Review Roundup: Taye Diggs Takes Over as Broadway's Final HEDWIG!

Taye Diggs has officially taken over Broadway in Hedwig and the Angry Inch. The actor stepped into the title role last earlier this summer at the Belasco Theatre, making his return to the Great White Way after a decade-long hiatus. Diggs will be the final Hedwig in this Broadway run, which is set to conclude on September 13, 2015.

Diggs returns to Broadway in HEDWIG for a limited engagement with co-star Rebecca Naomi Jones as 'Yitzhak.' HEDWIG marks Diggs' first New York stage role since the 2005 revival of A SOLDIER'S PLAY.

Let's see what the critics had to say...

Elisabeth Vincentelli, NY Post: It's hard imagining the buff Diggs and his mammoth biceps ever looking like a "girly boy," but OK, the power of imagination and all that - we'll buy it on credit. The bigger fail is that Diggs never connects with Hedwig. This broad's had a tough life, from her botched sex change to her affair with a user who stole her musical ideas. Hedwig's a survivor, fueled by rage and bitter humor, and she pours it all in her music - the show is framed like a rock concert with long spoken interludes in between Stephen Trask's glam-rock songs. But whereas good rock - not to mention good acting - flows from the gut, you never forget Diggs is performing, from his awkward strut in platform shoes to the pseudo-antagonistic audience interactions. How can spitting water onto the first row look so forced? Even the cathartic show closer, "Midnight Radio," falls flat. Faring much better is Rebecca Naomi Jones ("American Idiot," "Passing Strange"), who joined the show in April. Admittedly her part is a lot less demanding, but Jones is wonderfully effective as Yitzhak, the star's long-suffering husband/backing singer. "We look like Milli Vanilli up there," Hedwig now cracks - the new stage chit-chat also includes a reference to Idina Menzel, Diggs' ex-wife.

Christopher Kelly, NJ.com: Curious to see how Diggs would make the role his own, we went to check out a recent performance. Turns out that Diggs - previously on Broadway in "Rent" and "Wicked," but best known for non-musical movies and TV shows like "The Best Man" and "Private Practice" - amply delivers. There's even an argument to be made he has created the most original and affecting Hedwig we've seen in this current production. Consider these arguments: He raises the stakes. "The bitch is black," Hedwig announces to the audience at the start. (The show's book is frequently modified to suit whoever is playing the title role.) As the performance progresses, Diggs doesn't shy away from further provocations, some of which - a racially-charged play on the name Hedwig, for instance - make the audience visibly uncomfortable. Given that "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" - which recounts the bizarre story of Hedwig's escape from East Berlin thanks to an unfortunately botched sex change operation and later her ill-fated love affair with a rock star - sometimes skews too campy, Diggs' approach lends the material a new edge, forcing us to think not just about gender and sexuality, but also the way gay and trans black men are often fetishized and commodified by our culture.

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