The appearance, featuring an epic rendition of “Wig in a Box” which brought down a packed house of Broadway gypsies and drag queens, was arranged in honor of longtime Broadway hair supervisor Rick Caroto’s birthday. Caroto currently tends to Cerveris’ pate as his wig guru on Evita, in which Cerveris stars as Juan Peron.
So why would Cerveris don Hedwig’s blonde Farrah Fawcett get-up for a birthday party, after turning down similar appearances for years?
“Rick is my friend,” he explains simply. “Also, when you’re bald, you really have to treat your hair people right.”
Cerveris, who was hand-picked by Hedwig and the Angry Inch show creator and original title star John Cameron Mitchell as his successor during the show’s original off-Broadway run, also says he’s eager to pull the wig off the shelf for longer than a one-night-only appearance. When asked if he would ever do a full run of the show again:
“I would love it,” he says. “I adored it here, I adored it throughout London and Los Angeles. I miss her [Hedwig] very much.”