Young Chang Piano: Hedwig and the Angry Inch: Vocal/piano selections [Paperback] Review

John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask's Hedwig and the Angry Inch debuted off Broadway in 1999, then gained widespread popularity in 2001 when a film version of the queer-themed rock musical hit theaters. It's a wonder why then fans had to wait till 2004 for a songbook to be released. The bitter wait aside, finally here is Hedwig and the Angry Inch: piano/vocal selections published by Hal Leonard, and if you're a Hedwig fan, better snatch one of these before they're out of print!

THE BASICS:
--Music and Lyrics by Stephen Trask.
--Contents: Tear Me Down (6 pages), Origin of Love (12 pages, Sugar Daddy (8 pages), Angry Inch (6 pages), Wig in a Box (9 pages), Wicked Little Town 9 pages), The Long Grift (4 pages), Hedwig's Lament (2 pages), Exquisite Corpse (5 pages), Wicked Littel Town Reprise (5 pages), Midnight Radio 6 pages).
--70 pages. (Music starts on page 4.)
--No pictures/photos.
--The cover is the Hedwig MOVIE art, but the songs are printed from their 1999 form. So for instance in "Sugar Daddy," there is an "extra" monologue music interlude by Luther that isn't in the film.
--The title says "piano/vocal selections." But note that there are ALSO guitar chords and diagrams for every song!! Songs are arranged so that you have the melodies intertwined (the songs are not just piano accompaniment), and you get all the lyrics too. You get spoken dialogue too in the songs as in Wig in the Box and Tear Me Down.
--ISBN 0-634-06881-4. Not to be confused with the other Hedwig books/libretto/making-of.

OVERALL: ***1/2 stars out of 5.
A great piano solo songbook for lovers of the Hedwig play/film. The songs are arranged from the play, so there are some "extra" lyrics not seen in the film. Arrangements are rich, though at times not very sophisticated. Driving rock beats frequently are arranged as humongous chords. This might sound a little strange in songs like Tear Me Down and Exquisite Corpse, but it works out decently. Songs originally with a piano or piano-based melody like Wig in a Box, WIcked Little Town, and Origin of Love sound beautiful in their piano arrangements here.

Songs are very challenging with heavily-sharp'd/flat'd keys, quirky rhythms and frequent jazz triplets (the quarter-half note combo). In the end of Midnite Radio, the pianist is told to "ad lib" the ending, which something for the novice. The book is too difficult for a beginner, but has potential to sound super for a very skilled pianist. But get the timing down and the melody comes right through. Worth owning this music book while you can still get your hands on it, even if it ends up being too tough to master.

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Product Description:
The title character of this darkly comic off-Broadway hit, the winner of two Obie Awards and an Outer Critics Circle Award, is transsexual singer Hedwig, and the Angry Inch refers both to her back-up rock band, and her botched sex change operation. Our songbook features standard piano/vocal arrangements of 11 great songs, ranging from rocking to touching. Includes: Angry Inch * Exquisite Corpse * Hedwig's Lament * The Long Grift * Midnight Radio * The Origin of Love * Sugar Daddy * Tear Me Down * Wicked Little Town (and Reprise) * Wig in a Box.

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