I know it has been too long since my last post and please accept my apologies for that. Life has been hectic and although there has truly been much in my life that has been blogworthy (e.g. a trip to the Galapagos Islands, a cruise to Belize and Conzumel with my AgileBits peeps followed immediately by a trip to New York to see my niecelettes and a full day of theater), I just haven’t been inspired to write. But after not being able to sleep after the aforementioned day of theater, a blog post finally came to me, so I figure that is where I will start.
Yesterday was all about the revivals. I saw both Cabaret with Alan Cumming, who was once again playing the role of the emcee as he did in the 1998 revival, and Hedwig and the Angry Inch with John Cameron Mitchell, the man who both wrote the book and originated the role. I mention those details because I do think there was something additional that both of these men brought to the roles that another equally talented actor may not have. The TL;DR version of both shows was that they both exceeded my (high) expectations. For those who want more, please read on.
When I first planned my Day of Theater (DoT) I had purchased tickets to see Idina Menzel in If/Then and Hedwig. But a few days before the scheduled show I received a notice that all performances of If/Then were cancelled for the week I was in town. After some pouting (everyone who knows me even a little knows that I can listen to Idina sing for hours on end–and I have), I looked at the available matinees for that day and discovered that there were still tickets available to see Cabaret. And as much as I love Idina (I am seriously contemplating a drive up to Seattle to see her this summer since she is skipping Portland on her upcoming tour), I am very glad that I saw Cabaret. Because it was a truly spectacular performance that left me stunned at the end even though I knew exactly what was coming.
I don’t mean to give short shrift to Cabaret, which was mind blowing and deserves a review of its own. But it was Hedwig that kept me up most of last night which is why it gets the bulk of the blog post. Perhaps once I get all of the following thoughts out I will be able to come back and give Cabaret its due.
Back to my tale of my DoT. By early evening I was actually feeling a little anxious about seeing Hedwig. While both productions I saw were tales of Germans, Jews, and gender fluidity, they are also about as different as night and day. I had been wanting to see John Cameron Mitchell perform Hedwig live since I missed him in the original Off-Broadway production (especially since I was living in Philly and could easily have made the trip in) and I was truly thrilled when my trip coincided with him revising his role. I have been someone obsessively listening to the new Hedwig soundtrack since it was released this past Fall so my expectations were high, but Cabaret had been just so good I was afraid that my luck wouldn’t hold and I would end up disappointed. Suffice it to say it was worth the wait.
Mitchell very wisely decided that this revival could not simply be the same production as the previous run. Instead, this Hedwig was both older and wiser, but still very much the same character as before. Hedwig is now married to her Jewish bandmate, Yitzhak, but is still dealing with the emotional fallout from the fiasco with Tommy Gnosis that the original production (and the movie) describe.
While I was waiting in line for the doors to open, I was stunned by how young most of the audience was. I knew the movie had become somewhat of a cult favorite which explained why there were folks waiting who had never known a time when the Berlin wall still stood and most of the cultural references (Farrah Fawcet, 8-track tapes, etc.) were experienced first-hand. But once again, it had me a bit concerned that the show would be a disappointment.
I don’t know how the youngins experienced the show, but when viewed through my own lens, I could absolutely relate to the present-day Hedwig in a way I couldn’t to the movie version. Although the show was ostensibly all about Hedwig (a point she kept coming back to when she went off on one of her many tangents), there was also a whole other layer about being middle-aged (ack! did I just use that term to describe myself?!?) and married and the give and take that comes with having had a life partner for an extended period of time. A time when the burning anger and passionate positions of youth have simmered to a dull roar and one realizes that compromise does not inherently mean giving in. Compromise can also be a precious gift given to the person who knows you perhaps even better than you know yourself and loves you despite or even because of all of your flaws.
I have already listened to the most recent Hedwig soundtrack twice this morning and I suspect it will not be rotating off my Recently Played playlist any time soon. And even though the music is essentially the same between the first and second productions, I think it is likely that the original CD (yes, I still have CDs–I told you I am old). will continue to gather dust on its shelf. Because as much as I like the idea of clinging to the version of me I was 15 years ago, the present is in many ways better than the past. Or at the very least, more relevant.