Hedwig and the Angry Inch

[heresluck]

You guys, I saw Darren Criss in Hedwig and the Angry Inch on Wednesday night. Short version: the show was fantastic and Darren was brilliant -- mesmerizing, even, as at least one reviewer has said.

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[flaming_muse]

Darren was -- wow. Just wow. He completely disappeared into the role of Hedwig; even his voice sounded different than it does on his own songs or on Glee (which aren't that different from each other; he was clearly making an effort here, though it didn't sound like an effort). Watching him shift between Hedwig and Tommy was especially astonishing: not just accent but pitch, posture, gestures, facial expressions... I mean, I've seen the videos where he shifts from Darren to Blaine and back, so it's not like I didn't know he could do this kind of thing, but this was on another level altogether, and of course there's something different and wonderful about seeing it live.

YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES

I talked about this with him a tiny bit backstage, because gosh, it was so impressive. He doesn't sound like Darren. He doesn't MOVE like Darren, and each character - played by the same person in the same makeup and costume - moved differently and spoke/sang differently. I was captivated by it. He has such a command of his body and seems happy to give it over to being someone else.

one of the most astonishing and appealing things about Darren as a live performer, which I knew from having seen him in concert, is that he has the magical and somewhat disconcerting ability to make pretty much every person in an entire roomful of people feel like he is connecting very specifically and specially with them, and that quality is magnified to an alarming degree when you're standing less than six feet away from him. It is a little overwhelming, and I mean that in the best possible way.

Yes yes yes a thousand times yes to that, too. He's just... special. There's something special about him, something that seems to come naturally to him, and the way he gives attention to people is a gift. I'm so glad you got to thank him and he got to hear you. :)

(and yes, the security is definitely tired of the scrum at stage door, but boy do they seem to love him; they were very friendly in person behind the scenes, and I'm glad to hear that they took some pleasure in watching him work the crowd)

[heresluck]

He doesn't sound like Darren. He doesn't MOVE like Darren, and each character - played by the same person in the same makeup and costume - moved differently and spoke/sang differently.

Exactly! (That Luther voice was whoa. Where is that even coming from in Darren's tiny little tenor-voiced self?) The differences between Darren and Blaine are highlighted by the hair and costuming, though of course as fans we've seen the bts stuff where Darren's being Darren while still made up as Blaine, which gives me cognitive dissonance every time. Seeing Darren's Hedwig be teenaged Tommy while still in gold lamé boots and a wig the size of Montana was beyond remarkable.

There's something special about him, something that seems to come naturally to him, and the way he gives attention to people is a gift.

Absolutely. I said after the Listen Up tour that I'd never seen anybody successfully flirt with 900 people at the same time before, and this was like that amped up even further, both on stage and at the stage door. I am tremendously grateful to have experienced it at close range, even just for a few seconds. :)