Harvey Fierstein, on eve of Tony honor, looks back on his career

Independent

05-06-2025

Last year, Broadway actor and playwright Harvey Fierstein handed director Jack O'Brien the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre. This year, it's his turn.
'Following him is not an easy task. In fact, I spoke to him and he said, 'I just want to put my name in there as someone who would love to give you the award.' And I said, 'Well, I'd rather you didn't.' I said, 'I'd rather you wrote my speech,'' Fierstein says.
Fierstein, the four-time Tony winner behind 'Torch Song Trilogy' and 'Kinky Boots,' will get the award Sunday at Radio City Music Hall.
He connected by Zoom from his home in 'a small fictional town in Connecticut' to talk about his career and a Broadway season dominated by George Clooney in 'Good Night, and Good Luck' and Denzel Washington in 'Othello.'
The conversation has been edited for clarity and brevity.
AP: Do you know what you're going to say on Tony night?
FIERSTEIN: I never know what I'm going to say. But I have been trying to gather thoughts, which I guess is a good idea. And I watched at least five or six lifetime achievements speeches by others.
AP: Has the honor triggered any personal thoughts?
FIERSTEIN: I did write a line that may or may not end up in my speech, saying that the most humbling thing is to think that my life meant something to the community. It's one thing to be enjoyed, but to have the kind of meaning that they turn around and say, 'We want to give you a lifetime achievement'? That's a very heady idea.
AP: Was a lifetime in the theater inevitable?
FIERSTEIN: No, no, no. I guess there are theatrical types, but art was always inevitable. I was sort of artistic, but I thought I'd maybe be a Disney animator. I don't think I ever believed I was good enough to create the Disney characters, but there were people that took the creation and then did the other drawings. I thought I could do that. Something in the arts. I had my BA in painting from Pratt. That's what I thought was going to do.
AP: You arrived on Broadway just as AIDS was consuming the arts. What was Broadway like then?
FIERSTEIN: There was no time to think about it. We had to go to war immediately. If you remember, Ronald Reagan never said the word 'AIDS' in eight years. There was no attack against the disease; there was only an attack against people. People wouldn't go to restaurants because there were gay waiters. There were people that wouldn't go to Broadway because there were gay people. They might be in the audience with gay people.
AP: You work has always been about compassion. Why didn't you want to burn it all down?
FIERSTEIN: My writing is telling stories that mean something to me. And certainly there's hatred and there's anger in my stories — and truth — as far as I can tell them. But the horrible truth is that no matter how badly we act as human beings, there's still a humanity under it all.
AP: What are your thoughts about the current Broadway season?
FIERSTEIN: Who would have guessed that we'd have a season where the plays were the big thing and the musicals are sort of ignored? Thanks to George and Denzel and these stars that return to Broadway — thankfully return to Broadway — and they've done these plays and it's wonderful. They're bringing an audience that maybe wouldn't go see a musical or a play.
AP: Just get them to experience it, right?
FIERSTEIN: Once you go to the theater, once you get in there and if you have a good time, if it does something, you're going to come back. I don't care why you came in the first place. Come back and see what else we have and open your mind and heart — and wallets.
AP: What about the pipeline of playwrights — are you happy with it?
FIERSTEIN: There are people that are in love with theater, certainly, but there are people that want to make a living. And those people seem to drift to television and movies. I have a nephew married to a wonderful woman who wants to be a writer, but what she wants to write is movies and TV. It wouldn't even interest her to write a play. I don't know why. It seems easier to write television. It seems easier to write a half-hour where you already are given the characters.
AP: Congratulations again. You are beloved in this community and a lifetime achievement award seems appropriate.
FIERSTEIN: I thought it was because they just wanted to give me something else to dust, because I ain't got enough stuff to dust here.
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For more coverage of the 2025 Tony Awards, visit https://apnews.com/hub/tony-awards.