HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH

At: Church, 69 Kilmarnock St., Boston. June 9-11, 8 p.m. Tickets: $20. 617-236-7600, www.ticketfly.com

Gene Dante has tried on this feathered blond wig before. He already knows how to apply the glittery red lipstick that will get smudged later in the show. And the accent — that of a down-and-out, transgendered German rocker — is still spot on.

But when Dante stars in a new production of John Cameron Mitchell’s beloved rock musical “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,’’ which comes to the Fenway restaurant/club Church later this week, he’ll also bring a deeper understanding of the title character.

“He brings nine years of being a frontman in a band,’’ says Lisa van Oosterum, Dante’s manager who also plays his costar, Yitzhak, in the show. “I’ve seen other Hedwigs that have a lot more anger and more sadness, and that creates distance for the audience. He really invites the audience in to be friends with him. And I think that’s because of all the years of him putting himself out there as Gene Dante.’’

Dante is an anomaly in Boston’s music scene: an artist who has refused to pigeonhole his talents. Yes, he’s a singer — and quite a good one, with a laconic croon reminiscent of Bryan Ferry and Lou Reed — who fronts a glam-rock band called Gene Dante & the Future Starlets. And yes, he’s an actor, but he’s never defined himself strictly as one or the other.

“I always say, ‘I’m a singer who can act, not an actor who thinks he can rock,’ ’’ Dante says recently over dinner in Cambridge. “I can carry a tune, I can sell it, and I can write a song. But if I were to say where my passion lies, it’s a live concert.’’

That makes Dante even more suited to play a character like Hedwig, who often finds salvation in the songs she sings before her fans. At a recent performance in Portland, Maine, Dante was fully immersed in the role when an audience member started to slur punch lines before Dante got around to delivering them. Dante was quick with a quip and a wink of his mascara-lined eye; like that, the would-be heckler was silenced. That’s a trick Dante picked up from dealing with live crowds at his band’s shows.
JAMES REED

This new production of “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,’’ which will be staged at Church June 9-11, is a reprise for Dante and van Oosterum in the musical’s lead roles. In 2002, they performed the show for nearly a month at the old Institute of Contemporary Art and then another six weeks at the long-gone club Axis. (The show migrates to the Provincetown Theater on the Cape July 16-30.)