Hedwig, we hardly knew ye

The Celebration Theatre is housing “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” and it has seldom made a wiser call. John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask’s Plato’s Symposium-as-rock concert watershed receives an electrifying, in-your-face reading, the venue’s surest bet since “Pinafore!”

“Hedwig’s” global cult following (comparable to that of “Rocky Horror”) dates from Manhattan’s celebrated 1998 Jane Street Theatre production starring creator Mitchell, the template against which all others are measured. This Obie winner spawned numerous worldwide editions and Mitchell’s Golden Globe-nominated 2001 film version. Although the local Henry Fonda Theatre staging in 2000 folded prematurely, one fondly recalls Michael Cerveris’ transcendent turn and the house blend of showbiz glitterati and glitter-eyed groupies.

They should storm director Derek Charles Livingston’s adamant take on “internationally ignored song stylist” Hedwig (born Hansel) Schmidt’s freewheeling confessional. Accompanied by surly band the Angry Inch (christened for Hansel’s genitalia after disastrous sexual reassignment surgery), Mitchell’s East German alter ego uses Plato’s third-gender theory to drive his/her glam-rock identity quest.

Livingston’s topical direction (a career benchmark) and musical director Ryan Scott Oliver’s power charts imbue Hedwig’s musings and songwriter Trask’s infectious, eclectic numbers with expanded substance. The narrative intrusions by backup singers are a masterstroke. Keith Ellis Mitchell’s set and Milsa Watson’s costumes project seedy allure, and Kathi O’Donohue’s lighting is incredible.

All emanates from Wade McCollum’s astonishing Hedwig, a force of nature from wall-shredding entrance to heart-searing apotheosis. Blessed with hydraulic chops and a Slinky’s dexterity, McCollum is hilarious, spontaneous, complex, dangerous.

As current lover Yitzhak, Trystan Angel Reese doesn’t supplant originator Miriam Shor, but Reese, an in-process transsexual, presents a haunting, strong-voiced alternative. Willam Belli digs into Tommy Gnosis, Hedwig’s treacherous protege (whose separate embodiment mirrors the movie’s revisions). The three vocalists (Johnny Byrne, Hilliard Guess and Lisa Robert) are smashing, and the band wails, though their involvement is haphazard.

Sometimes David B. Marling’s sound coagulates lyrics, and beats are still refining. So what? The rapt communal meltdown that “Hedwig” attains is unassailable, marking this presentation as an incendiary Celebration sensation.

*

‘Hedwig and the Angry Inch’

Where: Celebration Theatre, 7051-B Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood

When: Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m.

Ends: May 23

Price: $25

Contact: (323) 957-1884

Running time: 1 hour, 35 minutes