As far as musicals go, this one's the kind that cuts through the stage pomp and bull, leaving in its wake a hot mess of silly tunes and pathetic ever afters.

As far as musicals go, this one's punk rock — mutinous, dirty and not so easy on the eyes.

Because when "Hedwig and The Angry Inch" take a stage, it's not pretty. It's better than that: It's an irreverent anthem that glorifies everything that Rodgers and Hammerstein wouldn't have — or couldn't have — anything to do with. Convenience marriages, sex changes, trailer-park trash, messy glam rockers and, most appalling (if the ode to a sexy librarian in "The Music Man" is as ribald as you think it should get), human anatomy — the kind whose size matters.

Honolulu's man of many trades, Otto, is reviving his Hedwig for a one-week run of the musical. The show will take place at the Honolulu Academy of Arts Doris Duke Theatre, opening Monday and repeating daily through Nov. 2.

For those of us who are at least a decade out of college, the popularity of "Hedwig and The Angry Inch" was marked by John Cameron Mitchell's 2001 film version of the off-Broadway play. Those who are older or more pop-culturally aware will recall the huge hit that was the 1998 stage show, which spawned a cult movement not unlike the "Rocky Horror Picture Show"'s more than a decade earlier.

Today, "Hedwig" is less popular but no less magnetic, and every once in a while, a city will experience a "Hedwig" revival that yields a new generation of converts.

Otto is responsible for keeping Honolulu's love of "Hedwig" burning. He, along with a group of musicians that plays fictional band The Angry Inch, have staged the production three times over the past seven years.

If you don't know "Hedwig," you really should. Here's a short intro to the life and times of an East German transsexual glam rocker:

The cast: Otto, as Hedwig; Josh86, Jesse Atomic, Michael Boe and Marky Koga as The Angry Inch.

Things you should know if you don't want to look like a complete newb:

• First, and perhaps most important, it's pronounced Hedvig. It's German.

• Hedwig used to be a boy named Hansel.

• Hedwig is an aspiring glam rocker; as such, her look includes a big blonde feathered wig. Otto makes his own wig, and it's one of the highlights of the show.

• The Angry Inch is Hedwig's band of Eastern-bloc musicians. The motley crew is named for what's left of Hansel's you-know-what after a botched sex-change operation: an inch of mangled flesh. (Eat your heart out, Rodgers and Hammerstein.)

• Hedwig fans are called Hedheads.

The plot: "Hedwig and The Angry Inch" is the story of an "internationally ignored" (her words) rock singer on a quest for love and fame.

Born as Hansel, the East German boy agrees to a sex change in order to marry an American soldier who promises to take the idealistic young thing away from communist Berlin to America, where dreams come true.

The operation goes bad, leaving Hansel/Hedwig with the aforementioned "angry inch," which ultimately leads to her divorce from the G.I. She ends up botched and alone in a trailer park in Kansas, where she continues to pursue her dream of becoming a rock star.

She forms a band, writes a catalog of good songs, meets young rocker Tommy Gnosis with whom she falls in love before he steals all her material and becomes a big rock star.

Be a devoted Hedhead: If this is a cult following you think you could get into, visit the official "Hedwig and The Angry Inch" Web site at www.get-hed.com, where you can download Hedwig paper dolls, send Hedwig e-cards and get your own glam rock name using the site's rock name generator.

You can call me Velvet Venus.