The musical follows Hedwig Robinson, a genderqueer East German singer of a fictional rock and roll band. The story draws on Mitchell's life as the child of a U. Army major general who once commanded the U. The character of Hedwig was inspired by a German divorced U. Army wife who was Mitchell's family babysitter and moonlighted as a prostitute at her trailer park home in Junction City, Kansas.
The music is steeped in the androgynous s glam rock style of David Bowie who co-produced the Los Angeles production of the show , as well as the work of John Lennon and early punk performers Lou Reed and Iggy Pop.
The production ran for two years, and was remounted with various casts by the original creative team in other US cities. The production closed on September 13, The character of Hedwig was originally a supporting character in the piece.
The character of Tommy, originally conceived as the main character, was based on Mitchell himself: both were gay, the child of an army general, deeply Roman Catholic, and fascinated with mythology. Hedwig became the story's protagonist when Trask encouraged Mitchell to showcase their earliest material in at NYC's drag-punk club Squeezebox, where Trask headed the house band and Mitchell's boyfriend, Jack Steeb, played bass.
They agreed the piece should be developed through band gigs in clubs rather than in a theater setting in order to preserve a rock energy. Mitchell was deeply influenced by Squeezebox's roster of drag performers who performed rock covers. Mitchell's second gig was as fill-in host at Squeezebox on a bill featuring singer Deborah Harry of Blondie.
