'Hedwig and the angry inch - New Makeup' at Hongik Art Center

‘Hedwig and the angry inch – New Makeup’ at Hongik Art Center(Daehak-ro)

Today’s characters: Jung Moonsung(Hedwig), Lim Jina(Yitzhak)

 

 

Border(noun): A strip that goes around or along the edge of something, often as decoration:

Musical Hedwig, I can call it ‘the border’. Border’s another meanings are ‘frontier’, ‘limit’, and ‘two-sides’.

 

‘Hedwig and the angry inch’ talks about the frontier.

The name Hedwig was name of main character’s mother’s name. Hedwig’s former name was Hansel. He was born between an American soldier and eastern German woman. His father got kicked out from the family, because he sexually harassed his son Hansel. The interesting thing is Hansel meets Luther Robinson, who is also an U.S. soldier. Hansel always wished to leave communist. So, they decided to marry. So, there needed to have name change and sex change for Hansel. So his mother gave her name to Hansel, also looked for a doctor. After a surgery, Hedwig moves to America. But Luther has an affair with another lady, so Hedwig is becoming alone. Hedwig meets Christian teenager; Tommy whose father is General. They share songs, musical inspirations, and love. After failure of love, Hedwig meets Yitzhak, drag queen of Balkan, and marry him.

This musical not only arranges nations, but also tells the international situation.

 

‘Hedwig and the angry inch’ talks about the limit.

Actually, Hedwig is a woman who failed at a sex change. ‘the angry inch’ is one-inch of flesh between her legs. Because of her body, she had hard time, and screwed up the love she really wanted to have. She also has troubles with his husband. But, her biggest difficult is her ego. You can see how she is going to deal with it.

 

‘Hedwig and the angry inch’ talks about the double-sidedness.

This musical is very interesting. It is off-Broadway musical. But it shows more powerful sex appeal than other rock-based musicals. Scenes are not changing much. But Hedwig’s monologue tells lots of stories. Characters usually sing hard and swear words, but they are very sentimental soft-hearted. They lose confidence. But they finally find dignity.

 

If you look at Hedwig with a negative point of view, it seems like ambiguous and failed life.

But to me, Hedwig showed the other philosophy, ‘The Origin of Love’.