BROADWAY | In “Hedwig,” Taye Diggs got his queer grove back

UNPROFESSIONAL NOTE TO FANS OF TAYE DIGGS:  Pardon me for what I wrote below.  Call me a bitter-envious-nasty hater.  Thing is…Taye Diggs has failed to come over and hug and spoon me in his loving sexy arms.  It will take a l-o-o-o-o-o-ng while before this Stella gets any groove back.

Plus it’s shitty that my rent-boy-for-fabulous-play expertise has failed to land me a Big Bear Daddy who would be willing to pocket the expensive cost of Broadway revival tickets before Diggs absconds and returns to his film and TV gigs.

If you are easily offended, I suggest you stop reading this piece of self-loathing queen swill.

In recompense, I suggest you check out a very good interview Taye gave to Hollywood Reporter. Click here.

By Randy Gener

NEW YORK CITY |  For all you out there who are not alert to the nuanced potentials of Queer Theory (think Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick), queering a role in a play or musical has nothing to do with who you sleep with.

So when actor Taye Diggs alleged in an Entertainment Weekly article that he has “a flaming homosexual inside me,” his just-us-frat-boys comment made total Method Acting sense.

Still…. I do think he is giving us too hard a sell.  In a bid to grab some empathy.

At this point, this In the Culture of One World story is being passed off as a lame last-minute news break, because it’s yet another excuse to run a cute photo of a hunky straight guy playing it gay for Broadway pay.

No. We’re not talking about Caitlyn Jenner.  She only sings in the shower.

Taye Diggs is now in the final weeks of singing, rocking and playing the transsexual title role in Hedwig and the Angry Inch, the 2014 Tony Award winning Best Musical Revival. It’s a limited 12-week engagement at Broadway’s Belasco Theatre (111 West 44^th Street). Diggs continues to, er, dig into Hedwig’s heels until September 13.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch, with book by John Cameron Mitchell and music and lyrics by Stephen Trask, directed by Michael Mayer, also stars Rebecca Naomi Jones as Yitzhak. 

No, girls. It is never career suicide to snap up an openly heterosexual dude plus give him a wig and eyeliner so he can “queer” his image and become the “internationally ignored song stylist” Hedwig (whose botched operation left her with that “angry inch”).

As Taye’s recent turns proves,  you will get showered with the glitter of press attention, probably gay curiosity and certainly higher creds than those of us gay bitches who play gay for theatrical pay.

Here’s the TV promo:

The 44-year-old actor welcomes the chance to play the role of Hedwig as a black man.

To wit: “I didn’t think it would ever happen,” Diggs told the New York Times. “I assumed that nobody would ever have the open-mindedness to cast this character black.”

Apparently he has been telling many colleagues and friends that he can pull off a role as challenging as Hedwig.

“This is me telling myself, ‘Okay…. put your money where your mouth is’,” Diggs said. “I want a chance to show everybody everything. I can dance and I can sing, and everybody knows I can act.”

Naturally it is not much of a stretch for straight boys to go queer and still hold their masculinity intact.  Right, Taye?

(“Yeah, totally, man! You nail him,” agrees my DL buds from “Broke Straight Boys.”)

As for that black-lives-matter-onstage thing, turns out that all that you have to do (except for the lipstick and tight undies) is to twist the lines.  Diggs’s first line is “You’re seeing straight: The bitch is black!”

In any case, Diggs’s status is pretty secure. He is presently Broadway-slumming on break from Steven Bochco’s crime drama “Murder in the First.” His many film and television credits include How Stella Got Her Groove Back, Go, Chicago, The Best Man, its follow up The Best Man Holiday, and six seasons on ABC’s hit drama “Private Practice.”

As for Diggs transgendering himself into Hedwig, what can anyone say?  To borrow from a popular song:

Strolling with a punk rock star
Screeching sigh after sigh…
Oh nice work if you can queer it.
And a str8 boy can queer it — if Taye tries.

(Damn it, Taye! When are you gonna French kiss me!)

IF YOU CAN SCALP SOME TICKETS TO GO

Tickets for Hedwig and The Angry Inch are available now by calling 212-239-6200 or visiting Telecharge.com, or via the Belasco Theatre Box Office (111 West 44^th Street). Ticket prices range from $142 – $47.