Hurt Locker: The Musical is a fictional musical in the 2014 Broadway premiere production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch loosely inspired by the film of the same name.^[1] In the Broadway performance of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, the musical opens with Hedwig explaining that the musical only ran for a single night before closing during intermission, and that she has convinced a producer to let her perform in what would otherwise be an empty stage.^[2] Fake Playbills for the musical are used as props and are found scattered on the floor of the Belasco Theatre and contains advertisements for other fake musicals such as Gravity on Ice, Container Store: The Musical, The Entire Bible, and SoulCycle on Broadway.^[1] The Playbills, which describe the musical as having "explosions, negligible storytelling, camouflage and tits",^[3] also state that the musical's cast included actors such as Taye Diggs (who would go on to play the role of Hedwig in the summer of 2015) and that the music and lyrics were written by Metallica and Stephen R. Schwartz, which is the real name of Hedwig songwriter Stephen Trask.^[4]

Director Michael Mayer stated that they came up with the idea for Hurt Locker: The Musical as a way to explain Hedwig's presence in a Broadway theater.^[5][6] It was also used as a way to update the script to modern day as well as explain how Hedwig would be able to use such stage settings.^[7] Various newspapers have commented favorably on the faux Playbills, both an element of the musical and as a piece separate from the musical itself.^[8][7] The faux Playbills were written by writer-performers Mike Albo and Amanda Duarte, and designed by Rogers Eckersley Design.

Fictional musical information

References