Torch Song

[edjames]

Looks like a hit. I saw this wonderful revival starring Michael Urie and Mercedes Ruehl the other evening and loved it! I saw the original downtown at the Actor's Playhouse on 7th Avenue South back in 1982, when author, Harvey Fierstein, Estelle Getty, and Matthew Broderick starred. I thought the play holds up well and still has impact. Michael Urie was fabulous, although his Brooklyn accent still has leftover touches of Barbra Streisand from his role in Buyer & Celler.

Of note is young handsome actor Michael Rosen who plays the role of Alan in the second act Fugue In A Nursery. Alan is a former gay hustler who is now a model and the romantic partner of Arnold. He flaunts his toned body in a pair of bikini briefs/swimsuit. Very, very cute!

The audience, mostly gay men, loved it! Tremendous applause and cheers at the curtain call.

 

Michael Reidel in the NYPost had this to day in a recent column:

 

The buzz around the revival of Harvey Fierstein’s “Torch Song” at Second Stage Theater is so good, there’s talk of a move to Broadway in the spring.

 

But don’t tell Fierstein.

 

“Stop!” he says when I bring up rumors of a transfer. “I’ve got enough trouble with the ‘what nows’ without starting on the ‘what ifs.’ That’s my philosophy on that s–t.”

 

Whatever happens, Fierstein is pleased that a play he began writing in 1978 can still entertain and move theatergoers, including many who weren’t even born when “Torch Song” (then called “Torch Song Trilogy”) won the Tony Award for Best Play in 1983.

 

“I love to hear from the kids,” says Fierstein. “The other night a straight young couple waited for me outside the theater. They were from Australia — I’m not going to attempt their accent — and they said, ‘We don’t want to insult you, but we’ve never heard of you before. But we have to tell you we loved your play.’

 

“Do you know how thrilling it is to for me to hear that about a play I wrote 40 years ago? And from straight Australians?”

 

As the original title indicates, “Torch Song Trilogy” consists of three plays. The first — “The International Stud” — introduces Arnold Beckoff, a professional drag queen and die-hard romantic. Fierstein played Arnold in the original production, winning a Tony Award and launching a career that’s kept him in the spotlight ever since.

 

Michael Urie, from “Ugly Betty,” plays Arnold in the revival, which is being directed by Moisés Kaufman (“I Am My Own Wife”).

 

“Fugue in a Nursery,” the second part, finds Arnold and his new lover, a male model, visiting Arnold’s ex-boyfriend, who left him for a woman.

 

The final (and best-loved) part, “Widows and Children First!,” features a star turn for Arnold’s domineering, hilarious Jewish mother — from Miami, of course — who still hopes her son will settle down with a nice Jewish girl one day.

 

Estelle Getty shot to fame in the role, ending up on TV’s “The Golden Girls” after leaving the show. Mercedes Ruehl gives it her own, very funny spin in this revival. The audience still gasps when Mrs. Berkoff lets Arnold have it for “rubbing my face” in his homosexuality.

 

The character, as Fierstein now admits, was based on his own mother, who loved him dearly but struggled to come to terms with his sexuality.

 

“I’ll tell you a story about my mother,” Fierstein says. “She took my grandmother to see me in the play on Broadway. They came after the first part [which features a graphic sex scene in the backroom of a bar] because my grandmother would not have survived it. At the end of the show, my grandmother says, ‘So Harvey’s a homosexual?’ And my mother says, ‘How should I know? I didn’t sleep with him.’

 

“It took her a little while, but eventually she came around to accepting my sexuality,” he continues. “And at 85 she was delivering meals on wheels to people with AIDS.”

 

“Torch Song Trilogy” originally ran over four hours, but Fierstein has spent the last several months trimming it to fast-paced two hours and 45 minutes.

 

“I’ve noticed a lot of theaters only wanted to do one or two of the plays,” he says. “People are scared of the word ‘trilogy.’ So I’m now calling it ‘Torch Song,’ which is a lovely phrase. If you hear ‘trilogy,’ you think, ‘Oh, my God, I’m not going to get out of here till five in the morning. Marvin, get the car!’

 

“But it’s just ‘Torch Song’ now. So nobody has to be scared anymore.”

[+ quoththeraven]

The original Torch Song Trilogy is legit the best (dramatic) play I've ever seen. (Touring version, not Broadway.)

[foxy]

The International Stud, the name of the original first act and where the play starts off was a real bar in the West Village. It was in the days of anything goes in NYC. What looked like a nice little neighborhood gay bar complete with exposed brick walls and a pool table had a notorious back room. Behind a curtain it was packed with men having sex in an almost completely dark room. One huge orgy! You could call it the good old days. Or not.

[edjames]

Review: A ‘Torch Song’ Burning With Emotion Behind the Laughs

TORCH SONG

 

By BEN BRANTLEY OCT. 19, 2017

 

Two couples figuring things out: Roxanna Hope Radja and Ward Horton, and Michael Urie and Michael Rosen in “Torch Song.”

 

When Michael Urie and Mercedes Ruehl start to cut each other’s hearts out in the second act of Harvey Fierstein’s “Torch Song,” your responses are likely to be deeply divided. “Stop that right now!” you think. Because what they’re doing feels too painful, too private and quite possibly too close to your own home for public consumption.

 

But another part of you is flushed with the thrill that comes from watching two ideally matched performers, at the top of their games, demonstrating the unholy power of flesh and blood to wound its own. Portraying a New York drag queen and his mother visiting from Miami, Mr. Urie and Ms. Ruehl make a strong case for a fiercely tugged umbilical cord as the ultimate weapon of destruction.

 

Not bad for a three-decades-old comedy that would seemed to have passed its sell-by date years ago.

“Torch Song,” which opened at the Tony Kiser Theater on Thursday night in a Second Stage Theater production, is a two-act, trimmed-down version of “Torch Song Trilogy.” That’s the original four-hour portrait of the tribulations of a flamboyantly emotional gay man that captivated mainstream theatergoers when it opened on Broadway in 1982.

• It also picked up two Tonys for Mr. Fierstein — hitherto best known for his cross-dressing turns on the margins of Off Broadway — for best play and best actor, and established him as the rare openly gay performer and writer whom even Mom and Dad from the suburbs might enjoy without tsoris. (It was the basis for a less successful
  .) It could be argued that without Mr. Fierstein there would be no “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,” “Will & Grace” or “Modern Family” on television.
   
  Still, breakthrough works that make uneasy subjects feel comfortable often seem quaint in retrospect. Certainly, that was my impression when I saw a 2012 staging of “Torch Song” in London, at the Menier Chocolate Factory. With its high sentimentality quotient and wisecracking briskness, it came across as an honorable, gender-tweaking variation on Neil Simon’s classic cash-cow comedies of urban Jewish anxiety.
  

Yet this latest incarnation of “Torch Song,” directed by Moisés Kaufman, finds an irresistibly compelling gravity beneath the glibness. Best known for staging lyrical but earnest topical dramas (“The Laramie Project,” “Gross Indecency,” “Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo”), Mr. Kaufman turns out to be just the man for eliciting the sting within the soap bubbles of “Torch Song.”

 

Even more important, without overdoing the tremolo, Mr. Kaufman and Mr. Urie make sure we see the vital links between camp comic postures and the genuine fear and pain that lie beneath. Defiantly quipping bravado is a suit of armor for Arnold Beckoff, the show’s leading man (and occasional lady).

 

That carapace has served him well. But sometimes it pinches. And as Arnold, Mr. Urie, who has become one of our most inspired physical comedians, digs deeper here to let us feel exactly where it hurts.

 

When we meet Ms. Ruehl as his mother (call her Ma) in the play’s second act, we experience the shock of recognition that occurs when longtime friends introduce us to their parents. “Oh,” we think, “so that’s where it comes from.” Embodied with carefully harnessed restraint by Ms. Ruehl, whose expert comic timing matches Mr. Urie’s, Ma loves her Arnold as only a mother can.

 

Photo

Fighting words: Michael Urie as Arnold and Mercedes Ruehl as his mother in “Torch Song.”CreditSara Krulwich/The New York Times

That’s especially true for a mother who sees her own image in her grown child as clearly as this one does. Which makes the differences between them — in this case, the little matter of Arnold’s being gay — take on the openhanded smack of betrayal.

 

The hour or so of entertainment that precedes this encounter is perfectly pleasant. It features one of the funniest simulated sex scenes ever (performed solo by Mr. Urie), not to mention some peerless aperçus. “A drag queen’s like an oil painting,” Arnold tells the audience. “You gotta stand back from it to get the full effect.”

 

Of course, what Mr. Urie does is let us see the brush strokes that went into this frame-worthy creation. And he shows Arnold’s ambivalence about letting others perceive the genuine fragility that he caricatures. This two-sided self-exposure is especially evident in his relationship with Ed (Ward Horton), a self-defined heterosexual with a taste for dalliance in the back rooms of gay bars.

 

It is at just such an establishment, the International Stud (a real place, and notorious in the pre-AIDS era), that Arnold meets Ed in 1974. Their passionate physical affair ends (sort of) when Ed announces he’s going to marry a woman, Laurel (Roxanna Hope Radja). Arnold, in turn, takes up with Alan (Michael Rosen), a streetwise young model and former hustler.

 

The erotic and psychological crosscurrents among this foursome occupy the play’s second part, which is its most contrived and least convincing. It’s in the extended third section that “Torch Song” reveals the tougher mettle of which it is made.

 

We are now in 1980. Arnold and Ed have been (platonically) reunited. And there’s a new guy in the picture: David (Jack DiFalco), a smart-mouthed gay teenager to whom Arnold has become a foster parent. Soon enough, Ma, fresh from Miami, arrives to assess this awkward ménage. And while Ma is as bright a joke maker as her son, there’s no question that it will end in tears.

 

Featuring astute, period-specific sets (by David Zinn) and costumes (by Clint Ramos) that summon the 1970s without winking nostalgia, this “Torch Song” has been impeccably assembled, with acting to match throughout. Mr. Horton, who wears Ed’s conflicts with a forthright air of denial, is the dream straight man (so to speak) to Mr. Urie’s flamboyant Arnold.

 

Mr. DiFalco adroitly avoids the perils of wise-child sassiness and brings a surprising and necessary flash of pain to the recollection of a gay hate crime. And Ms. Radja and Mr. Rosen make the most of what are ultimately throwaway parts.

 

But Mr. Urie and Ms. Ruehl take the show to a level of emotional truthfulness that makes objections to ungainly construction feel beside the point. Ma’s refusal to acknowledge the fact of Arnold’s homosexuality is given full validity in Ms. Ruehl’s uncompromising performance as a woman who avoids the truth by making a joke of it.

 

You know exactly where she’s coming from. And it’s that embracing spirit of understanding, grounded in a bedrock of family feeling, that comes to the surface so startlingly and movingly in this “Torch Song.”

 

Like the 2011 Broadway revival of Larry Kramer’s “The Normal Heart,” a later play about gay men that once seemed stuck in the past, Mr. Kaufman’s stirring production propels an ostensible period piece into a vibrant present. Emotions as strong as those brought to the surface here, you realize, never go out of date.

[uwsman2]

I saw it this afternoon. Great cast all around. I loved every minute of it!

[cany10011]

Looking forward to seeing it this afternoon !

[Cooper]

What an amazing & well written play. Extremely talented & likable cast. One of Harvey Fierstein's best!

[Cooper]

Looking forward to seeing it this afternoon !

 

@cany10011 What did you think of the play?

 

I found the dialogue between Arnold (Michael Urie) and Ma (Mercedes Ruehl) to be brilliant and mesmerizing. Drawing on your every emotion. It's plays like these that draw me to Broadway.

 

David (Jack DiFalco), playing the 15 yo (almost 16) old boy soon to be adopted by Arnold, is so likable and talented. Enjoyed every minute he was on stage.

 

The 2 hunks, Ed (Ward Horton) and Alan (Michael Rosen), were amazing in their roles and looked great in their boxers/briefs.

 

What can I say about the talented Laurel (Roxanna Hope Radja). What a roller-coaster role she had to play and pulled it off with such charm, humor, and class.

 

Highly recommended.

[cany10011]

Hi Cooper, I loved the show. It was fantastic. Michael Urie is so great at playing physical roles. I also saw him recently in Government Inspector and loved it as well.

I went gaga for Michael Rosen - he looked amazing in those tight briefs... wish there were an escort that looked like him

[+ Cash4Trash]

+1 - a very good production of this play, well worth a visit.

[N13]

Not too much to add to the insightful reviews already given. When Coop says that this is what draws him to Broadway I have to completely agree. There has been so much bad theater that has driven this once avid theatergoer away ( Fun Home being at the top of the list!). Standing ovations for everything? This is what theater is supposed to be!!! Great script, Great acting and a recognition that everything does not have to be dumbed down to be good. Another show where I don't feel 'raped' for my ticket price.

[edjames]

As per the original post, I saw this production at Second Stage last fall. I thought it was great then and after seeing it again last night, I still think it's terrific.

Now on Broadway with the original Second Stage cast, this historic gay play still resonates with the audience. The young woman behind me gasped and chuckled her way throughout, although, not so much as to be annoying. As I previously wrote, they (author, Harvey Fierstein and director, Moises Kaufman) have worked successfully to trim the script and improve the flow. The cast is, well, superb. This time around, I really enjoyed Mercedes Rhuel in her role and the others in cast, especially cutie Michael Rosen are very good. Most of all, it's Michael Urie who shines as Arnold. This is a tour-de-force performance and one that should not be missed. He is wonderful.

[Becket]

Loved Anne Bancroft in the movie. She was great in everything, really.

[edjames]

NYTimes review.

 

1. 
   By Ben Brantley
   

Nov. 1, 2018

In life, drama queens, those extravagantly emotional beings who suck up all the oxygen in a room, are fatiguing souls, to be avoided at all costs when one is tired. But, ah, in fiction — in books and film, and especially on the stage — these same creatures can be an energizing joy, as stimulating as four shots of espresso.

 

That’s why I am advising you to make the acquaintance of a grade-A specimen of this spectacular genus, whose presence is overflowing the Helen Hayes Theater. His undramatic name is Arnold Beckoff, though he also goes by the more promising moniker of Virginia Ham. And, as embodied by Michael Urie in the happy revival of Harvey Fierstein’s “Torch Song,” which opened on Thursday night, Arnold is just the guy and gal to pull you out of your election-season weariness.

 

He may also cause you to shed a few sentimental tears, but isn’t that what you expect of a drama queen? And wait until you meet Arnold’s mother, who is played, if you please, by Mercedes Ruehl.

 

Though a slender fellow, Mr. Urie reads so exultantly big in this production that you almost forget the man who indelibly created Arnold. That’s Mr. Fierstein, the author and original star of “Torch Song Trilogy,” as it was known when it shook up Broadway in the early 1980s, copping

 

A portrait of a lovelorn, nice Jewish boy who works as a gender illusionist, that original production took mainstream theatergoers to places few had visited before, including (hilariously) a bar back room for the purposes of sweaty, anonymous sex. Yet Mr. Fierstein’s Arnold clearly belonged to a breed that Broadway has always celebrated.

 

I mean those natural-born stage stars who are both inescapably odd and embraceably accessible, like Carol Channing and Zero Mostel, who make eccentricities more commanding than beauty. The strapping Mr. Fierstein, with his foghorn voice and borscht belt timing, gave the world a drag queen that every mother could love, and a script with the zing of an R-rated Neil Simon comedy.

 

 

Mr. Fierstein went on to become nearly as much a staple of the mainstream theatrical landscape as Mr. Simon, both as a performer (“Hairspray”) and as a book-writer for musicals (“La Cage aux Folles”). Because of his singular status, there was some skepticism when it was announced that “Torch Song” would be part of Second Stage Theater’s Off Broadway season last year.

 

Yet that revival, directed by Moisés Kaufman, became such a hit that it was decided to move it for a limited run to Second Stage’s new Broadway digs, the Helen Hayes. I admired its unexpected intimacy and intensity last year, especially in the scenes between Mr. Urie and Ms. Ruehl.

 

Mr. Kaufman’s staging — still designed to please the eye without overwhelming it, with 1970s shorthand sets by David Zinn, costumes to match by Clint Ramos and lighting by David Lander — now feels smoother and quicker on its feet. It also feels, well, bigger.

 

I’m referring particularly to Mr. Urie’s performance. This nimble actor has already demonstrated canny comic chops in Off Broadway plays (Jonathan Tolins’s “Buyer & Cellar,” Gogol’s “The Government Inspector.”) But in filling Mr. Fierstein’s dauntingly big shoes on a Broadway stage, Mr. Urie stretches to color in the outsize outlines of his part.

 

This might have led to a strained, shrill performance. Instead, it has inspired a seriously entertaining interpretation of living large as a proactive defense against feeling small.

 

“A model is,” Arnold explains to a young man of that profession. “A drag queen aspires.” And as we follow the chapters of Arnold’s rocky relationship with a closeted schoolteacher, Ed (Ward Horton, pitch perfect as an almost-straight man), Mr. Urie finds a physical grandeur in such aspiration.

 

Even without the wigs and tarantula eyelashes of his performing alter ego, Arnold is a preternaturally heightened figure, only rarely without the battle gear of exaggeration and melodrama. His approach to life seems to be that to inflate — problems, pain, indecision — is to deflaate. Hyperbole, after all, makes targets more hittable.\

 

This means that Arnold never walks when he can bound or caper; never mists up when he can bawl; never simply says “mmm-hmm” in conversation when he can trump whatever’s been said with a top-spun joke, even at his own expense.

This is evident in his tortured relationships with Ed; with the woman Ed marries, Laurel (Roxanna Hope Radja, who winningly brings out the character’s wry masochism); and with the handsome, much younger Alan, the model (a likable Michael Hsu Rosen).

 

Those are the dramatis personae of the play’s first half, which on Broadway has acquired a new breeziness. The pain these people inflict on one another in the name of love (and the denial of it) always hums beneath the surface. The second half introduces us to David (Jack DiFalco, convincingly sassy if a shade too old for the part), a gay 15-year-old whom Arnold is hoping to adopt and, best of all, Mrs. Beckoff, the woman Arnold calls Ma, who arrives from Florida on a visit.

 

That’s Ms. Ruehl’s part, which she walks, not runs, with and nearly steals the show in an expertly coiled performance. From the moment she arrives, toting all manner of baggage, it’s clear that Ma and Arnold are of the same flesh. Even when they’re quarreling, which is much of the time, they have the synchronized rhythms of a vaudeville team.

 

You could even say that Ma, the homemaker with a will of iron, is ultimately what Arnold aspires to be. This makes her rejection of him, as a gay man with Good Housekeeping dreams, all the more lacerating. Not that Arnold can’t stand up to her, and not that she can’t stand up to him standing up to her — which turns their climactic face-off into a shattering battle royal.

 

“Torch Song” has its moments of pure sitcom — there’s a protracted scene about the awfulness of Ed’s cooking — which you can only grin and bear. But it also incorporates shadows of tragedy, including a plot turn involving a brutal hate crime, that feel sadly topical.

 

And there are moments when Mr. Urie’s Arnold lets us see the bona fide, bottomless fear and uncertainty beneath the larger-than-life facade. It’s there as a sudden, unexpected flicker in his eyes when he says that, at 13, “I knew everything.”

 

In his opening monologue, Arnold tells us: “A drag queen is like an oil painting. You gotta stand back to get the full effect.” Mr. Urie gives us that full effect, for sure. But as you come to know this dizzying, sobering and surprisingly instructive drama queen, standing back is hardly an option.

[Muscle Lover 2]

Saw it on opening night on Broadway. Urie was excellent. His nonverbal communication was incredible. Rest of cast good as well.