Scotland’s Mogwai Plays Along to ‘Atomic’; ‘Hedwig and the Angry Inch’ Ends Today (Wed., 1/23/17)

1) Mogwai, a post-rock band from Glasgow, Scotland, will perform the soundtrack to Atomic: Living in Dread and Promise alongside a screening of the movie at Carnegie of Homestead Music Hall. Atomic, directed by Mark Cousins, documents the nuclear age exactly how its subtitle intimates it will, exploring topics such as the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (dread) alongside X-rays and MRIs (promise). The film closed the 2016 Edinburgh International Festival and was later broadcast on the BBC. Mogwai, who have been recording and performing experimental, guitar-based music since 1995, created the soundtrack. This isn’t the first time the quartet has worked on films. In addition to their eight studio albums, they also provided the soundtrack to Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait, a documentary about French soccer player Zinedine Zidane, and they collaborated with composer Clint Mansell on the soundtrack to the 2006 cult film The Fountain. 8 p.m. 510 E. 10th Ave., Munhall. (CM)

2) There are works of theater that defy synopsis, and since we only have a paragraph, let’s start with the basics. Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a rock musical. It’s about a German guy, Hansel, who had a sex change to become Hedwig, except the surgery was done wrong and left an “angry inch,” into the details of which we will not go. But anyway—skipping, for now, all the stuff 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 (oh, the cruelty of it) happens to be Hedwig’s protégé … and hey, it’s time to wrap up. Hedwig and the Angry Inch began as an off-Broadway hit in 1998. The Tony-winning 2014 Broadway revival had Neil Patrick Harris (below) in the title role. Now the touring company visits Pittsburgh with Euan Morton, who played Boy George in Taboo, as Hedwig. 7:30 p.m. Ends today. Benedum Center, 237 7^th St., Cultural District. (MV)

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