On Valentine's day, 1998, Hedwig and the Angry Inch opened to rave reviews, and the phenomenon that is Hedwig was born. This fierce rock musical, with its central metaphor inspired by Plato's Symposium, tells the story of Hedwig Schmidt, a "fourth wall-smashing, German rock & roll goddess who also happens to be the victim of a gruesomely botched sex-change operation" (Time Out). This unique and outrageous story, dazzlingly recounted by Hedwig (n Hansel) in the form of a sleazy lounge act and backed by the rocking band "The Angry Inch," begins in the former East Berlin when Hansel meets Luther, an American GI who promises to take the young man back to the States on the condition that he change his sex and become Hedwig. This spectacular tale of abject love has been "knocking the socks off New York theater-goers with a much-needed jolt of twisted bathos and wigged-out histrionics" (The Advocate).

"Hedwig brings theater alive with the pounding sounds of rock and the funny-sad voicing of a painful past... [It's] the kind of "Rocky Horror Picture Show"-- style event that may inspire a rabid cult following."--The New York Times

"In the whole long, sorry history of rock musicals, Hedwig and the Angry Inch is the first one that truly rocks."--Rolling Stone

Winner of the Obie Award and the Outer Critics Circle award for Outstanding Off-Broadway Musical