TIME OUT NEW YORK
Jan 28- Feb 4, 1999
Issue No. 175

by Smith Galtney
photo by Stephen Danelian

Tony nominated Michael Cerveris slips into the role of Hedwig — and has
some mighty big heels to fill.



At one point in the show Hedwig and the Angry Inch, after the sounds of rock brat Tommy Gnosis's Meadowlands gig spill into the Jane Street Theater, Hedwig buries her head against the wall and defeatedly mutters, "Tommy...can you hear me?" It's a poignant moment — one that seems hyperreal now that the phrase is spoken by Michael Cerveris, the 38 year old actor nominated for a Tony in 1993's Tommy.

"People think I threw that line In," Cerveris jokes before a recent weeknight performance. "But it's been there since the beginning."

Cerveris is a natural successor to John Cameron Mitchell as the tragicomic rock & roll queen. Just look at his resume: in addition to Tommy, he's starred in Titanic on Broadway and recently served as guitarist during the final tour of former Hüsker Dü frontman Bob Mould. "Michael has much more experience doing the rock stuff," says Mitchell. He's a better singer than me, too. He just has more chops."

The two actors became friends several years ago when both participated in a workshop for a rock musical based on the story of Queen. "They were teaching everybody to sing "Bohemian Rhapsody" in a very square, very nonrock way," Cerveris recalls. "John and I were the bad boys in the back row, making jokes and not taking the whole thing seriously."

A year later, Mitchell offered his former cohort the starring role in what Rolling Stone dubbed "the first rock musical that truly rocks." Although Cerverls was a seasoned leading man on Broadway, he had never carried his own 90 minute show — much less one created by the person he succeeded. "I couldn't see anybody in this role but John," he says. "But the things that I'm afraid of are usually the things that I should do."

Growing up in West Virginia, Cerveris was the child of parents who met at Juilliard. (His brother is an actor, and his sister is currently in Phantom of the Opera.) Cerveris began his career in New York, but after landing a role as an English guitar student in the TV series Fame, he relocated to Los Angeles, where he soon became involved in a string of "lousy" punk bands.

These days, Cerveris is fronting a damn good group, and he's relishing the freedom of headlining this pseudo-roek show in which nothing can ever really go wrong. "One time, a big piece of the set fell from the celllng," he says, rubbing his immaculately bald head. "It almost creamed me and the whole band. But that's the great thing about playing Hedwig: You're free to say and do whatever you want, and anything that goes wrong is just another unfortunate thing that happens to her."