‘Hedwig and the Angry Inch’ at Pittsburgh Musical Theater; Duquesne U. Has ‘Dames At Sea’ (Sat., 11/17/18)

1) There are works of theater that defy synopsis, and since we have only a paragraph, here are the basics. Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a rock musical. It’s about a young German, Hansel, who had a sex change to become Hedwig, except the surgery went wrong and left an “angry inch,” into the details of which we will not go. At any rate—skipping, for now, everything about the Berlin Wall and the three sexes of humankind, and the first husband who ran off in Kansas—Hedwig is an aspiring rock star. Hedwig’s second husband, the former drag queen Yitzhak, tries to be supportive even while Hedwig is being surpassed on the quest for stardom by Tommy Gnosis, who (in a cruel irony) happens to be Hedwig’s protégé—and there you have it. Hedwig and the Angry Inch began as an off-Broadway hit in 1998. The Tony-winning 2014 Broadway revival had Neil Patrick Harris (above) in the title role. Pittsburgh Musical Theater performs Hedwig and the Angry Inch as part of its After Hours Series, meaning children stay home, please. 10 p.m. Ends today. Gargaro Theater, 327 S. Main St., West End. (MV)

2) DAMES AT SEA (musical) by George Haimsohn, Robin Miller, and Jim Wise. Dames at Sea is a parody of big, glitzy Broadway musicals of the 1930s, and since its humble off-off-Broadway premiere as a low-budget cabaret musical, it has had big, glitzy productions itself. But the spoofin’ and hoofin’ remain, as the show spoofs the absurdly starry-eyed optimism of Depression-era entertainment, and there’s plenty of hoofing to catchy tunes. Duquesne U’s Red Masquers perform Dames at Sea in the Genesius Theater on campus. 8 p.m. Last day. Seitz St. at Locust St., Uptown. (MV)

Share on Social Media