The Pantages keep bring theatre fans back with a great selection of shows! I think any Broadway musical fan is salivating at the opportunity to see Tony Award Winner Lena Hall reprise her role as ‘Yitzhak’ in Hedwig and the Angry Itch. She’s joining the Broadway tour with two shows one for ONE WEEK ONLY in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Hall’s performance will mark the first time in Hedwig’s history that the same person will play both Hedwig and Yitzhak.
The National Tour will make it’s LA premiere at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre for four weeks from November 1 – 27, 2016. Hall will appear as Hedwig in the following performances in Los Angeles: Sunday, November 6 at 6:30 pm, Sunday, November 13 at 6:30 pm, Sunday, November 20 at 6:30 pm, and Friday, November 25 at 8:00 pm.
Lena Hall is reprising the role that earned her a Tony Award and the performance will excite Broadway fans who were unable to see the show in NYC. The 2014 Tony Award-winning Best Musical Revival will also include Darren Criss on the tour. The members of Hedwig’s band “The Angry Inch” — aka “Tits of Clay” – will be music director Justin Craig (guitar and keyboards), Matt Duncan (bass), Tim Mislock (guitar), and Peter Yanowitz (drums), all of whom originated their roles on Broadway.
Brilliantly innovative, heartbreaking, and wickedly funny, HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH is the landmark musical by John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask that is “groundbreaking and undoubtedly ahead of its time” (Entertainment Weekly). This genre-bending, fourth-wall-smashing musical sensation, with a pulsing score and electrifying performances, tells the story of one of the most unique characters to ever hit the stage. “Internationally ignored song stylist” Hedwig Robinson (Darren Criss) is out to set the record straight about her life, her loves, and the botched operation that left her with that “angry inch.”
Directed by Tony Award-winner Michael Mayer (Spring Awakening) and winner of four 2014 Tony Awards, HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH played to record-breaking sell-out crowds on Broadway and promises to take North America by storm with what Time Magazine proclaims is “the most exciting rock score written for the theatre since, oh, ever!
David Binder, who first produced HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH in 1997, produced the musical on Broadway with Jayne Baron Sherman, Barbara Whitman, Latitude Link, Patrick Catullo, Raise The Roof, Paula Marie Black, Colin Callender, Ruth Hendel, Sharon Karmazin, Martian Entertainment, Stacey Mindich, Eric Schnall, and The Shubert Organization. 101 Productions, Ltd were the executive producers. The record-breaking production ran for over 500 performances at the Belasco Theatre.
The Chicago Tribune declares “LENA HALL IS THE EMOTIONAL ACE IN THE HOLE.”
Hall, thrilled at the opportunity to explore and express this double role, explains, “I’m thrilled to be returning to HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH performing not one, but two iconic roles in Los Angeles and my hometown of San Francisco. I have never been one to shy away from a challenge and playing Hedwig has always been a dream of mine. To be able to play both Yitzhak and Hedwig in the same day presents one of the biggest challenges I have seen to date and I’m so excited! Not only will I get to share the stage with my fellow San Francisco native and friend Darren Criss; but I will also get a chance to begin my own journey as the glam rock heroine Hedwig. To tell her story in my hometown and in Los Angeles is the greatest homecoming I can think of, and I am looking forward to sharing this journey with my friends, family and Hedheads.”
I know that I’m very excited to see a Tony Award winner and am thankful that the Pantages has the clout to bring in such stellar shows! In a groundbreaking twist, Lena Hall will also play the role of Hedwig for one performance a week in San Francisco and Los Angeles. It is a rare
occasion for a Tony Award winner to go on national tour, and historic for the same person to play both Hedwig and Yitzhak. Book writer John Cameron Mitchell enthused, “Oh my Goddess, Lena Hall is the only talent I know who could play a brilliant Yitzhak and Hedwig in the same production. Talk about finding your other half. It’s Hedwig history in the making.”
About the casting of Hall, composer and lyricist Stephen Trask exclaimed, “I love Lena so much. I’ve traveled and performed with her a lot in the last couple years. She’s a kindred spirit and a brilliant, one-of-a-kind, came-out-of-the-sky kind of performer. Everyone who has the chance to see her as Yitzhak should consider themselves really, really lucky.”
Tony Winner and Grammy nominee Lena Hall just completed touring the US and Canada with Josh Groban on the Stages tour and ended her critically acclaimed run starring as Yitzhak in the hit Broadway revival of Hedwig and the Angry Inch for which she won the 2014 Tony Award for Featured Actress in a Musical. Prior to Hedwig, she starred as Nicola in the Tony Award winning musical Kinky Boots. Lena sold out her solo shows at the legendary Café Carlyle, Feinsteins / 54 Below and Feinsteins San Francisco and her live album “Sin & Salvation: Live At the Carlyle” can be found on iTunes, CD Baby, Amazon, et al. Previous Broadway and Off-Broadway roles include starring in the award-winning Toxic Avenger at New World Stages, Tarzan (Original Cast), Dracula (Original Cast), 42nd Street (Anytime Annie), Cats (Demeter), Beg Bugs (NYMF) and Green Eyes (Fringe). TV and film roles include guest roles on HBO’s “Girls,” “Good Girls Revolt” (Amazon Prime), and “My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.” Born and raised in San Francisco’s Haight Ashbury, Lena Hall traveled the world as a young performer, receiving her first big break singing for Pope John Paul II at Candlestick Stadium for over 50,000 people at the age of 7. As a teenager Hall was a member of the Young People’s Teen Musical Theatre Company in San Francisco and eventually joined the national tour of Cats. Lena currently resides in New York City.
You will only be able to see the show with part of a season package for the Hollywood Pantages 2016 – 2017 season. Individual tickets will go on sale to the general public at a later unannounced date. If you would like to purchase a season pass you can learn about the various shows and tickets prices please visit www.HollywoodPantages.com/SeasonPackages or call 866-755-2929 (Mon-Fri; 9:30am – 5:30pm).
HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH was originally produced 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 performance schedule for HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH is Tuesday through Friday at 8pm, Saturday at 2pm & 8pm and Sunday at 1pm & 6:30pm. Opening Night is Wednesday, November 2, 2016 at 8pm. There are added 2pm weekday matinees on Wednesday, November 23rd and Friday, November 25th. There are no performances on Thursday, November 24th and there is no evening performance on Sunday, November 27th. Darren Criss will NOT appear as “Hedwig” in the following performances: Sunday, November 6th at 6:30pm; Sunday, November 13th at 6:30pm; Sunday, November 20th at 6:30pm & Friday, November 25th at 8:00pm.
HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH may be inappropriate for children 12 and under. The production is recommended for mature audiences — for strong language and adult themes. Children under the age of 5 are not permitted in the theatre.
The GRAMMY® nominated Original Broadway Cast Album for HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH is available from Atlantic Records.
For tickets or more information about the Los Angeles engagement of HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH, please visit the official website for Hollywood Pantages Theatre:www.HollywoodPantages.com/Hedwig.
Official show site: www.HedwigTour.com
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Recommended for mature audiences — for strong language and adult themes. Children under 5 will not be admitted to the theatre.
All patrons must have a ticket, regardless of age.
Tickets: Currently Only Available with purchase of 2016-2017 Season Package
Online: HollywoodPantages.com/SeasonPackages
Phone: 866-755-2929 (Mon-Fri; 9:30am – 5:30pm)
Description: Brilliantly innovative, heartbreaking, and wickedly funny, HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH is the landmark American musical by John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask that is “groundbreaking and undoubtedly ahead of its time” (Entertainment Weekly). This genre-bending, fourth-wall-smashing musical sensation, with a pulsing score and electrifying performances, tells the story of one of the most unique characters to ever hit the stage.
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