VIDEO: Darren Criss Urges His Fellow San Franciscans To See Him in HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH

Darren Criss, who came into the starring role in HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH as a replacement during its Broadway run, is very excited to be opening the musical's national tour in two very familiar environments.

"When I found out that the tour would be kicking off in my hometown of San Francisco - the city where I was introduced to HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH - I could think of no better excuse to get back into the heels of a character I loved and missed so very much. And since Los Angeles has become a second home for me, I relished the idea of seeing what kind of fun Hedwig would bring to the heart of Hollywood. Getting to share this fantastic Broadway production with the two great Californian cities of my own life story will hopefully be as much of a joy for me as it will be for audiences who will experience Hedwig's life story on the West Coast!"

Another native San Franciscan, Lena Hall, who won the 2014 Best Supporting Actress Tony Award as Yitzhak in the groundbreaking John Cameron Mitchell/Stephen Trask musical, will not only be joining Criss to repeat her acclaimed performance, bit will be taking on the role of Hedwig once a week.

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Darren Criss will launch the highly anticipated National Tour of HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH, the 2014 Tony Award-winning Best Musical Revival, reprising his critically-acclaimed performance at the SHN Golden Gate Theatre in San Francisco (October 4-30, 2016) and the Hollywood Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles (November 1-27, 2016). Criss previously played Hedwig on Broadway for 12 weeks last year.

HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH, with music and lyrics by Stephen Trask and book by John Cameron Mitchell, directed byMichael Mayer, has received rave reviews for its Broadway run and is the winner of four Tony Awards including Best Musical Revival. It was also awarded Best Musical Revival by the Drama Desk Awards, Drama League Awards, and Outer Critics Circle Awards. The Grammy-nominated Original Broadway Cast album for HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH is available from Atlantic Records.

The film of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, directed by John Cameron Mitchell, won the Audience Award and Best Director Awards at Sundance. Mitchell won the Best New Director from the National Board of Review, the Gotham Awards, and the LA Critics Society. Stage productions have played for many years in Japan and in 2008, Korea hosted a popular televised reality show about the search for a new star to play Hedwig.

The creative team for Hedwig and the Angry Inch features Emmy Award nominee Spencer Liff (musical staging), Tony Award nominee and Drama Desk Award winner Julian Crouch (scenic design), Tony Award and two-time Oscar nominee AriAnne Phillips(costume design), four-time Tony Award winner Kevin Adams (lighting design), Mike Potter(hair and makeup design), Tony Award nominee and platinum-selling record producer Tim O'Heir(sound design),Benjamin Pearcy for 59 Productions (projection design), John Bair/Phosphene (animation), James Calleri (casting), Tony and Grammy Award nominee Ethan Popp (music supervisor & music coordinator), Justin Craig (music director),Liz Caplan (vocal supervision),Stephen Gabis(dialect coach), and Johanna McKeon (associate director).