A team of producers associated with the forthcoming Entertainment Industry Expo plan to mount a limited off-Broadway engagement of the 1998 hit musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch at the Zipper Theatre in October, according to event founders Brian Blattman and Zach Lezberg. An open casting call for the production will take place during the Expo on June 3. No director or other creative team members have been set.
"We've been talking to [Hedwig author and original star] John Cameron Mitchell, and he has given us his support," Blattman told Broadway.com, adding that the show will be mounted in October on "dates to be determined." Using the Expo for casting, he added, "is a way for us to see the talent out there, including band members, who desperately want to be in this show." Lezberg added that casting will be open to both Equity and non-Equity performers, in an attempt to discover new talent.
With a book by Mitchell and score by Stephen Trask, Hedwig and the Angry Inch tells the story of a transsexual punk rock singer from East Berlin who shares her life story with the audience while touring America with her band, the Angry Inch. Mitchell played the title role followed by Kevin Cahoon, Michael Cerveris, Matt McGrath and Ally Sheedy, with Miriam Shor co-starring as Yitzak. The musical opened at the Jane Street Theatre on Valentine's Day 1998 and played 857 performances, closing on April 9, 2000. It won the 1998 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Broadway Musical, and Mitchell and Trask received Obies. Mitchell wrote and directed a film version of Hedwig released in 2001.
