Playwright: John Cameron Mitchell; Songwriter: Stephen Trask. At: Haven Theatre at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave. Tickets: 773-975-8150 or www.haventheatrechicago.com; $32. Runs through: Aug. 11
Recently, Playbill.com announced that out stage and TV star Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother) is planning to headline a Broadway production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch in Spring 2014. So that means that the regional rights to John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask's acclaimed 1998 off-Broadway musical will probably be pulled soon.
No doubt the folks of the newly founded Haven Theatre must be counting their lucky stars that they were able to get their hands on Hedwig for their inaugural production. So if you want to see Hedwig locally and live before you have to shell out big bucks to see it on Broadway, head over to Theater Wit now.
Besides, Hedwig might lose some of its scrappy spirit playing in a big Broadway house. The show is after all about an embittered transgender songwriter and wannabe rock star who has been repeatedly dealt bad hands in life.
Starting life as a bastard East German youth, Hedwig (nee Hansel Schmidt) famously goes through a botched sex-change operation (leaving only that angry inch) in an attempt to marry the U.S. Captain Luther Robinson. She then gets abandoned in a trailer park and has her songs stolen by the youth Tommy Speck, who later becomes a big rock star named Tommy Gnosis.
So in playing a small-tier rock venue for the show itself, Hedwig's every action should be motivated by seething anger and resentment.
Alas, Ryan Lanning's take on the duality-torn title singer is one more of coy bemusement and awe that he gets to portray Hedwig than truly embodying the role. Oh sure, Lanning cuts a hard-edged figure in Hedwig's fringe-adorned outfit and oversize blonde wig. He also sings the role with plenty of ferocity.
Yet Lanning doesn't bring the churning anger burning within the character of Hedwig to the fore like he should. I also would have liked more animosity from Lauren Paris as Hedwig's Balkan ex-lover, Yitzhak.
Otherwise, Haven Theatre's bare-bones production of Hedwig by director Kyle Trent largely gets the job done technically. There's a truly rocking band featuring music director Kory Danielson on keyboard, Eric Engelson on drums, Nick David on guitar and Zach Moore on bass. And you can't deny the wonderful intimacy you get up close to everyone in Haven Theatre's production, so you can imagine every one of Hedwig's frequently salacious anecdotes (compared to how vividly they were fleshed out in the 2001 film version).
So enjoy Haven's Hedwig for its intimacy and technical precision. Just be aware that some of the burning anger motivating everyone might be missing.