Harvey's Broadway Blog: Firecrackers, Rainstorms & Stritch -- Oh, My!

Harvey Returns! Welcome to The Return of special new series on BroadwayWorld.com - four time Tony Award-winner Harvey Fierstein's personal MySpace blog of bringing his brand new musical, A Catered Affair to Broadway. We'll be exclusively picking up Harvey Fierstein's blog as he shares his first hand reports from rehearsals to Opening Night (and beyond). Check back for updates as rehearsals get underway!

ONE MONTH TO GO...

...and all in all it was a quiet week. The July Fourth holiday, falling on a Friday, emptied the city out pretty early in the week. So we played to smaller, but no less enthusiastic audiences, and enjoyed our time together.

POKER....

...was the main event. We played between shows on Thursday and again on Saturday. Squeezed into my dressing room, we giggled and snacked our way through the breaks. As you can see from the photos, my MICKEY MOUSE HATS were very popular good-luck charms among the players. The one that says WINSTON (the name of my character) was a gift from producers Jordan and Richie. The one that says GBM was a gift from our press agent, Rick Miramontez. Just what the GBM stands for I cannot divulge. But I'm sure your own imaginations can provide fun guesses.

Cavenaugh prepares to attack.

Klaus rallies her nerves.

Matt Scott ciphers the odds.

and Danny just tosses money at the rest of us!

JUST BEFORE SHOWTIME...

...is always interesting in my room. Folks drop by on their way down to the stage or just hang out waiting for the show to start.

Here are Adam and Penny waiting for The Go.

And either Leslie was being shy or she was trying to tell me something with this pose. Can you guess what that message may have been?

THE VISITOR

Lest you think the week was without incident of note, here is a photo of legendary actress Elaine Stritch who popped backstage after seeing the show. And I'll risk tooting our collective show horn by telling you that she went APE for the show. She called it "New - EXCITING - REAL - BRILLIANT - SHOCKING - and - B-LL-S-IT FREE!" It was really lovely hearing her go on and on that way.

THREE WEEKS TO GO

And so we have only 3 weeks, or 24 performances, to go before we slip away from The Walter Kerr Theater. I expect that our audiences will continue to discover the unique experience we offer even while we begin to pull up our tent-pegs.

Meanwhile, I will keep you up to date on all that happens with us.

So, from me and all the gang at A Catered Affair I say...

...STAY TUNED!!!!