Hedwig and the Angry Inch

In this rock-opera/play, the title character leaves Germany (as a man) with a sweet-talking American GI who promises him a better life in America--if he'll become a woman when he gets there. Hedwig (then called Hansel) agrees, but when he wakes up from the operation, the now-mostly-female Hedwig finds herself more mutilated than transformed. Abandoned by her sugar daddy, Hedwig takes up with a rock band and sings her disappointments in this show, which opened in New York City on Valentine's Day in 1998. A 2001 Lamda Literary Award finalist.