John Cameron Mitchell: 'We're Definitely' Bringing HEDWIG to the West End

By: Jun. 07, 2015
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The Tony Awards Administration Committee awarded John Cameron Mitchell the the 2015 Special Tony Award tonight - and in the press room, Mitchell revealed some big 'HEDWIG' news.

With an enormously successful run of HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH now in its second year on Broadway, Mitchell confirmed he and the producers will soon be bringing the Tony-winning show to London.

'Yes, we're definitely coming to the West End," he told reporters. "We're trying to get the right person - we have interesting people on the hook, and now we're reeling them in."

At this time, he couldn't confirm if the actor stepping into Hedwig's heels would be British or not.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch, with book by John Cameron Mitchell and music and lyrics by Stephen Trask, directed byMichael Mayer, also stars Rebecca Naomi Jones as Yitzhak. The production has received rave reviews and is winner of four 2014 Tony Awards and won Best Musical Revival by the Tony Awards, 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.

"Internationally ignored song stylist" Hedwig Robinson (Taye Diggs) brings her fourth-wall-smashing rock and roll saga to New York to set the record straight about her life, her loves, and the botched operation that left her with that "angry inch."

Hedwig has inspired a generation of young theatre writers and audiences. This wickedly funny and heartbreaking show was called "the Best Rock Musical Ever" by Rolling Stone and "the most exciting rock score written for the theatre since, oh, ever," by Time Magazine.

Hedwig and The Angry Inch was originally produced by David Binder off off Broadway at Westbeth and then, under the direction of Peter Askin, ran over two years at the Jane Street Theatre beginning in February 1998. The musical won the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Off-Broadway Musical and both John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask won Obies in 2001. It won a 1998 New York Magazine Award and Entertainment Weekly's "Soundtrack of the Year" Award. Time Magazine named Hedwig the Top Musical of 1998.

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), andJohanna McKeon (associate director).

The members of "The Angry Inch," Hedwig's band, are music director Justin Craig (guitar and keyboards), Matt Duncan (bass), Tim Mislock (guitar), and Peter Yanowitz (drums).

Photo by Joan Marcus



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