Word: fierstein
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...lover for making it all possible. That in a few words epitomizes what the play successfully strives to do--not merely bring homosexuality "out of the closet," but place it in a broader social context, speaking of the problems of love, life and relationships as they affect everyone. Harvey Fierstein's Torch Song Trilogy is an extremely well written, well plotted and, judging by this production, well performed exploration of what one person, who happens to be homosexual, wants out of life...
...discover that what Arnold Beckoff wants--a career, a home, a person to share it with is no different from what everyone seeks. With sharp wit and a touch of pathos. Fierstein can appeal to both gay and straight audiences as he openly reveals how similar are the problems and desires of both worlds and how the worlds are not nearly as far apart as they might superficially seem to be. Arnold is a nightclub drag queen who falls in love, loses his lover to a woman, wants to raise a child, and has to cope with a nagging Jewish...
That indeed is the point of the play, a collection of three one-act vignettes written separately that cover six years in Arnold's life (and in Fierstein's life, as it is largely autobiographical). Stretching over 10 scenes and two intermissions in 3 hours and 30 minutes, the play is long and runs the risk of losing its audience. Occasionally, the pacing does drag and one can't help from checking the watch or fidgeting with the coat. Overall, however, the dialogue as presented by some very fine performers entices us, and we can truly empathize with Arnold...
There was a time in the not so distant past when a play dealing directly with homosexuality was box office poison. Today, Torch Song Trilogy continues in its third year on Broadway, while La Cage aux Folles (for which Fierstein wrote the book) plays to standing room audiences down the street. And so what is Fierstein trying to say in these works? It is not a political statement about homosexuality, nor it is an apology. The idea he expresses so eloquently is one of self-respect, of realizing one's worth and striving for what one desires and deserves...
...Cage aux Folies. The one megabit musical in a torpid Broadway season, Harvey Fierstein's gay valentine boasts a spectacular turn by George Hearn, as a Saint-Tropez drag queen, and surefire Jerry Herman songs that might have been composed on a calliope...