Hedwig's 'Inch' Goes the Extra Mile

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The New York movie premiere of "Hedwig and the Angry Inch," a rock musical about a thwarted transsexual, was a real drag Tuesday night, but in a fun way -- what with brightly clad and heavily rouged transvestites among the revelers, reports PEOPLE. The spotlight shined brightest on the film's director and star, John Cameron Mitchell, 38, a slender man who transforms himself into a looming and spirited German songstress in "Hedwig." Mitchell, who created the original play on which the film is based, told PEOPLE at the post-screening party that was held at Barney's department store, "I am not sure why I am in a store, but Hedwig has performed in stranger places." In the film, Hedwig, nee Hansel Schmidt, gets an operation to become a woman in order to escape the drab surroundings of her East German roots by marrying an American G.I. and coming to the U.S. Unfortunately, the sex change is botched, and Hedwig is rendered into someone who is neither man nor woman, but simply one with an "angry inch." Mitchell sees his movie as having a positive, uplifting message. "Hedwig has her inch, and that is her lot in life. Everybody has got their inch. It is what you do with it, right?"