Harvey Fierstein Reflects On 'The Next War' Ahead for the LGBTQIA+ Community and Their Allies | Playbill

Playbill Pride Harvey Fierstein Reflects On 'The Next War' Ahead for the LGBTQIA+ Community and Their Allies

The four-time Tony-winning actor and writer is featured along with Michael R. Jackson, Jacquel Spivey, and more in Pride of Stage and Screen, airing on MSNBC June 26.

MSNB will air interviews with queer stage and screen icons including Laverne Cox, Wilson Cruz, Harvey Fierstein, Jaquel Spivey, and Michael R. Jackson in Pride of Stage and Screen June 26 at 10 PM ET (check local listings).

In a preview of Fierstein's interview with The Sunday Show host Jonathan Capehart, the four-time Tony winner talks of "the next war" for the LGBTQIA+ community and their allies. Get a sneak preview of the talk above.

"When I was a kid, my goal was to make my life safe for me and my kind," shares Fierstein. "My goal now is to make life unsafe for the people against us. You want to come against me? That should be against the law. You want to be prejudiced, and you want to fire me from my job, you want to throw me from my home and all that? You should suffer for that. That’s part of the next war."

Fierstein, whose memoir I Was Better Last Night was released earlier this year, has long been and remains a seminal icon of queer theatre on Broadway and beyond. He wrote and starred in Torch Song Trilogy, a landmark work that follows a young drag queen through love, life, and fatherhood. Comprising three one-act plays written and performed between 1978 and 1981, the work made the jump to Broadway in 1982, winning Fierstein Tony Awards for his performance and Best Play.

He went on to write the books to La Cage Aux FollesLegs DiamondNewsiesKinky Boots, and most recently a revised book for the current Broadway revival of Funny Girl, along with plays Safe Sex and Casa Valentina, all on Broadway. He won his fourth Tony Award, following a third win in 1983 for the book to La Cage Aux Folles, for his performance as Edna Turnblad in 2002's Hairspray, a role he would reprise on screen in a 2016 live TV version of the Tony-winning musical. Among his film performances are Mrs. DoubtfireIndependence DayBullets Over Broadway, and the 1988 screen adaptation of Torch Song Trilogy.

 
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