Harvey Fierstein Talks LA CAGE From 1983 to Today

Harvey Fierstein, the four-time Tony Award-winning actor who stepped into the heels of Albin/Zaza in LA CAGE AUX FOLLES on February 15th, recently spoke about the show, the role, and more. 

Fierstein is an award-winning playwright, actor, and Gay Rights activist. He is the only person in the history of the American theater who has won Tony Awards as an actor and as a writer in both the dramatic and musical categories. In 2005, Fierstein spent a triumphant year on Broadway as Tevye in a critically-acclaimed production of Fiddler on the Roof. Film appearances include Torch Song Trilogy, Woody Allen's Bullets Over Broadway, Mrs. Doubtfire, and the Showtime TV movie Common Ground (which he also wrote), among many others.

Fierstein co-wrote LA CAGE in 1983, the book for which he won a Tony Award; what's changed in the the time that's passed since? "I've slipped some lines back in that someone - I'm not going to name names, Arthur - found too daring in 1983, but that you would laugh at now because there's nothing very daring about them," he tells Time Out New York. I might have been a little ahead of my time. When [Georges and Albin] kiss at the end now, the audience goes nuts. I wasn't allowed that kiss for 20 years!"

Despite two revivals including the one still playing at the Longacre Theatre - and the fact that all three productions have won Tony Awards - Fierstein has never taken on an acting role within the show. "It never occurred to me," he says. But had he played a role sooner, it might not have been Albin: "The part I always liked better was Georges; he sings more, and I think his jokes are funnier. But he doesn't get to wear the pretty clothes-which are a pain in the f***ing ass! Eleven costume changes, and it's not like Hairspray, where at least you stay a girl...as [predecessor] Doug Hodge said to me, this production is tantamount to a two-hour mugging." Still, he doesn't plan to tone down his portrayal any, asking "How much camp can I get away with? There's always a difference between me and somebody else."

LA CAGE has had a long and successful history, last year becoming the only production to win the Tony Award for Best Musical and Best Revival for each one of its productions, beginning with the 1984 Tonys. On George Hearn performing in a tuxedo during that ceremony, the actor says simply, "Nameless people...those were different times." Though he could probably reminisce over LA CAGE's illustrious past, expect Harvey Fierstein to look forward, not backward. He closes with words of wisdom: "We can't live in yesterday." Read the full article here.