For those of you who don't yet know the brilliant Harvey Fierstein, allow me to introduce him to you. Known for his gravelly voice, actor, playwright, author, social activist and one time drag queen Harvey Fierstein is a bright light on the Great White Way known as Broadway. Having declared some time ago that his drag days were over, he reconsidered when offered the chance to originate the role of Edna Turnblad in Hairspray on Broadway for which he won the 2003 Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical. This was his fourth Tony Award to date. The first two were for Torch Song Trilogy which he wrote and starred in. The 1982 Broadway production won him Tony Awards for both Best Play and Best Actor in a Play. In 1983 he won a Tony for Best Book of a Musical for La Cage aux Folles. (He and Tommy Tune are the only people to have won Tony Awards in four different categories.) He also starred in the movie version of Torch Song Trilogy as well as appearances in Woody Allen's Bullets Over Broadway, Robin Williams' brother in Mrs. Doubtfire and Independence Day to name a few, and countless television appearances including the voice of Karl, Homer's assistant in the "Simpson and Delilah" episode of The Simpsons. You can also hear his trademark voice in the movie and on the soundtrack of Mulan as Yao singing "A Girl Worth Fighting For".
His latest Broadway musical, A Catered Affair, for which he wrote the book, opens in previews on March 25th with Fierstein playing the part of Uncle Winston. It's the story of a family strained to the limits with the dilemma of deciding whether to spend their life savings on a family business or give their daughter the lavish wedding they never had.
Fierstein is one of my favorite talk show guests and in my opinion steals the scene in everything I've seen him in. He's the ultimate "Jewish mother" who always knows what's best for you. (He once convinced my jazz idol, trumpet player Chris Botti who professes to be heterosexual, to kiss him on a talk show.) I regret having missed seeing him in Hairspray (although George Wendt's performance as Edna was stellar) and as Tevye in the 2005 revival of Fiddler on the Roof, so I will make an earnest effort to see him in A Catered Affair. Ah, so many great musicals on Broadway, so little time and money (sigh).
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