Harvey Fierstein: Makes Broadway (And Queer) History | LGBTQ+ Elders Project

LGBTQ&A

Jeffrey Masters

Society & Culture

4.7 • 703 Ratings

🗓️ 15 March 2022

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When Torch Song Trilogy opened on Broadway in 1982, Harvey Fierstein became the first and, at the time, only out gay leading man on Broadway. He made further history by winning the Tony Award for Best Play and Best Actor in a Play for Torch Song Trilogy. One year later he won a third Tony Award for La Cage aux Folles and 20 years after that he won a fourth for playing Edna Turnblad Hairspray. Harvey joins us to talk about his unexpected life in theatre, his lifelong "gender issues", and his new memoir, I Was Better Last Night. This is part of our new LGBTQ+ Elders Project. You can listen to our interview with the 87-year-old, Barbara Satin. You can also listen to recent interviews with ACT UP's Peter Staley and Dr. Charles Silverstein. A condensed transcript of each week's interview is posted on The Advocate's website in the afternoon (or earlier if I get enough coffee). Come find us on Instagram (@lgbtqpod) to see the photos that Harvey shared with us, including one with his friend, Marsha P. Johnson. LGBTQ&A is hosted by Jeffrey Masters and produced by The Advocate magazine, in partnership with GLAAD. Follow us on Twitter: @lgbtqpod

Transcript

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0:00.0	If you can fuck with gender, I'm gonna do it.
0:03.0	You know, if there's a way to fuck with gender, Harvey's gonna find a way to do it.
0:07.0	If you don't ask questions, then what the fuck are you doing?
0:11.0	Long before becoming one of the most admired and decorated artists in theater history,
0:16.0	Harvey Firestein was simply a student, in college, one who had no intention of becoming an actor.
0:22.9	He wanted to be a visual artist.
0:24.9	And so when he saw that Andy Warhol, who he revered was putting on a play, he went to the
0:29.3	audition not to get cast, but because he wanted to meet Andy Warhol.
0:33.9	Harvey ended up, yes, getting cast, and the rest is history, although not a history that
0:39.1	I realized I knew anything about before reading his new book.
0:43.5	As just one example, in 1982, when Harvey was starring on Broadway in Torch Song Trilogy,
0:49.7	which he also wrote, that made him the first and at the time only out gay man in a leading role
0:56.6	on Broadway.
0:57.8	This was 1982.
0:59.4	He further made history that year by winning the Tony Award for Best Play and Best Actor
1:04.5	in a Play.
1:05.9	Those are the first two of four Tonys that he's won.
1:08.7	He was, until recently, the only person to have ever won a Tony
1:12.2	Ward for both writing and acting. Today, Harvey's here to talk about his rather remarkable and
1:18.5	busy career. He shares some X-rated stories because why not? And we also talk about his new memoir
1:24.9	that's called I Was Better Last Night and it's out now.
1:28.9	From The Advocate magazine in partnership with Glad, I'm Jeffrey Masters and this is LGBTQ and A.
	...

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