club is opened, you hear the music from Tommy’s concert next door. It’s a much more elegant setup and should have been left alone. Those familiar with the musical will have already noticed the biggest change: the introduction of Tommy as an onstage character, which is a major misstep. In the original, we know Tommy only through Hedwig. Shoehorning a third actor into a script configured for two is a tricky move, and it falls completely flat here. Every scene involving Tommy is a dud—through no fault of Reid Priest, who is fine. Tommy’s appearances disrupt the momentum and rhythm of the play, including Zo’s nearly flawless lead performance. I’m not sure about the logic behind this decision, but boy, does it not work.

Zo as Yitzhak, Sage Reid Priest as Hedwig

The production is also plagued by iffy sound mixing, exacerbated by the echoey acoustics of the space—a brief aside to bemoan the increasing paucity of quality performance venues for theater in the city. Technical issues on the night further compounded the sound problems.

And yet, it mostly works. The most astonishing thing about Hedwig is that the musical remains genuinely transgressive twenty-seven years after its premiere. Even today, when the complexities of gender are finally being examined more openly, Hedwig stands alone. There is no category into which she neatly fits. I went on a hunt to find an appropriate descriptor and eventually landed on “genderqueer,” which is also the preferred term of her creator, John Cameron Mitchell. Hedwig’s timelessness springs from the fact that Mitchell and Trask focus not on what makes her different, but on what makes her just like everyone else. Her loneliness and need for love and acceptance cut through the vitriol and anger. Hedwig is not a particularly likable person, and her treatment of Yitzhak is outright abusive. It’s an incredible role, and Zo is absolutely marvelous from the moment they stumble onto the stage. They beautifully balance the bawdy, abrasive humor with quiet moments of pathos, and they sing the hell out of Trask’s gorgeous songs.

Zo as Hedwig

Zo also develops a delicate chemistry with Reid Hass that, along with one of the aforementioned technical difficulties, generates the loveliest moment of the night. In the midst of an onstage costume change, an achingly desolate Hedwig reminisces about the lowest point in her life while Reid Hass—in character—tenderly dabs at her face, trying to reattach a faulty microphone. He fails, but there is a moment when their eyes lock, when Hedwig’s misery meets Yitzhak’s devotion and we see them at their most vulnerable: two lonely people clinging to each other, each doomed to love someone who will never love them back.

Sage Reid Priest as Hedwig, Zo as Yitzhak

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photos by Michael Brosilow

Hedwig and the Angry Inch
JK Entertainment
Catalyst Ranch, 648 W. Randolph St. in Chicago
extended through August 2, 2026
for tickets ($35), visit JK Entertainment

for more shows, visit Theatre in Chicago

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