The passing of time also necessitated some changes. When the original production debuted at the Westbeth Theatre 16 years ago, Mitchell was 35, or roughly five years younger than Harris is now. Mayer said that this meant “the timing of Hedwig’s story had to be fudged a little — we didn’t want people sitting there worrying about numbers.”
The time warp also required some updating of pop-culture references. “We’re talking to Phil Collins,” for example, became “We’re talking to John Mayer,” a reference Mitchell deemed appropriate because the two musicians are similar in terms of “being talented but fairly middle-of-road.”
