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Top 10 musicals: Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Continuing on my top 10 musicals, here’s the next on the list.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch (1998)

At the height of my Rocky Horror whirlwind, it was announced that a film was coming out of a musical, Hedwig and the Angry Inch. I remember the first time I saw it – I wept in the cinema at the beauty of it, the sadness, the need to find one’s other half. It’s not a film I watch religiously, but one I go to when I need to be a little self indulgent. It’s my Thelma & Louise, my Beaches. My favourite song from it is “Origin of Love”. Schloppy title, I know. It takes from Plato’s Symposium the theory that once there were three beings, one made up of … well, just watch the video below.

Omitting the final verse and using only the lyrics and music, I once taught a class of 9-10 year olds this song as part of a music project when our theme was the Greeks. It was the most amazing assembly and the kids loved the idea of it too, just in a much simpler, more innocent way. I’m lucky now that I’ve finally found my other half, but I like to think that just by watching this it’ll give others hope that they will find their’s.