Interview: John Cameron Mitchell of HEDWIG AND OH,MARY! at NUMBERS NIGHTCLUB

John Cameron Mitchell is an exceptional artist with an impressive array of credits that many people may not be aware of. He's been on Broadway as a young man in BIG RIVER, SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION, and THE SECRET GARDEN. Probably his biggest claim to fame so far is that he wrote (with music input from Stephen Trask)and starred in HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH, a rock musical about a gender-blurred rock star from East Germany that won him a Tony, and he turned it into one of the best films of 2001. He also wrote and directed SHORTBUS, directed RABBIT HOLE with Nicole Kidman, and worked in films with Spike Lee and Michael Mann. He starred as Joe Exotic opposite Kate McKinnon in a Peacock series. He has the world's coolest podcast musical drama, ANTHEM: HOMUNCULUS, which stars him, Glenn Close, Cynthia Erivo, Patti LuPone, and a few friends. As well as a new podcast, CANCELLATION ISLAND, starring Holly Hunter. Now John Cameron Mitchell is set to take on the iconic role of Mary Todd Lincoln in OH, MARY! on Broadway starting in February for 12 weeks. 

But before that OH, MARY! run, John is coming to NUMBERS HOUSTON to do a special all-day event for HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH. It's gonna happen on December 28th! It's all brought to us by ARTHOUSE HOUSTON, who were the folks who fought to save the River Oaks Movie Theater. BROADWAY WORLD writer Brett Cullum got a chance to talk with John Cameron Mitchell before the event! 

Brett Cullum: So, let me ask you first off, how did you connect with Arthouse Houston? What can we expect from this event?

John Cameron Mitchell: I was just reached out to by Maureen McNamara over there. My friend Amber Martin is from Southeast Texas and used to hang out at NUMBERS. And my buddy Jonathan Caouette, from Tarnation, still lives in Houston and used to hang out there too. I haven't been to Houston a whole lot; just popped in here and there. We've DJ'd there, Amber and I have. And her family's in the area, so she's gonna join me and do a couple of songs. She recorded a country album down there in Beaumont. 

Maureen [of Arthouse Houston] came up with this idea. There will be a masterclass, where I just talk about my career and where we are today in terms of creativity. I do a kind of drunk director's commentary during HEDWIG. And then, after that, there might be a few questions, but we'll also do a few songs with a local guitarist - Amber and me.

Brett Cullum: Oh, awesome! I've heard a lot of songs featuring you and Amber on Amazon Music, so I'm excited to hear this. Going back to the genesis of Hedwig, how did you end up with musician Steven Trask? I know he was the music director and house band member at New York City Club Squeezebox, where Hedwig was born.  

John Cameron Mitchell: Well, we met on an airplane. I was looking for someone who was a rock composer who wasn't necessarily in the theater world, and he wasn't. He certainly had worked on dramatic things, like scores for a short film, but he was very eclectic. I went to see his band at CBGB's. He went to see me perform at Lincoln Center in a show called 'Hello Again.' And I was already thinking about a piece that explored the origin of love, a myth from Plato about us seeking our other half, and that was the center of the story.

We were hanging out at the Squeezebox Club, which was our favorite place. My boyfriend was in his band playing bass. And he said, I can get you a gig, but you have to do the female character, because it's a drag club, and I had never really done drag before, I was kind of scared of it being a gay boy, you know, scared of my femininity, then I realized it was a great honor to have energies that we might think of as male or female within us. I don't like the term non-binary. It's an imperfect one, because it's a negative. I don't like being defined by what I'm not. But I like terms like androgynous. It's like, these are energies of all kinds that are within us. We're not a not, we're a something, and we're a lot of things. So, Hedwig is the same. We might think of them as non-binary today, forced into an operation to escape East Germany, to marry a GI. And then abandoned, as a woman that he didn't really want to be. Watching the wall come down, and then where do we go from here? So, it's very much a story of survival, of recovering from trauma, of finding yourself. Letting go of grudges, letting go of resentment. The character is quite resentful. And then starts to forgive, starts to let go.

Brett Cullum: It was a great journey, but do you feel like there's a difference between the film versus the stage show? I know I've seen both incarnations, but what do you feel? 

John Cameron Mitchell: Well, obviously, in the play, it's a one-person show, and they do pretty much all the characters, telling the story through their voices. There's just the band and the backup singer, Yitzhak, as the only other characters. And in the film, all the people who are portrayed in the play, we see them. Tommy, Hedwig's mom, and dad, Luther, are all the people who are only intimated as part of the multitude that is within Hedwig. So, the film is an opportunity to open it up, to see the situations that are only described. And Tommy singing to Hedwig and Hedwig singing to Tommy, whereas in the play, they're one and the same. Which metaphorically works when Hedwig becomes Tommy at the end, and then we're not sure who is who. Ambiguity.

Brett Cullum: Do you have anybody that's your favorite Hedwig, other than you?

John Cameron Mitchell: There are a lot of people I really like. I mean, Darren Criss was great, and this guy in Berlin, named Sven Roazke, was great. Matt McGrath was probably my favorite other Hedwig.

Brett Cullum: You know, I have to admit something to you. I've seen Hedwig a lot, and I have to say that my favorite ones are usually the ones that are performed in small theaters or nightclubs, where the performers are doing it because they love it. It speaks to them, and I'm just like, “Wow!” Give me a Hedwig that is universally ignored any day!   

Well, obviously, you are shifting gears right after this Hedwig thing, you're going to OH, MARY! So… how the heck did you get to be a replacement person at OH, MARY!?  

John Cameron Mitchell: Well, it's not that much of a leap. Cole [Escola] is an old friend, and Cole comes from a tradition of drag theater that stretches back to the ‘60s, and John Vaccaro, Charles Ludlam, and Charles Bush. They are all the people who inspired me for Hedwig. We're all of the same world, you know, in downtown… Queerish, queer-facing entertainment and art. People like Bridget Everett and Cole Escola, Justin Vivian Bond, Anohni, the Scissor Sisters, we all come from the same fountain. 

Brett Cullum: Stepping into somebody's play that you didn't write. Hedwig was your own invention, and this is Cole. That's their play. So, does it have a different energy when you come in?

John Cameron Mitchell: Well, I mean, in this case, it does borrow from the ancient traditions, as I said, of drag theater, and part of that ancient tradition is improvisation and ad-libbing, and that's drag, you know? The people who have played it since Cole, like Jinx Monsoon, for example, have very much made it their own, to the point I couldn't quite remember what other people did, because they're really encouraged to make it their own, and they're quite different.

And, maybe that is sort of the way HELLO DOLLY was in the 60s. You know, Pearl Bailey would follow Carol Channing, and there's nothing similar about them. So to me, that is part of the Commedia del Arte kind of tradition of this kind of theater, and the same as Hedwig.

Brett Cullum: Exactly. I've seen so many different iterations of Hedwig, it's kind of neat. Everybody brings something different. So, who are your co-stars for O'Mary?

John Cameron Mitchell: They didn't tell me, but someone else today. Yes. Simu Liu from the Shang-Chi movie is taking over as Mary's acting teacher! And apparently, he's a hilarious guy, and he comes from Canada, and he's done a lot of theater. So, I'm very much looking forward to that.

Brett Cullum: Mary Todd Lincoln and Hedwig. Do they have anything in common?

John Cameron Mitchell: Well, I think they both feel like second bananas to Lincoln and or Tommy Gnosis, so there is definitely this kind of resentment of not really getting their due. Which is certainly Mary and Hedwig. Hedwig's songs are stolen, not Mary's, but she's not allowed to perform, she's not allowed to be herself. So, yeah, there is a lot in common.

Brett Cullum: Thank you so much for taking this time with me. I know you've got to go! You are in a million things at once! I will see you at NUMBERS on December 28th, thanks to Arthouse Houston. I love them, love Maureen McNamara, and I'm so glad they're bringing you into town. It's just a dream to finally get to see you.

Houston Awards - Live Stats

Best Musical - Top 3

1. ROCK OF AGES (Standing Ovation Theatre)

7.2% of votes

2. BRIGHT STAR (Spark Theater)

6.9% of votes

3. THE WIZARD OF OZ (A. D. Players at the George Theater)

5.5% of votes

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