www.ExpressGayNews.com • January 13, 2003 Q1 CYMK Q_COVERstory Hedwig, South Beach and The Angry Inch Actor Gets a Second Chance with Plum Part By Mary Damiano was, on this bad children’s theater tour, Les Arts & Entertainment Editor Miz is on Broadway, Cats hadn’t closed yet, When people ask if there are similarities and I see Hedwig. I thought then that this between actor Dean Swann and his role as could be the future of musical theater. I was Hedwig, the East German heroine with a trained in musical theater, but I was raised on botched sex-change operation, Swann has a rock and roll. Hedwig is rock and roll.” simple answer: “I was born in America, and I In a way, Hedwig and The Angry Inch have a penis.” But, like Hedwig, he does know was Swann’s salvation. He was not pleased what it’s like to follow a dream. with the turns his acting career had taken. Swann, who stars in Hedwig and The “Acting is such a crap shoot. I had Angry Inch, which opens at Level in South basically given up,” Swann says. “I was Beach Jan. 14, is fresh from a successful run playing Brad in Rocky Horror at a dinner as Hedwig on Florida’s west coast. The late theatre—a very successful production, but producer Phillip Oesterman saw Swann’s a dinner theater nevertheless.” performance in the show and was Then, everything changed. A producer instrumental in bringing it to South Florida, who wanted to stage Hedwig called him and complete with Swann’s costar, Lori Nuti, who cast him in the lead role. plays Yitzak. “I knew of his reputation on Broadway,” Swann says of Oesterman. “He A Hit with All Ages came to see the show and worked on bringing Naples, Florida, is known for its older it to Miami, while I had no idea that was population of retirees, so it seems an unlikely happening. He had the faith in me, but never place for a show such as Hedwig and The saw me out of make-up.” Angry Inch. What started out as a two-week Hedwig and The Angry Inch began on run at a bar turned into a successful off-Broadway and quickly became a smash, engagement at a steak house, which winning awards and attaining a cult status. ironically, is where one of Hedwig’s gigs takes It was made into a film starring its creator place in the film. The show opened in June of and original Hedwig, John Cameron Mitchell, 2002 and continued through Thanksgiving. and was released in 2001. Audiences who The fans of the show have surprised come to see the production at Level will see Swann. “I’m shocked at the diversity of the a performance by Hedwig and her band, The people who come to the show,” he says. “I’m Angry Inch. Interlaced with the musical onstage talking about a blowjob, and there’s performances, Hedwig talks about her life, a 14 year-old girl in the front row wearing a and how she got to where she is. homemade Hedwig number one fan shirt, Swann likens Hedwig and The Angry with a teddy bear she’d made to look like Inch to VH1 Storytellers, because like the Hedwig. On the one hand, I’m thinking, performers on that show, Hedwig is explain this to your child, but as a performer, performing her songs with her band and it’s a beautiful thing.” stops to tell the audience how the song was Then there was the 70-year-old man who written, or what in her life influenced her initially saw Hedwig because his wife made songs. “I saw Stevie Nicks on Storytellers him, but kept returning to see the show and and I thought, ‘Lord, this is like Hedwig,’” bringing friends. The man made a point of he says. waiting for Swann after the show to tell him how much he and his friends loved the show. “Wearing a corset, it’s hard to breathe. I had amazing rock and roll,” he says. Wide-eyed in Paradise The only negative experience Swann has to learn how to sing correctly and breathe in Although Swann won’t say how old he This is Swann’s first trip to South Beach. had in conjunction with playing Hedwig was the corset.” is, the two icons he uses to describe His first night was about finding a place to when a fan got too familiar, surprising Swann All the accouterments of Hedwig help Hedwig—a cross between Stevie Nicks and buy organic peanut butter and soy milk. one night in his apartment after a Swann both to get into the role of Hedwig, Gene Simmons—should give a clue. That During our interview the next day, Swann is performance so she could get a photo. but also to leave her behind. “I put her on, means that he’s spent a lot of years in show being driven through and suddenly I’m Hedwig. She’s business, and had a lot of doubts about his South Beach, Miami and there, and she’s this energy,” he chosen career—until Hedwig came along. the Design District on the says. “I’m not Hedwig, and I “This time last year, I was looking for a way to lunch. Every so understand that. Hedwig exists for day job, because I was going to get out of often, he oohs and ahs those two hours onstage, and then theater,” Swann says. “Then I got the phone over the beauty of the I take her off, and I’m just me.” call about Hedwig, and here I am in South weather and of his Swann likes the challenge the Beach. I’m lucky that I found a part that I can surroundings. His banter is role presents because in playing excel at instead of being in the chorus. It’s laced with enthusiasm—he Hedwig, he also portrays other all luck.” is thrilled to be in South characters onstage, sometimes at Hedwig and The Angry Inch runs Jan. Beach and thrilled to be the same time. “It’s a tremendous 14 through Feb. 22 at Level, 1235 playing Hedwig, a role that acting challenge, because you get Washington Ave. in South Beach. Showtimes three years ago he couldn’t to tell this story, and sing this are Tuesday through Saturday at 8pm. imagine being lucky enough to play. So, how did a nice young man from the Midwest end up playing a nice young man from East Germany with a botched sex change operation? Swann has been a professional actor Swann’s roommate managed to since he was 14. After college, he went to get her to leave before the New York to study theater. He paid his dues situation escalated. “That made in regional theaters, summer stock and dinner me a little wary about Hedwig, but theater, but wasn’t exactly burning up Hedwig fans are very cool Broadway. people,” he says. Swann still remembers the night he had his first encounter with Hedwig. He was on “I put on some “It’s a tremendous acting a national children’s theater tour. “It was a makeup...” Monday night, May of 1999, the night of the Swann had never done drag challenge because you get Melrose Place season finale,” he says. He when he was cast as Hedwig. went to a theater in New York to see a show “Becoming a woman every to tell this story, and sing this called Hedwig and The Angry Inch. He had night—the wig, the corset, the amazing rock and roll.” no idea what he was in for. “I was blown makeup, eyelashes—it’s a away by the end of it,” he says. “There I challenge,” Swann says. —Dean Swann Q2 • www.ExpressGayNews.com • January 13, 2003 CYMK Q_CULTURALcalendar Monday, January 13: Estate Planning for 305.496.7533. Unmarried Couples – This workshop provides Through February 2: Romeo and unmarried couples with valuable estate and financial Bernadette - In this musical By Mark Saltzman, planning information. Qualifying attendees receive Shakespeare’s Romeo is reborn from an Elizabethan a complimentary Basic Estate Planning Analysis. stupor and stumbles upon his true love, Juliet. Her 6:30 – 8pm at Morgan Stanley in the Conference real name, however is Bernadette and she’s the Room, 2400 E. Commercial Boulevard, Suite #1200. beloved daughter of a Brooklyn mob boss. Coconut All are welcome, reservations requested. Please call Grove Playhouse Main Stage, 3500 Main Highway, Stephanie Small: 954.267.5672. Coconut Grove. 305.442.2662. Tuesday, January 14: GayLauderdale Through February 9: Addicted: A Comedy Lunch – Today’s featured speaker is Broward of Substance – This one-man-show is at the Coconut County Commissioner Lori Nance Parish. Tickets Grove Playhouse, 3500 Main Highway, Miami. For are $21, advance purchase only. 11am at the information and tickets call 305.442.4000 or Embassy Suites Hotel, 1100 SE 17th Street 305.358.5885. Causeway. For information call 954.93805226 or Through February 9: Park Your Car in visit www.gaylauderdale.com/lunch. Harvard Yard - Caldwell Theatre Company, 7873 Wednesday & Friday, January 15 & 17: N. Federal Highway, Boca Raton. For information Public Theatre Auditions - Auditions for Edward on this comedy call 561.930.6400; for tickets call Albee’s Pulitzer-Prize winning Three Tall Women, 561.241.7432. Directed by Ellen Davis. Wednesday 6 - 8pm and Through February 16: Phantom - The Friday 5 - 7pm at Fort Lauderdale Children’s Theatre, classic story of the mysterious figure who haunts 640 N.