The Desert Rose Playhouse, founded by Paul Taylor and Jim Strait, served for eight years as the Valley’s only LGBTQ+ theatre company. When Taylor and Strait answered the siren call of the Hawaiian Islands, the producing torch was passed to talented new and dedicated producer/actor Robbie Wayne.
Under Wayne’s auspicious stewardship, the production company has grown from a small venue of about 70 patrons to a glittering new theatre of some 120 seats, along with a technical team capable of mounting comedies, dramas, musicals; you name it, they will produce it.
Savvy Desert Rose Playhouse artistic director Robbie Wayne was fortunate to nab award winning actor/director Chuck Yates (co-founder of the Equity theatre company Coyote StageWorks ) to helm this iconic musical favorite of the gay community.
Yates is an award winning actor/director and a writer for the TV shows “Caroline in the City” and “Dharma & Greg”. His directorial touches for this high energy production could easily light the entire Coachella Valley. It takes real talent and experience to gather all of the disparate components necessary for a successful musical production. It’s truly a collaborative effort in concert with the director’s choices to make musicals of this caliber soar.
The story, in short, is an oft told tale of the struggle of Hedwig, a gay young man seeking answers and a place where he can not only become his own person making his own choices in life, but shed those in his life who has always told him what do and say. His rebellion speaks to the youth of the world…but only in the music and the lyrics composed and written by Stephen Trask. The libretto by John Cameron Mitchell strings the scenes of Hedwig and his interaction with the audience as a way of keeping the audience fully engaged. It worked like a charm the night I attended.
The superb cast of Nicholas Sloan as Hedwig, and his real-life wife Jamie Leigh Walker as Yitzhak, deliver sensational performances that knock the socks off of Palm Springs audiences in what can only be described as an evening of highly amped sound, cascading light changes, and the toe-thumping musical beat of the Angry Inch Band, under the musical direction of Constance Gordy.
The band nicely blends into the production as integral characters as well as musicians providing the necessary musical accompaniment which allows stars Sloan and Walker to strut their stuff. Big shout outs go to Juan Espino on guitar, Sean McCune on drums, Miguel Arballo on bass, and Krystofer Do on keyboards. High octane performances deserve high octane musical back-up.
No show as slickly and professionally produced as this show happens without inputs from a creative technical staff, in this case led by director Yates and executive producer Robbie Wayne that include Matthew McLean’s functional set design, creative lighting designs by Nick Wass, Mariah Pryor and Phil Murphy, and Audio/Video designs and special effects by Nick Wass. John Hamilton Palmer provides the costume designs. The production is stage managed by Nathan Cox.
With “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” Desert Rose Playhouse has a winning, must see production on its hands. Don’t miss it.
For ticket information and dates and times call the box office at 760-202-3000.
Remember: A great nation deserves great art. Support all the arts.
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