On Valentine’s Day 1998, Hedwig and the Angry Inch opened off-Broadway to rave reviews, revitalizing the rock musical while engendering a die-hard cult following, and the phenomenon of Hedwig was born. In 2001, the mesmerizing film adaptation was released to equally glowing reviews. Brilliantly innovative and oddly endearing, Hedwig and the Angry Inch—inspired by Plato’s Symposium—is the story of “internationally ignored song stylist” Hedwig Schmidt, the victim of a gruesomely botched sex-change operation, as dazzlingly recounted by Hedwig (née Hansel) herself in the form of a lounge act, backed by the rock band The Angry Inch.