Harvey's Broadway Blog: The Reviews Are In

Welcome to the debut of a very 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 out-of-town tryouts to Opening Night (and beyond).  A CATERED AFFAIR also features a score by John Bucchino and is being directed by Tony Award-winner John Doyle. Prior to Broadway, the new musical will play at San Diego's Old Globe Theatre beginning September 20th and then hit the Great White Way at the  Walter Kerr Theatre with previews beginning on begin March 25. The cast includes Broadway favorites Faith Prince, Tom Wopat, Harvey Fierstein, Leslie Kritzer and Matt Cavenaugh. Group tickets for the show are now on sale. 

THE REVIEWS ARE IN AND THEY ARE RAVES!!!!

Four of the five reviews that I've seen are just wonderful. They love the show, they congratulate us on its intelligence and humility and emotional truth and daring. Then they go on to rave about all of the wonderful performers. Looking over the reviews I see that not a single actor was left out for commendation. I'm so excited.

When you take the chance to do something new, to be the "un-cola", there is an extra special sweetness to having the work appreciated. John Bucchino, John Doyle and myself stepped off that ledge of safety and today I am more happy than ever that we did. It looks like we are creating something NEW that is reaching people and touching them in a very special way. YES!

Of course raves for Faith Prince and Tom Wopat and the rest of the cast are sweet as well since those great artists have forfeited more profitable work to dedicate these months in an out-of-town tryout. Both personally and professionally I'm thrilled the wager has paid off for them. They deserve every word of praise that they've garnered.

And The Old Globe appears to be very happy with the show's reception as well. Their season ticket holders are joyously embracing our show, and new audience is coming to the theater seeking to find out what all the hoopla is about. VERY EXCITING TIMES!!!

PREJUDICE IS THE GREATEST ENEMY OF ART:

BUT in life there is always one badly behaved guest at the party and in this case it was the reviewer from the LA Times. The man begins his piece by telling us that he hates the original film, hates the original teleplay, has no respect or even like for the work of Paddy Chayefsky, dislikes social drama in general, and downright loathes me. He then wastes the rest of his newspaper's space trying to justify his loathsome opinion. I'm sorry, friends, that's not reviewing, that's simply proselytizing.

Knowing his own predisposition and knowing that there was no way he was going to view the show with any semblance of an open mind, the only fair thing to do was to rescuse himself from the assignment and allow someone else to review the show. But bullies don't play fair, do they? He dismissed our show before ever entering the theater. I think his newspaper should do likewise with his contract. Such open hostility for the art of creation does no one, least of all the LA Times readership, any service.

PREJUDICE IS THE GREATEST ENEMY OF TRUTH:

In amongst the raves I am slightly puzzled by another comment that a few critics made about my character in the show. Anyone familiar with my work knows that I'm no stranger to social controversy. When I wrote Torch Song Trilogy many critics took issue with my character wanting to adopt and raise a child. They were absolutely positive that no gay people had such desires. We now, of course, know that those critics' surety was misplaced.

Likewise when I wrote my play Spookhouse I was attacked for presenting a mother who hurts her own child and a social-worker whose meddling destroys a family. The critics were once again absolutely certain that no mother would ever hurt her own child and that social workers never had negative effects on families. Once again I don't think I'd have a problem with those critics these days.

And when I wrote Safe Sex and talked about AIDS having a long reaching effect on how we human interrelate the critics were quick to call my claims absurd. They were positive that AIDS would be cured in a year or two and would never touch the lives of non-gay Americans. They absolutely lectured me that AIDS was a passing phenom.

Please understand that I was not right about those subjects because I am some prophet with a crystal ball. I was right because, before I put pen to paper, I do my research. I don't create just out of my own opinion. Only a lazy intellect assumes that he/she already knows everything about a subject via incidental heresay.

Before I write I read, I interview sources, I examine and probe. Only then can I put my name and reputation behind what I write. But the aforementioned critics blasted my work with no authority but their own misinformation or opinion. In the cases stated above not one of those critics stopped to ask themselves if JUST MAYBE I knew something they didn't know. In the long run I turned out to be right in all instances, but my reputation and writing veracity took painful hits. Truth won the war, but I have plenty of battle scars from the skirmishes.

ONE MORE TIME INTO THE FRAY...

In A Catered Affair I have been accused, by a few well meaning critics who loved the show, of creating a gay character that is "post-Stonewall" and not true to the period of the piece. Once again I ask: What makes them so sure? Did they do any of the research that I did? Did they interview gay men who lived through the period as I have? Did they view documentaries telling stories of what it was like to be gay in 1953 as I did? Did they read books or personal accounts of gay life in 1953 as I did?

I doubt that one of those critics took the time to be sure they were correct before telling me that I was incorrect. Still they blithely and boldy state in print that I am wrong and they are right!!! I say that is simply outrageous. And I tell you ON RECORD that I did my research and I firmly stand behind my portrayal of that character as true and real. The funny part is that these opinions, like most advice, were not given to harm, but to help me make a better piece. So, I thank them for their advice, but encourage them to know whereof they speak before prescribing cures.

MAYBE I'M CRAZY, BUT...

...I go to the theater hoping that I will learn something new. I go praying that the playwright will inform my world, change my opinion, enlighten me, cause me to think, open my mind and heart. But it seems that some critics go to the theater only to validate their own predetermined opinion. What a loss for them! And what a loss for their readers.

BACK TO THE RAVES...

So, all in all, I am happy to report that we have a HIT on our hands. The tickets for our run here in San Diego are quickly disappearing with many performances already sold out. In fact, the theater has asked us to extend our run by a week and maybe even another week if the actors can all be persuaded to stay.

And my fan mail has been incredible (mostly from older gay men thanking me for speaking for their silence).

Every night we are treated to an audience reaction that is simply amazing. When the play is quiet you can hear a pin drop in the theater. There is no shuffling, no coughing, no one gets up to go to the bathroom. The audience sits in rapt attention and it's remarkable. And then something funny will happen on stage and they explode in laughter and applause. What is going on between audience and show is no less than a miracle.

SENDING LOVE TO ALL OF YOU OUT THERE

So we are grateful and fulfilled which are the best things theater artists can be. We are already looking ahead toward our journey from San Diego to Broadway and for news on that all you need to do is...

STAY TUNED!!!!