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Fisher Theatre website photos by Joan Marcus.
If you are looking for an average, run-of-the-mill, night at the theater, "Hedwig and the Angry Inch” might not be what you're looking for.
But if you want to experience a different kind of musical -- part one-person show and part rock concert, combined with dazzling lights and punch lines aplenty -- getting down to the Fisher Theater between now and March 5 should probably be on your to-do list.
“Hedwig and the Angry Inch” opened its Detroit run Tuesday night before a crowd that applauded so vigorously at the curtain call it was almost as if they were trying to coax one more number from the tight six-person cast/band.
Unfortunately, this is scripted theater and not a Bruce Springsteen show, so the final bows were precisely just that.
To be honest, asking anything more of lead actor Euan Morton bordered on abuse.
Morton, as Hedwig, brings deep emotion as well as a sharp tongue to the role. Our protagonist delivers countless one-liners, many laced with sexual innuendo and double entendre.
Testing the full range of the actor, Morton is also asked to launch into a deep, long-ranging monologue about the difficulties Hedwig has encountered in her life.
For Hedwig, a German-born male who becomes a female wannabe rock star, there is plenty of material and life experience to draw upon.
And the role is a physical one, too. There is an old, beat up car in the middle of the stage, and Morton utilizes it to great effect. It’s used as a de-facto staircase, giving Hedwig access to the main stage while also allowing her a route to a raised doorway in back, behind which her ex-boyfriend is putting on his own concert simultaneously.
Jumping, falling, gyrating, even tumbling into the first few rows for some up-close-and-personal dancing with unsuspecting audience members; Morton is asked to go above and beyond in the part, and he delivers sharply with every note.
It’s no surprise, come the end of the show, that he is left wearing only a pair of tiny leather shorts. He’s got nothing left to give.
How to attend
- Performances: Daily except Mondays, through March 5.
- Times: Tuesday through Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.; Saturday matinee, 2 p.m.
- Tickets are here
