He's Pulling the Wig Back Down from the Shelf! John Cameron Mitchell to Join HEDWIG on Broadway for 8 Weeks!

It's been rumored since early in the new production's run -- and now it's official! Original star John Cameron Mitchell will return to the role he co-created with composer/lyricist Stephen Trask in their musical Hedwig and The Angry Inch, which they debuted in the 1998 hit Off-Broadway production. Mitchell will step into the role on Broadway at the Belasco Theatre starting Wednesday, January 21 for a strictly limited eight week engagement. Mitchell will join co-star and Tony Award winner Lena Hall who continues with the production as Yitzhak.

This will mark Mitchell's first New York stage appearance since his iconic 1998 performance as Hedwig at the Jane Street Theatre, a role which earned him an Obie Award and an Outer Critics Circle nomination. He later starred in and directed the 2001 film version of Hedwig and The Angry Inch, Mitchell received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy. Mitchell's other acting credits include "Girls," The Secret Garden, and Six Degrees of Separation. His other directing credits include Rabbit Hole, Shortbus, and the upcoming film adaptation of Neil Gaiman's punk era story How to Talk to Girls at Parties.

John Cameron Mitchell said, "I am in equal parts thrilled and terrified to be returning to Hedwig. 15 years ago she kicked my butt so hard that I quit acting. But like an expertlly face-lifted ex-wife, she's lured me back. The killer new work by Neil Patrick Harris, Andrew Rannells, and Michael C. Hall have left much larger pumps to fill. Here's hoping I don't need a walker by the end of the run."

Hedwig and the Angry Inch songwriter Stephen Trask said, "John is one of my oldest and dearest friends and this character is such an important part of his life that I mostly just feel excited and happy for him that he gets to revisit her in this incredible incarnation. And then there's probably a small part of me that feels like Robbie Robertson felt when The Band reunited without him. I kind of wish I were going to be on that stage."

Director Michael Mayer said, "I'm beyond thrilled to work with my dear friend John Cameron Mitchell in recreating his iconic role in our new production. I think his Hedwig has had a date with Broadway for a long time and I can't wait to be there for it."

Hedwig and the Angry Inch producer David Binder said, "John returning to Hedwig is every fan's dream come true. I've spent two decades working with Stephen and John and to have John in Hedwig's gold boots at the Belasco couldn't make me happier. No one will be screaming louder than me when he makes his entrance on January 21."

As previously announced Golden Globe and Drama Desk Award winner Michael C. Hall will play his final performance as Hedwig on Sunday, January 18.

Hedwig and The Angry Inch, with music and lyrics by Stephen Trask and book by John Cameron Mitchell, directed by Michael Mayer, has received rave reviews and is the winner of four Tony Awards including Best Musical Revival. It was also awarded Best Musical Revival by the Drama Desk Awards, Drama League Awards, and Outer Critics Circle Awards.

"Internationally ignored song stylist" Hedwig Robinson (John Cameron Mitchell) brings her fourth-wall-smashing rock and roll saga to New York to set the record straight about her life, her loves, and the botched operation that left her with that "angry inch."

Hedwig has inspired a generation of young theatre writers and audiences. This wickedly funny and heartbreaking show was called "the Best Rock Musical Ever" by Rolling Stone and "the most exciting rock score written for the theatre since, oh, ever," by Time Magazine.

Hedwig and The Angry Inch was originally produced by David Binder off off Broadway at Westbeth and then, under the direction of Peter Askin, ran over two years at the Jane Street Theatre beginning in February 1998. The musical won the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Off-Broadway Musical and both John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask won Obies in 2001. It won a 1998 New York Magazine Award and Entertainment Weekly's "Soundtrack of the Year" Award. Time Magazine named Hedwig the Top Musical of 1998.

The film of Hedwig and The Angry Inch, directed by John Cameron Mitchell, won the Audience Award and Best Director Awards at Sundance. Mitchell won the Best New Director from the National Board of Review, the Gotham Awards, and the LA Critics Society. Stage productions have played for many years in Japan and in 2008, Korea hosted a popular televised reality show about the search for a new star to play Hedwig.

The creative team for Hedwig and The Angry Inch features Emmy Award nominee Spencer Liff (musical staging), Tony Award nominee and Drama Desk Award winner Julian Crouch (scenic design), Tony Award and two-time Oscar nominee Arianne Phillips (costume design), four-time Tony Award winner Kevin Adams (lighting design), Mike Potter (hair and makeup design), Tony Award nominee and platinum-selling record producer Tim O'Heir (sound design), Benjamin Pearcy for 59 Productions (projection design), John Bair/Phosphene(animation), James Calleri (casting), Tony and Grammy Award nominee Ethan Popp (music supervisor & music coordinator), Justin Craig(music director), Liz Caplan (vocal supervision), Stephen Gabis (dialect coach), and Johanna McKeon (associate director).

The members of "The Angry Inch," Hedwig's band, are music director Justin Craig (guitar and keyboards), Matt Duncan (bass), Tim Mislock (guitar), and Peter Yanowitz (drums).

David Binder, who first produced Hedwig in 1997, is producing the musical on Broadway with Jayne Baron Sherman, Barbara Whitman, Latitude Link, Patrick Catullo, Raise The Roof, Paula Marie Black, Colin Callender, Ruth Hendel, Sharon Karmazin, Martian Entertainment, Stacey Mindich, Eric Schnall, and The Shubert Organization. 101 Productions, Ltd are the executive producers.