Inch by angry inch

Music hath no better inspiration than a woman scorned penning the tunes. Raw, bitter emotion… Music hath no better inspiration than a woman scorned penning the tunes. Raw, bitter emotion combines with pleading ballads to form the soundtrack for City Theatre’s current main-stage production, “Hedwig and the Angry Inch.”

The production itself is part monologue and part introspective soliloquy set to a predominately punk-rock soundtrack. Anthony Rapp, who originated the role of Mark in Broadway’s “Rent,” plays Hedwig, the he-turned-almost-she following a botched sex-change operation. And the title says it all: she isn’t happy about it.

John Cameron Mitchell’s Obie Award-winning script has been modified to fit Pittsburgh standards. Allow me to explain. The way the script is written, you are actually watching a concert performance of Hedwig’s Band, appropriately named The Angry Inch, rather than a theater piece. Thus, Hewdig tells her life story between songs.

She was born Hansel and endured a tortured adolescence as she attempted to find her other half. He turned out to be the American soldier who inspired her to get the operation in the first place, because he couldn’t marry a man.

This begins Hedwig’s downward spiral as far as relationships are concerned. Move to ex-boyfriend Tommy Gnosis, the undiscovered dork turned rock sensation overnight, thanks, in part, to Hedwig’s help. Finally, we come to the twisted relationship with backup singer Yitzak (Sara Siplak). From time to time, slides pop up on a white canvas to aid in telling the tale.

Hedwig frequently looks out the door of the fictitious Bingham Street Methodist Church turned music venue, to Heinz Field where Gnosis is simultaneously performing. She talks of Edgar Snyder, Rick Santorum’s recent public faux pas, and limo rides through the Strip district.

Dressed in stunning drag attire, Rapp resembles a larger-than-life Gwen Stefani for the first half of the show and, following a costume change, he could be mistaken for Debbie Harry, albeit a scary version.

The band plays with remarkable chemistry for coming from separate backgrounds and projects. By day, male backup vocalist Siplak is the female lead vocalist for orchestral rockers Boxstep.

Brandon Lowry, a first-year music technology student at Duquesne University, shows some skin as Skszp, the keyboardist and guitarist in the Angry Inch Band.

John Purse’s credits include arranging tunes for local jazz phenomenon Phat Man Dee and performing as a member of local group Opek 15. As Krzyhtoff, he is Hedwig’s lead guitarist.

Semi-local band The 1985 has lent its bass guitarist, Daniel Tomko, to the production, as Jacek.

Finally, A.T. Vish, drummer for Lowsunday, sits behind Plexiglas and provides the percussion, as Schlatko.

Together, they crank out punk-reminiscent tunes in a campy atmosphere. The Rocky Horror Picture Show it isn’t, and songs like the slightly rockabilly “Sugar Daddy,” the raw guitar riffs of “Angry Inch,” and catchy “Tear Me Down” dissipate any connection that one may have attempted to make between the two rock musicals that have graced both stage and screen.

The production was amazing, thanks, in part, to Rapp’s stunning transsexual performance, the band’s remarkable stage energy and Siplak’s strong voice. Brandon Lowry’s pelvic lines in his sexy, cut-off D.A.R.E. T-shirt and sexier, low-cut jeans make it even more rave-worthy.