“Hedwig” is one of the most beloved anti-musicals that never quite made it to the Great White Way during its initial run nearly 20 years ago. All of that changed in March when it finally made its Broadway debut with Neil Patrick Harris portraying the role of the cross-gendered punk rocker, Hedwig herself, and it’s been blowing up New York ever since.
It swept the Tony Awards big time on Sunday, taking home Best Performance by a Featured Actress for Lena Hall (Yitzhak), Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for Neil Patrick Harris (Hedwig) and Best Revival of a Musical (despite its only ever playing Off-Broadway … don’t get me started).
The cast recording was supposed to drop at the beginning of July, but due to its success at the Tony’s, the digital version has been bumped up to this Thursday. If you can’t wait, though, (and I can’t) you can check out the recording in its entirety over at Buzzfeed who are streaming it for everyone to listen to.
For the uninitiated, “Hedwig” tells the story of an East Berlin boy who underwent a botched sex change operation to marry an American GI and come to the US. After her husband leaves her, Hedwig dreams of making it big as a rockstar only to have her songs stolen by her collaborator/lover. Determined to prove she is the one who penned the songs he has become famous for, Hedwig follows him around the country, renting out venues next to the sold-out shows he is playing in order to tell the audience her story. If this sounds strange, it is, but the music is some of the best you’ll ever hear on stage, and the characters and story are mesmerizing. If you can’t make it to New York or a local performance (the show has been touring almost non-stop since it began), a really wonderful movie version was released in 2001 (you can stream or buy it relatively cheap over at Amazon), and I highly recommend you check it out.
You can stream the full cast recording here.