I'm Not Talking About Harry Potter

Of course I love Harry Potter, but today I want to talk about a different Hedwig.

This past week I saw Hedwig and the Angry Inch on Broadway, starring Darren Criss. The plot of Hedwig is a bit hard to explain, especially when explaining it to your religious grandmother, like I had to recently.

So, quick plot summary-
Hedwig is originally Hansel, a young boy living in Cold War Germany. Hansel meets Luther, a general, who 'falls in love' with Hansel, and wants to bring him to America, but it can only happen if Hansel becomes a woman. So Hansel becomes Hedwig, but the sec change surgery gets botched- hence the Angry Inch. Anyway, Hedwig moves to the US, becomes a rock star, falls in love, etc. It's an interesting story.

So did I mention Darren Criss? I was skeptical about seeing Hedwig, because I knew it was a rock musical, and that's not exactly my genre. But like, it's Darren Criss.

For those of you who love Darren, you know why you love Darren. He's got this sweet, soulful voice that makes you melt when you hear it. You just love him right away.

But this isn't the Darren you get in Hedwig. He's got an accent, So it doesn't even sound like Darren. And he's this sassy, feminine, rocker. It's not the Darren not the fangirls love. He's screaming and belting rock songs. You don't get to hear that charming Darren voice.

But you know what? I didn't miss it. Well I mean, I did. But I was okay with not having it. Darren made me love rock and roll, that's how awesome it was. I was waiting and waiting for traditional Darren, and I'm glad I didn't get it because I got to see this whole world of other things Darren can do. And what he did with the role was amazing. He was so sassy and hilarious. It made me love him because he's a good actor, not because he's Darren.

I knew that Darren had been wanting this role for a long time. That it was his dream role. I felt like a part of the show, knowing how much he loved this role and how badly he wanted to play it. And you could see it in his character. You could tell how happy he was. And it made the show that much more enjoyable.

Seriously, it's so funny. And it's unlike any other show because Hedwig interacts with audience the whole time. There's this great line about breaking the 5th wall that makes you die. I also really love how Hedwig makes fun of all the other broadway shows out right now.

IE: (not an offical script)

Hedwig: Clean up this stage! You wanna see a mess on a stage? Go see Finding Neverland! Haha. Oh and did you hear about the Act of God? Yeah, it's that Mamma Mia is finally leaving!

I mean, that Finding Neverland line was a shot to the heart, but it still killed me.

So what more can I say? Darren was amazing, and this show is great. There's have been some amazing people in this role. NPH, Andrew Rannels, soon to be Taye Diggs. It's worth a visit. I haven't seen the movie, but you could totally check it out. I'm sure it's great.

It's a great story too. Really. I could go on about it, but I wanted this post to be for Darren and his amazingness.