Practice English Speaking&Listening with: Will there be a "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" revival?
[SMITH] We're living in a moment of reboots, right?
Whether it's the "Roseanne" reboot, or some of these old television shows.
Or in fact, more properly said, revivals on Broadway now.
Has there been discussion of having it come back again, would you entertain that?
[MITCHELL] Yeah, but you know, you need to wait a bit, for it to kind of settle.
But yeah, I expect it to be like "Cabaret" and coming back every few years.
[SMITH] Yeah, new audiences discover it.
In part, what you're doing with the touring production of "The Origin of Love" right now,
is introducing this to an audience of people who, were maybe not literally not alive at
the time the play first appeared, but not far from that, right?
[MITCHELL] It's a beautiful thing, in that it's generally been direct word of mouth is
how people heard about it.
Kids hearing about it from their parents.
I've heard a lot of people who say when they started dating someone they show them the
film, and if the other person doesn't like it-- [SMITH] Up or down.
[MITCHELL] They don't continue, yeah.
I like being a litmus test.
[SMITH] The Hedwig test, that's actually good, I like that.
[MITCHELL] The Hedwig test.
[SMITH] The Hedwig test, okay, that's pretty good.
Do you pass the Hedwig test?
[MITCHELL] Yeah, there's a "Shortbus" test, which is a different test.
[SMITH] No, no, that's a whole-- [MITCHELL] Yeah.
[SMITH] That's not a PBS conversation, no.
[MITCHELL] And that's not a first date.
That's down the line.
[SMITH] Have you enjoyed, so you mentioned "Shortbus."
You famously directed Nicole Kidman to an Oscar nomination, some years ago.
You've done a lot of really interesting things with a bunch of really interesting folks.
You've been able to be on this side of the camera, that side of the camera.
Which do you prefer?
[MITCHELL] I really like it all.
I need it all.
I act lately, really more for the money, but I have a great, great jobs with great people.
[SMITH] Right.
[MITCHELL] I'm in a show called "Shrill."
[SMITH] Yeah, we were talking beforehand about, I think this is a really great show.
This is a Hulu series, Aidy Bryant of "Saturday Night Live."
[MITCHELL] I love her, I love it.
[SMITH] Which is now about to be, as we sit here in mid-January of 2020, the second season
of the show on Hulu will debut just in a couple days.
[MITCHELL] Yeah.
[SMITH] Which you're in, right?
[MITCHELL] Yeah.
[SMITH] You're in, of course "Girls."
[MITCHELL] Right.
[SMITH] The Lena Dunham series on HBO.
[MITCHELL] She actually got me out of retirement, because I was, after "Hedwig" I was so burned
out that I stopped acting for about 15 years.
[SMITH] Yeah.
[MITCHELL] And I met her at her premiere of "Girls" and she was like, "Hedwig!"
And later she texted if I want, asked if I wanted to be her player editor.
[SMITH] Right.
[MITCHELL] Which is how I get jobs now, by text.
[SMITH] The world's changed.
[MITCHELL] Yes.
Instagram, I did cast a lead in my new podcast, on Instagram.
[SMITH] Right.
But she, I was so nervous going back to acting, and she was this young kid, and I'm the older
figure.
And the jokes are like, "Who's that old man?"
I'm like, "Oh, great."
[SMITH] Are they talking about me?
Yes, they are.
[MITCHELL] Yeah.
[SMITH] So actually, both in "Girls" and in "Shrill" you're playing a version of the same
character.
You're both playing editors.
[MITCHELL] It's a similar, kind of an arrogant editor.
I'm also playing a kind of, right-wing Trump gay, in "The Good Fight."
A show that I love very much.
[SMITH] Right.
Opposite Christine Baranski, who is my nemesis.
[SMITH] But this is great, I mean, you're still continuing to do, and you have the latitude
to pick-- [MITCHELL] Yeah, yeah.
[SMITH] The things that you wanna do.
[MITCHELL] So the acting is supporting Mom, and just paying the bills, while I do the
other stuff, such as "Anthem: Homunculus."
