By WARREN DAY

All musicals, by their very nature, are improbable. When is the last time you broke into song with full orchestration just because you pronounced a sentence correctly, or because you spotted a stranger across a crowded room? Okay, maybe that latter, but you see my point.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch, as presented currently at the Empire Stage Theater in Fort Lauderdale, has more improbables than a block of Broadway musicals.

First of all, does it seem like a probable idea to do a musical about an East German boy who gets a shaking surgeon when he goes for a sex change operation?  And how about staging the whole thing like a glam rock performance at some American underground club next to where his protégé is playing to a packed amphitheater

? In addition, have it undergirded by a Greek myth, plus some connection to a discarded Gospel, while throwing in a male character playing a female – and a female character playing a male –  and you get a general idea of how the improbables pile up.

And the improbables extend to this particular production itself, because what sane director and producer would attempt to do a show in Fort Lauderdale that required finding a local actor who can sing and perform like a seasoned club act, play an electronic keyboard, convey emotions from A to Z, and do all of that with a German accent in full glam drag while prancing around in Joan-Crawford-fuck-me pumps? And also find four believable rock musicians, one of whom has to sing beautifully and cross-dress. It ain’t like casting “The Sunshine Boys.”

And yet, what might be the biggest improbability is to pull all of this off in a highly effective and professional manner that will engage anyone who is open to a different kind of theater experience.

Infinite Abyss Productions is responsible for this staging, as they were in 2010 for the excellent Stop Kiss” As in that play, the director Jeffrey D. Holmes demonstrates a talent for getting an exceptional and emotionally true performance from his lead actor. This presentation would fall flatter than that proverbial pancake if Joe Harter as Hedwig wasn’t multi-talented and able to deliver a multi-layered performance.

That Greek myth can be found in Plato’s Symposium and says there were three sexes originally – children of the moon (a man and woman combined), children of the earth (two women) and children of the sun (two men). Angry gods divided them, thus creating heterosexuality, and female and male homosexuality. Ever since, we’ve felt incomplete and been longing for our other half.

This kind of Greek dualism permeates this production; it’s even reflected in the graphic that producer Erynn Dalton picked for the program cover. And the fact that feelings of dual natures are felt by many people partly explains the power and the appeal of this improbable musical that’s been performed in hundreds of places around the world. We’re lucky to have a good production of it here in South Florida.

Plays 8pm Thursdays thru Saturdays until June 4th, Empire Stage, 1140 N. Flagler Drive, Fort Lauderdale. Tickets are $30 and can be purchased online at www.infinite-abyss.com or at the door (cash only).