In its wonderful series of terrible ideas, The CW’s Riverdale choosing to do a concert version of Hedwig and the Angry Inch for a musical episode is probably high up there. A controversial musical that is often not handled properly, I have to say, I most definitely have reservations about how Riverdale plans to approach it.
The show tells the story of Hedwig’s escape from Berlin with a U.S. soldier named Luther. Performed as a concert where Hedwig tells her life and how she got to this specific night’s show, it all comes to a head with “Sugar Daddy” and “Angry Inch,” when we learn about Luther convincing Hedwig to dress in drag and, eventually, have sex reassignment surgery so she can marry him as a woman and move to the states.
Filled with beautiful songs like “Origin of Love,” “Wig in a Box,” and “Midnight Radio,” I can understand why the company of Riverdale would want to perform the show. While a controversial show, written by Stephen Trask and John Cameron Mitchell, the music is something that stays with you years after you’ve seen it. I would know. I saw it on Broadway, and while it was not my favorite show, I find myself listening to the cast recording often.
That being said, Riverdale is the last show that should even think of touching this subject matter with a ten-foot pole. Born from a mutual appreciation between the production team of Riverdale and Hedwig’s Stephen Trask, the episode is said to go from a variety show format into all our favorite high schoolers performing songs from the show, because the principal said that Kevin Keller wasn’t allowed to perform a song from Hedwig and the Angry Inch at the variety show.
My question is … what song did Kevin Keller want to perform from this show that was so outrageous that the principal said no? And when has Riverdale ever been age-appropriate?
To me, it’s just a weird musical choice for this season, seeing as everything was pointing to American Psycho the Musical (to me, at least) and then suddenly, it’s “What if we did a staged reading of Hedwig and the Angry Inch instead?”
Honestly though, I would take Riverdale doing the Hurt Locker musical that exists within the context of the staged Hedwig and the Angry Inch instead. But alas, I guess I’ll have to wait and see what Kevin Keller has in store for me.
(via Deadline, image: Jack Rowand/The CW)
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