There is no doubt that John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask, the creators of the most imaginative musical that New York City had seen in years, had a challenge on their hands. The off-Broadway production of "Hedwig and The Angry Inch" was a huge success, having received raves from both critics and audiences. This innovative and groundbreaking piece of theatre left audiences wanting more. 'More' manifested itself into a full length CD and numerous studios wanting to bring "Hedwig" to the big screen.
John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask first crossed paths on a plane, where, having both decided not to watch the in-flight movie, they started to talk. They spoke about their mutual careers; John's in theatre and Stephen's in music and how each admired each other's worlds. After that first meeting, the two began spending time together and soon recognized a common dream. "It was the way you hear people start bands, except we were starting a play. He'd come over to my house or I'd go over to his house. Just two people with shared interests, talking about the things that they love and then starting to work on a project and really pushing and prodding each other," says Trask.
Out of their collaboration, the "internationally ignored song stylist" Hedwig was born. John wrote the monologues and starred as Hedwig, while Stephen composed the songs and lyrics and played Hedwig's bandleader, Skszp. Stephen's band 'Cheater' joined in and "Hedwig and The Angry Inch" made its New York City debut at a punk rock drag night called Squeezebox, at Don Hill's, a Soho rock club. A fan base established itself almost instantly and with it, the need for a larger venue.
When Mitchell and Trask moved the production to a West Village Off Broadway theatre, it immediately became the buzz of the town. Celebrities turned out in droves. They performed on "Late Night with David Letterman," "The Rosie O'Donnell Show," and MTV, and were featured on the cover of Time Out New York and written up in Time,Rolling Stone, and Spin. John and Stephen received requests from around the world to perform the show. To date, the musical has been mounted in Los Angeles, Seattle, Boston, Kansas City, Cologne, London, Manila, Iceland and is scheduled to open in San Francisco, Toronto, and Berlin. Local productions are starting to spring up in small cities and towns all over the States.
Upon seeing the stage show, the people from Killer Films were immediately impressed. Producer Katie Roumel recalls how "the whole company went to see the show and we were all really charged and excited about it. It was incredibly rich. So much of the dialogue and jokes has double meanings or referred back to something and John gave an amazing, compelling performance. The show was very funny but very poignant and smart at the same time." Producer Christine Vachon, who along with Pamela Koffler founded Killer Films, and has produced such critically acclaimed and pop culture inspired films as I Shot Andy Warhol, Safe and Velvet Goidmine, believed that "Hedwig And The Angry Inch" belonged on the big screen. "I saw the potential of how it could open up. I mean, what is great film? It's a great story well told. I thought there was a really incredible narrative line that could even be better served cinematically than theatrically," states Vachon.
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