When Tony Award-winning actor and playwright Harvey Fierstein was growing up in New York City in the 60s, he was surrounded by the beginnings of the gay rights movement, and protest art and avant-garde theater was the norm. "I didn't know that being gay was sad until I got out into the world and they told me that," he said in our interview. "All the gay people I know are really kind of happy."
And writing from that lens has informed his work ever since. In his new memoir, I Was Better Last Night, Harvey shares the six year journey to get his breakthrough play, Torch Song Trilogy, on Broadway, and shares other behind the scenes stories from hit Broadway plays like Hairspray, Fiddler on the Roof, and La Cage aux Folles. He also told me about his relationship with his younger brother turned business manager, why he's happily single and sober, and how he thinks he'll be remembered.
I Wanted To Be A 'Good Girl'
India Walton: I Knew It Was Gonna Be Tough, But I Didn't Expect it to Get Nasty
Inside John Waters' Home (But Not Inside His Colon)
How Clothes Help Us Find Our People and Ourselves
Lucinda Williams Says Whatever the Hell She Wants
Big Freedia Bounces Back
Finding Meaning After My Husband's Public Death
Knock Knock, Who's There? Bob the Drag Queen
What's Going On With Student Loans?
"This Isn't Just About Abortion": What the End of Roe Means to You
Bottled Up: Your Stories About Alcohol
The Highs and Lows of Being a Starbucks Union Organizer
“No Call Goes Unanswered”: A Lifeline in Wyoming
The Very Hot Marriage of Niecy Nash and Jessica Betts
Cut Loose: Your Stories of Breaking Up
'I'm Done Kissing Your Butt': From Manager to Labor Activist
What Our Teachers Are Carrying
Maria Hinojosa on Partying, Partnership, and Her New Pulitzer
How Much Climate Anxiety Helps?
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Modern West
Today, Explained
The Daily
Stuff You Should Know
On Being with Krista Tippett
TED Radio Hour