Hedwig and the Angry Inch, the unusual Off-Broadway musical hit, is headed your local record store Jan. 5. Atlantic Records publicist Bobbie Gale told Playbill On-Line that star John Cameron Mitchell, composer Stephen Trask and his band Cheater will go into an unnamed New York studio this month with producer Brad Wood. Wood is known for his work on the albums of alt rock artist Liz Phair.

The record will be accompanied by a single release, along with a video to support it. Atlantic has not decided which single will be promoted, but Gale said the creative team is leaning towards "Midnight Radio."

As previously reported, the show's team has also signed with New Line Pictures to turn the stage show into a movie. Mark Tusk of New Line confirmed that the company had reached a deal to bring Hedwig to the silver screen, though he added that some details were yet to be worked out. Mitchell will direct the movie. Tusk declined to confirm or deny any other aspects of a Variety story, which reported that the film was budgeted at $3.5 million. It is unclear whether the film will match the stage version of the story, which is told within the context of a concert by singer Hedwig, or whether the flick with flesh out the title transsexual's far-flung tale, which takes her from Eastern Germany to the United States. No shooting schedule has been set.

Gale said that there might eventually be two Hedwig albums, the first one documenting the stage version, and a second recording of the movie soundtrack.

Hedwig was written by its star, Mitchell (book), and Trask (music and lyrics). Mitchell plays the title singer, an obscure and tortured German-American transsexual rock singer, who tells her darkly comic story while ostensibly performing a concert. The Angry Inch, her back-up band, is Trask's rock combo Cheater, a staple at such downtown New York clubs as CBGB's and Mercury Lounge. The musical has been playing at the Jane Street Theatre since Feb. 14. -- By Robert Simonson