HE'S ENJOYED BEING A GIRL CREATOR OF 'HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH' IS READY TO MOVE ON TO OTHER ROLES.

Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Writer

John Cameron Mitchell is currently embarking on his ``Hedwig Farewell Tour,'' and as much as he has enjoyed playing an embittered East German drag queen for the past four years, he's ready to say goodbye.

``It's time to go,'' Mitchell, 38, says emphatically. ``I'm quite ready to leave her behind, like a child going to college. I can always visit her again from time to time.''

He probably won't lack for opportunities. Mitchell's ``Hedwig and the Angry Inch'' has to rank as one of the least-likely stage sensations in recent theater history, given that one-man shows about would-be transsexual song stylists rarely make the leap, as ``Hedwig'' has, from a Soho drag club to ofroadway to far-flung productions in Iceland and Japan.

``It's safe to say this show's going to be playing somewhere, sometime, for a very long time,'' says composer Stephen Trask, who wrote the show's memorable score.

And now ``Hedwig'' is ready for her close-up. Mitchell and Trask have boldly reimagined their show for a film version that opens the play's claustrophobic world to remarkable effect. The movie won the Audience Award at this year's Sundance Film Festival, as well as a best director prize for Mitchell.

For Mitchell, the filmed ``Hedwig'' is every bit the tour de force that his one-man stage show was, given that he wrote and directed as well as stars in the raucous movie. After meeting Mitchell, you appreciate the depth of his talent even more. The slightly built, introverted Kansas native in no way resembles his outrageous creation apart from his confidence, which manifests itself somewhat more calmly.

`Just about anything'

``He has no doubt that he can do just about anything,'' collaborator Trask says. ``And that confidence has only grown stronger throughout this long, strange journey we've taken.''

``Hedwig'' was hatched soon after Mitchell and Trask met on a cross- country airplane trip. Mitchell had enjoyed a successful career in New York theater, but had reached the point where he was ``tired of saying other people's words.'' Trask had started as a musician at New York's notorious Squeezebox drag club and gone on to score numerous dance and theater pieces.

``After talking, we thought we could do something together that would push and prod each other,'' Trask says. ``I'm not saying that we were unfulfilled, but we were definitely searching for something.''

That feeling manifested itself in ``Hedwig,'' which tells the story of an East German boy who grows up dreaming of rock 'n' roll, freedom and finding his ``other half.'' Hedwig thinks he has found all three in the person of an American GI. A marriage proposal is offered, but with one condition: Hedwig must undergo a sex-change operation.

The transformation is botched, however - hence ``the angry inch'' - and Hedwig is left abandoned in a Kansas trailer park. There he meets young Tommy Gnosis, who becomes his protege, lover and eventual betrayer when he steals Hedwig's songs and becomes a rock 'n' roll superstar. An angry Hedwig shadows Tommy's stadium tour, starting his own band and performing his songs before bewildered clusters of diners in a fictional chain of seafood restaurants called Bilgewater's.

Given that summary, it would be natural to ask how ``Hedwig'' managed to attract the kind of broad-based following that would spark a film adaptation.

`Thoughtful freaks'

``The core audience is definitely freaks, but thoughtful freaks,'' Mitchell says, hastening to add the qualifier. ``They don't want to burn down anyone's house; they just want to sing along with a good song.''

And ``Hedwig'' sports plenty of hummable tunes, ranging in style from Bowie-like glam rock to country-western and waltzes and highly melodic ballads. The songs tell Hedwig's story, making it surprisingly universal, particularly considering the man/woman doing most of the singing.

``Yes, Hedwig is bizarre and has a lot of weird things happen to her, but I think we captured her humanity in a way that people really identify with her,'' Mitchell says. ``I think her search, the search for the other half, something that goes all the way back to Plato, is something everyone feels and transcends sex, race and religion. She's looking for wholeness. Who hasn't joined that search?''

Mitchell counts himself among the searchers, although writing ``Hedwig'' and making the film version have gone a long way toward assuaging feelings of restlessness. Writing the show used every skill he had learned in two decades as an actor; making the movie in 28 days was an exercise in chaos that could probably only be accomplished by someone so familiar with the material. And spending four years of his life immersed in the character have taken him places that would go unexplored outside a year of good therapy sessions.

That psychological depth gives ``Hedwig'' a resonance that sets it apart from ``The Rocky Horror Picture Show.'' Mitchell, who is gay, based parts of the Tommy Gnosis character on his on childhood, which was spent moving around a lot with his Army general father. He knew what it was like to be a ``freak'' on the outside.

``I knew I was gay long before I did anything about it,'' Mitchell says. ``I grew up very religious, going to Catholic schools, not an easy environment. I remember a girlfriend dropped me for a guy I thought was really cute.''

Now, Mitchell is hearing from fans - ``Hedheads'' they call themselves - who tell him his show changed their lives.

``People tell me, 'Seeing this show made me think that I could start a band' or `Seeing this show helped me come out,' '' Mitchell relates. ``The metaphor of the inch ... it's strong comically in many ways, emotionally in others. And it's like, you're given an inch. What do you do with it? In many ways, it's a very simple story. It's a story of survival and making the best of what you have, which is really the only story there is, you know.''

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) ANGRY and loving it

John Cameron Mitchell brings his outrageous musical `Hedwig and the Angry Inch' to the screen

(2) John Cameron Mitchell stars as a would-be transsexual in the one-man show ``Hedwig and the Angry Inch,'' which is now a feature film.

(3) Mitchell, right, who won a best director award at the the Sundance festival, created ``Hedwig'' with composer Stephen Trask.

Lee Celano/Associated Press