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| Caleb Reese and Alyssa Chiarello photo by Reg Madison Photography |
Click here for more information on this production that runs through November 12th.
"Part rock musical, part cabaret show, Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a punk rock musical about a transgender singer-songwriter from Berlin who ends up performing in low-rent clubs in the U.S. after a botched sex change operation. It's as far from a traditional Rodgers and Hammerstein musical as you can get but also has endearing characters and a huge heart at its center and thus is incredibly moving and touching. ...Director Pasha Yamotahari has done an exceptional job in ensuring his cast and band achieve the raw, rough and gritty nature of the characters but also create unique and compelling individuals we can identify with...With a powerful voice and solid stage presence, Caleb Reese is excellent as Hedwig. Reese delivers a multi-layered performance with the wide range of emotion that Hedwig endures yet underneath her self-absorbed and somewhat nasty exterior we never lose site of the humility and search for love and acceptance that is always present. ...As Hedwig's current partner Yitzhak, Alyssa Chiarello's continually downcast eyes and sullen demeanor perfectly evoke the sad man who cherishes and idolizes Hedwig even though Hedwig constantly treats him with contempt. When Chiarello gets to let lose vocally, her piercing notes stun. ...Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a beautiful story of a person who struggles to come to terms with their identity and how, until a person can accept themselves, they can't truly find love. It's also about the persistence and constant pursuit of one's dreams. The musical is laugh out loud funny but also a very personal story about love and acceptance and the journey to find the meaning of love that anyone can relate to. Phoenix Theatre and A/C Theatre Company have created an energetic, rough, crowd-pleasing and enthusiastic production.. " -Gil Benbrook, Talkin' Broadway (click here to read the complete review)
"...Hedwig and the Angry Inch, a production born of a collaboration between Phoenix Theatre and A/C Theatre Company...is more a rock ‘n roll performance than what some might consider theatre....the Pasha Yamotahari directed and musically staged show...is a full night on the stage at a bar where the story is related by the singer ...Hedwig Robinson (Caleb Reese)... Born Hansel Schmidt, and later given the name Hedwig from his mother after a sex change operation that went horribly wrong, the singer now tours the country with her band and her Jewish drag queen husband, Yitzhak (Alyssa Chiarello). ..But while there are several laughs, there develops sadness, heartaches, and stories of loss that are truly painful, all delivered by Caleb Reese who is unrelentingly engaging from beginning to end....But there’s power, too, behind Alyssa Chiarello’s vocals and performance as the much abused husband Yitzhak...." -David Appleford, Valley Screen and Stage (click here to read the complete review)
"“Hedwig and the Angry Inch,”...outré fare for Phoenix Theatre... a co-production with the upstart A/C Theatre Company, isn’t just good, it’s stellar. Caleb Reese..holds court as Hedwig, a blond-wigged glam-rock chanteuse with a chip on her shoulder the size of her native East Germany....She is divided, mysterious, with no identity politics except her own. This makes the casting of Reese, who brings a distinctly masculine charisma to the stage, an intriguing change of pace from other productions. And man, does he deliver...he shows tremendous range, both vocally and emotionally, and yanks the audience out of their own realities and into Hedwig’s heartbreaking one....director Pasha Yamotahari and his team have added some regional punchlines that are actually funny..The onstage band...brings energy worthy of the score... Alyssa Chiarello...plays Hedwig’s sullen husband ...She threatens to upstage the star — and that’s part of the story too...She’s sheer perfection in another cross-dressing role that expands on “Hedwig’s” themes. Theatergoers do need to know what they’re getting into here. There were a few walkouts...Which is too bad for them. Because they missed a cathartic climax that just might have rocked their world. " - Kerry Lengel, Arizona Republic (click here to read the complete review)
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