Torch Song Trilogy

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Torch Song Trilogy is a play by Harvey Fierstein.

The award-winning and popular work broke new ground in the theatre: "At the height of the post-Stonewall clone era, Harvey challenged both gay and straight audiences to champion an effeminate gay man's longings for love and family."[1]

It is comprised of three acts - International Stud, Fugue in a Nursery, and Widows and Children First! - all of which center on Arnold Beckoff, a torch song-singing Jewish drag queen living in New York City in the 1980s. The four hour-plus play begins with a soliloquy in which he explains his cynical disillusionment with love.

Each act focuses on a different phase in Arnold's life. In the first, Arnold meets Ed, who is uncomfortable with his bisexuality. In the second, two years later, Arnold meets Alan, and the two settle down into a blissful existence that includes plans to adopt a child, until tragedy strikes. In the third, several years later, Arnold is a single father raising gay teenager David. Arnold is forced to deal with his mother's intolerance and disrespect when she visits from Florida.

The first staging of International Stud opened on February 2, 1978 at the off-off-Broadway La MaMa, E.T.C., where it ran for two weeks. The off-Broadway production opened on May 22, 1978 at the Players Theatre, where it ran for 72 performances [2].

Torch Song Trilogy first opened at the uptown Richard Allen Center in October 1981 [3]. On January 15, 1982 it transferred to the Actors' Playhouse in Greenwich Village, where it ran for 117 performances [4]. The cast included Fierstein as Arnold, Joel Crothers as Ed, Paul Joynt as Alan, Matthew Broderick as David, and Estelle Getty as Mrs. Beckoff.

After eight previews, the Broadway production, directed by Peter Pope, opened on June 10, 1982 at the Little Theatre, where it ran for 1222 performances. Fierstein, Joynt, and Getty were joined by Court Miller as Ed and Fisher Stevens as David. Later in the run, David Garrison and Jonathan Hadary portrayed Arnold, Craig Sheffer was cast as Alan, and Barbara Barrie replaced Getty.

The play won Fierstein two Tony Awards, for Best Play and Best Actor in Play, two Drama Desk Awards, for Outstanding New Play and Outstanding Actor in a Play, and the Theatre World Award.

The West End production starring Anthony Sher, with Rupert Graves as Alan, opened on October 1, 1985 at the Noel Coward Theatre, where it ran for slightly more than seven months.

[edit] Film adaptation

Film poster
Film poster

In 1988, Fierstein adapted his play for a feature film directed by Paul Bogart. New Line Cinema insisted he restrict the film to a running time of two hours, which necessitated copious excisions. Fierstein regressed the time frame to a decade earlier than the play in order to justify his decision not to make mention of the AIDS epidemic at a time when it was very much a part of the public's awareness.

In addition to Fierstein (who was billed third), the cast included Anne Bancroft as Mrs. Beckoff, Matthew Broderick as Alan, Brian Kerwin as Ed, and Eddie Castrodad as David. Wanting to highlight the work of female impersonator Charles Pierce, Fierstein created the role of Bertha Venation specifically for him.

At the 1989 Deauville Film Festival, Bogart was nominated for the Critics Award and won the Audience Award. The film was nominated for Best Feature and Fierstein was nominated for Best Male Lead at the Independent Spirit Awards that same year.

Two anecdotes told in the DVD commentary offer some background into the making of the film. Broderick originally refused the role of Alan because he was recuperating from an automobile accident in Ireland. Tate Donovan was cast, but two days into the rehearsal period Broderick had a change of heart and contacted Fierstein, who fired Donovan.

The man living adjacent to the doorway used in a sequence at the end of the film never was asked permission to shoot the scene outside his home. He persisted in either playing his radio or television at a high volume or exiting his building in order to ruin the shot. Finally, the exasperated crew nailed his door shut, leading him to file a lawsuit against New Line.

[edit] Film plot synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
  • In The International Stud, set in 1971, Arnold meets Ed and they fall in love. Ed, however, is uncomfortable with his bisexuality; he leaves Arnold for a girlfriend, whom he subsequently marries.
  • Fugue in a Nursery starts at Christmas 1973, when Arnold meets the love of his life, Alan, a model. They settle down together, later spending a weekend with Ed and his wife, where their relationship is tested but endures. Eventually, they arrange to adopt a child together. At the end of the act, however, Alan is killed in a homophobic attack.
  • Widows and Children First! is set in the spring of 1980. Arnold's mother comes to visit from Florida and, after disapproving of Arnold's homosexuality and adoption of a gay teenage son (David), as well as Arnold's use of a family burial plot for Alan, they have a series of arguments where Arnold demands that she accept him for who he is. The following morning, before she returns to Florida, they have a conversation where, for the first time, they seem to understand each other.
Spoilers end here.

[edit] External links

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