A transexual punk rock girl from East Berlin tours the US with her rock band as she tells her life story and follows the ex-boyfriend/bandmate who stole her songs.
Hedwig, born a boy named Hansel in East Berlin, fell in love with an American G.I. and underwent a sex-change operation in order to marry him and flee to the West. Unfortunately, nothing worked out quite as it was supposed to - years later, Hedwig is leading her rock band on a tour of the U.S., telling her life story through a series of concerts at Bilgewater Inn seafood restaurants. Her tour dates coincide with those of arena-rock star Tommy Gnosis, a wide-eyed boy who once loved Hedwig... but then left with all her songs.
Written by Anonymous
Unlike most musical films the films musical segments are only partly filmed on playback. John Cameron Mitchell didn't want to have to lip-sync the lines in the music so the band playing was recorded in studio, played back on set and sang live. His vocals were recorded and then mixed later on with the recording of the band, making it sound like they too were performing live. However, on the soundtrack, the vocals were mixed to sound as if they were recorded in a studio as opposed to on set.
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Goofs
Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers):
On the poster advertising for auditions for a production of
Rent, the character of Collins is described as 'Young, Edgy, Black, Aspiring Musician.' However, Collins is actually a philosophy professor. The 'aspiring musician' of Rent is Roger.
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Quotes
Hedwig:
It's my first day as a woman, already it's that time of the month. See more »