Interview with Harvey Fierstein

AE: Come to think of it, “family” has been a major theme of your work through the years, going all the way back to Torch Song Trilogy — especially the third part, “Widows and Children First!”
HF: Yes, and I was criticized for it. People like Edmund White would say, “Harvey's just turning us into heterosexuals. What gay person would ever want a kid?” Well, look at us now! I used to get in trouble because I would call San Francisco the gay Disneyland; it seemed like all people were doing was having sex and making notches on the bed.

But there's more to life than a blowjob. You've got to grow up at some point. This show, this story allowed me to say, “Here's a gay character from the past who lives through the craziness and finds the courage to go and have a relationship.”

The whole show is presented as his memory; it begins as he's moving in with his boyfriend. He's leaving his sister's house; he's got his suitcase. As he's walking down the street, he turns and looks back, and then we see the show in his mind. We see how he got to this point. So the show is not all gay, but in a way, that's really what it's about.

AE: What is it about the film that most affected you?
HF: What I found in the story was ordinary people — the kind of people who I grew up with — who are just trying to put food on the table. That's basically what life is about for them. Then something momentous happens, and they have to stop and think, “How did I end up here? What was it I wanted that brought me here, and what do I do with the rest of my life?”

All of the characters in this story have hit that moment. Tom, the father, has this dream [of getting his own cab]. He's working hard to get there, and he's almost there. Aggie, the mother, has put her dreams aside for all of her life, but now she suddenly sees a chance to live them through her daughter. And Jane, the daughter, has been treated in such a way that she has never allowed herself to dream.

There's such humanity in the characters Chayefsky wrote. And the screenplay for the film version was written by somebody you may have heard of: Gore Vidal. There's a very good pedigree here.

AE: What made you want to adapt the work of Chayefsky and Vidal for the musical stage?
HF: To me, the theater is a temple. It's the only god I have. We all enter this dark room together, in an act of faith. If somebody on stage says, “Well, it's just beautiful here in Budapest,” the audience is willing to say, “Okay, we're in Budapest!” Movies and television can't do that; you have to show Budapest. It only happens in the theater.

The question was, who the hell do you get to write a score that's human enough for a story like this? My friend Julie Halston gave me an album of John Bucchino's work, and I was amazed. There's nothing like his music and lyrics. In three minutes, he can create an entire world, tell an entire life story.

I approached him, and he told me, “You know, I really don't like theater.” He hates me saying that! But he was willing to take the journey with me. We wrote the show together, and it's been just a trip ever since then. The show has attracted exactly who we wanted to bring it to this point. I can't wait for everyone to see it.