So much better live

It's 14 degrees outside and a malicious wind is blowing around rapidly falling snow. Shivering, I make my way to Lansdowne St. like some desperate clubber. What has caused me _ who hates being cold more than anything _ to drag myself out here? It is because a legend has returned to Boston: Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

Presented in the unlikely, but ultimately sensible Axis nightclub, Hedwig is part musical, part rock concert. The story chronicles the life of Hedwig/Hansel Schmidt, a "slip of a girly boy" from East Berlin. Hansel falls in love with American rock 'n roll, and later an American lieutenant who promises to marry him and take him to America. In order to get there, though, he has to "leave a part of himself behind" _ hence the "angry inch." Like most American dreams, Hedwig's ends in disappointment, culminating in a disastrous relationship with now-superstar Tommy Gnosis.

The show is nothing short of amazing. The production team transformed the club to make you forget the outside world. From the posters and tabloids that plaster the walls to the piped-in radio station, the small production details keep the play from being bogged down with exposition. The set incorporates bits of humor too, with a special "Laura Bush Presidential Box," and cleverly employs the venue's closeness to Fenway Park.

Committed to its rock show format, the room is set up for a concert, rather than a play. But John Cameron Mitchell's book is not ignored; rather, it is blended seamlessly with the music.

One of the more effective touches was the show's opening: no overture, just Yitzhak, a member of the band, saying "Ladies and Gentlemen, whether you like it or not: Hedwig."

Hedwig strolls down the center of the room in all her blonde glory, decked out in a cape. "Do you know me Boston?" she addresses the audience, "I'm the new Berlin Wall." The performers quickly launch into one of the many outstanding songs that have made the show famous. Hedwig and the Angry Inch would be a worthwhile act to hear without a story _ they simply rock. Composer Stephen Trask has a gift for linking evocative lyrics to a great hook, something many up-and-coming rock groups should learn to do.

Gene Dante shines as Hedwig. He brings out all sides of the character, which range from irreverent to spiteful to tormented, and manages to make Hedwig natural instead of schizophrenic. Dante also succeeds in his interplay with the audience, wittily responding to every comment, sound or lack thereof in the audience. Playing Hedwig's "husband," the long-suffering Yitzhak, is Lisa Butcher. Butcher makes Yitzhak a wistful yet sympathetic character with understandable passive-aggressive tendencies toward Hedwig.

The other band members are not required to do much more than put their all into the music, which they do with zeal. The band has outstanding energy for every song and is especially good at blowing the roof off in louder numbers like "Exquisite Corpse" or "Tear Me Down." Coupled with the powerful vocals of Dante and Butcher, the music is stronger than many contemporary rock performances.

The stage version of Hedwig and the Angry Inch far surpasses the film as it removes the confusing subplot and other things inserted to make it suitable for cinema. The film also lacks the intimacy this stage version plays on brilliantly. It's still a great movie, the play is simply better.