Suddenly, the multiplied permutations of possible identities were blissfully freeing: A man could look like a woman but sing like a man; a woman could look like a man and sing like one, too. And anyone could look good in a dress -- depending on what form of "good" you were after.

John Cameron Mitchell's off-Broadway musical, "Hedwig and the Angry Inch," co-written with Stephen Trask and now a movie written by, directed by and starring Mitchell, runs on that '70s juice, even though it feels equal parts modern and nostalgic. The story of a tortured rock star who was born a man but who performs as a woman after a botched sex-change operation, "Hedwig" is only partly a meditation on one man/woman's search for identity; assigning too much depth to the movie's themes is a mistake. More important, it's that rarest of creatures: a rock musical that actually works.

Mitchell originated the role of Hedwig onstage in New York, in a show that was a favorite with audiences, and rightly so: It buzzed with the feel of real rock 'n' roll, instead of simply treating rock as currency, a gimmick to plant younger fannies in theater seats, as the alleged rock musical "Rent" did. Rock musicals -- I'd stretch the category to include rock operas, and yes, that includes even the Who's revered "Tommy" -- are almost always a bad idea. Maybe rock 'n' roll just defies being wedged into traditional narrative formats. There's something blessedly inconsequential about a 3- or 4-minute rock song, and it's that very quality of fleetingness that allows one song to contain a whole world of feeling.

Strung together in the service of a story, such songs lose their power more often than not, and work at odds with any narrative drive rather than propelling it along. That may be why the Who's seven-minute mini-opera "A Quick One, While He's Away," about a lonely housewife who has an affair with an engine driver, is so much more effective than the bloated "Tommy." It's a fat suitcase packed tight with worldly themes, including infidelity, remorse and forgiveness. Its intensity and humor hit like a firecracker; there's no bloat, no grandiose padding to make the story feel bigger than it really is, which results in making it feel big enough on its own.

	Hedwig and the Angry Inch Written and directed by John Cameron Mitchell Starring John Cameron Mitchell, Miriam Shor, Andrea Martin View the "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" movie trailer RealVideo 56k | 200k Print story E-mail story

"Hedwig and the Angry Inch" grooves on a similar principle. It's largely about spectacle; the story unfolds in the background, and while the songs support and enrich it, they're not planted sternly like giant signposts to its meaning. Hedwig, a transplant from the tragically divided city of Berlin, is divided himself: As he travels the States with his band, playing a string of Red Lobster-type restaurants to audiences rendered incredulous by his boyish brand of girl glam, he reveals his story in flashbacks between musical numbers.

His most recent heartbreak involves his affair with a rock superstar named Tommy Gnosis (Michael Pitt), who has catapulted to success on the basis of songs that were actually co-written by Hedwig. Hedwig is in the process of suing Gnosis: With the help of his manager, Phyliss (played wonderfully by Andrea Martin, who's like a tart and tarty den mother), he's in the process of a messy lawsuit to get credit (and royalties) for the songs.

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