THE KING OF BROADWAY
Harvey Fierstein is a legend of entertainment and gay rights activism. His first acting job was in Andy Warhol’s only play Pork, and he wrote and starred in Torch Song Trilogy, the first Broadway play to make money, before then starring in the film adaptation alongside Matthew Broderick. He wrote the book for La Cage aux Folles and created the role of Edna Turnblad in Hairspray The Musical. He is one of only three actors to have received Tony awards in four different categories, played the first openly gay character on Broadway, and has appeared in multiple films including Mrs Doubtfire, Independence Day and Bullets Over Broadway. This month he premieres the iconic musical, Kinky Boots, along with his play Casa Valentina in London. “It’s always exciting to get your work done,” says the famously gravelly-voiced Fierstein, talking to me on the phone from his Connecticut home. Fierstein is talkative but also combative, repeatedly resisting my attempts to make connections between his works. His career has regularly been about pushing the theatrical envelope, but he clearly refuses to be put into one.
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