Review: Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Hedwig and the Angry Inch has hit Melbourne running as part of the Rising festival. Running until the end of June, Sean Miley Moore and Adam Noviello bring star performances to a musical as unconventional as its plot, Genevieve Spiteri and Laura Andrea Lopez Morales review.

Almost 20 years after its last performance in Australia, Hedwig and the Angry Inch is back for a very limited run at the Athenaeum Theatre as part of Melbourne’s Rising festival. 

Featuring a cast of two actors, Hedwig and the Angry Inch cannot be described as a traditional musical; it is a theatre performance that challenges the musical medium. Developed at rock clubs and gigs, the 85-minute show (that’s right, it’s only one act) subverts traditional conceptions of musical theatre, instead leaning into tropes and acting performances associated with one-man acts.  

Sean Miley Moore stuns as Hedwig. (Photo: Shane Reid)

The story follows the titular Hedwig, a genderqueer person who was born in East Berlin at the time of the construction of the Berlin Wall. Her obsession with finding her “other half” drives the story across continents. Eventually, Hedwig undergoes a sex-change surgery so she can get married to her first love in East Germany. This surgery was severely botched, which gave Hedwig the titular “angry inch”, a one-inch mound of flesh between her legs where the surgical site healed incorrectly.  

Where Hedwig differs from classical theatre is in its songs. The numbers explore Hedwig’s past and lay the stones which we watch Hedwig step. 

As such, the set and choreography are incredibly intentional. You’re wrapped up in the setting, where Hedwig is performing a concert in America, and next door her rival and former lover, Tommy Gnosis, is also set to perform. Yes, that’s right, it’s meta. You ARE the audience. 

The set for Hedwig and the Angry Inch is designed like your Friday pub gig. (Photo: Shane Reid)

The stage is minimalist; occasionally, a door behind the elevated circular stage is opened, spilling out snippets of Gnosis’s show as Hedwig and co. listen in. A staircase straddles the stage, where dramatic stands are taken, but otherwise the stage is quiet, drawing you into the actor’s powerful performances. 

Seann Miley Moore plays Hedwig, and their performance of this complicated, mixed-up and complex character is portrayed with such complexity and an unwavering strength that completes the character beautifully.  

Adam Noviello, who plays Yitzhak, our broken and abused husband to Hedwig, brings an intricate attention to detail that otherwise would leave his character unfulfilling. Their micro expressions perfectly display the tenuous relationship between our broken lovers, exhibiting a mastery over body language. Although, the two stars may have to work on their line delivery, as at the beginning of the show it seemed the two may have missed each other's cues, waiting for the other in bated silence. Maybe the drop in temperature from the Adelaide shows to Melbourne has left the pair out of order. 

Adam Noviello, left, delivers a microscopic performance of Yitzhak's subtleties and quirks. (Photo: Shane Reid)

Nevertheless, Hedwig is an unconventional show, and the first ten minutes are essential in warming up and preparing your audience, so there’s little wiggle room for awkward silences. Silences made only more uncomfortable when they come after a barrage of American political humour, which didn’t send our theatre audience laughing. If you aren’t brushed up on your US senators and enjoy your theatre distantly critical of society, the jokes might as well be overhead flights. And a reference to 2024 Presidential nominee Kamala Harris? For an act set in 1998?  

But don’t let that sway you. Where Hedwig shines is in its live music. While we in the audience were initially a little confused by the live band transforming the theatre into a gig at the Forum, quickly the incorporation of a high energy rock squad, dubbed the “Angry Inch”, livened up the stage and helps to suspend your disbelief on an otherwise stark stage. 

While all the songs are consistently staged and performed excellently, once the show hits “Sugar Daddy”, the pace and consistency of the performances stabilises and falls back into place.  

Expect to be a part of the audience at Hedwig and the Angry Inch. (Photo: Shane Redi)

You can expect many of the same story beats and emotional moments from the 2001 film adaptation of the original off-Broadway production, but the biggest difference is in the treatment of Hedwig and Yitzhak’s relationship. In this production, their relationship and history are fleshed out which gives the audience a sense of catharsis during the climactic resolution, a needed addition from the film’s deleted scenes. 

Unequivocally, Hedwig and The Angry Inch is a love letter to rock music. It’s a musical for the queer community to rock out to, but the charm doesn’t end for just rainbow people. There’s a lot of love and finesse in the fabric that makes up Hedwig, and while its ferocious energy is a little hard to pin down, the best way to explain it is to just witness it.