Four-time Tony Award-winning actor and playwright Harvey Fierstein will appear next month as part of the community program series Harvey Presents, The Harvey School announced today. Fierstein, perhaps best known for writing the Broadway play “Torch Song Trilogy” and starring in the lead role, will appear at Harvey’s Walker Center for the Arts Friday, March 13, at 7:30 p.m. He will be interviewed by special guest host, acclaimed film and theater critic Pat Collins.
Tickets for Harvey Presents: An Evening with Harvey Fierstein are on sale now. Admission is $40 for adults, $25 for students. Students must produce a valid school photo ID at the door. Seating is limited.
To order tickets go to www.harveyschool.org and click on Harvey Fierstein under “Announcements” or call (914) 232-3161 ext. 161 for more information.
Bios on Fierstein and Collins
Fierstein spent 10 years acting in off-Broadway plays before his “Torch Song Trilogy” made it to Broadway in 1982 where it won the Best Play Tony Award as well as Drama Desk, Obie and Dramatist Guild awards. Fierstein also won Tony, Drama Desk, and Theater World acting awards for his portrayal of the lead.
Fierstein won his third Tony for the libretto of the musical “La Cage Aux Folles,” and his starring role as Edna in the musical “Hairspray” earned him a fourth Tony Award. He is the first person in history to win Tonys as an actor as well as a writer on both the dramatic and musical sides of the theater world.
His other acclaimed plays includecurrent Broadway hit, the2013 Best Musical “Kinky Boots”(Tony nominated for Best Book), “Newsies”(Tony nominated for Best Book), “A Catered Affair”(Drama League winner Outstanding Musical of the Year) and “Casa Valentina”(Tony nominated for Best Play).
In addition to serving as a social and political commentator with opinion pieces and essays featured on the TV series “In the Life,” and on the Op-Ed pages of TheNew York Timesand Huffington Post, Fierstein has appeared in several films and TV shows. Fans remember him from his role in “Mrs. Doubtfire” playing the brother of Robin Williams’ character. He also appeared in “Independence Day,” “Death to Smoochy,” “Bullets Over Broadway” and the Academy Award and Emmy Award-winning documentary, “The Times of Harvey Milk.” He narrated the documentary and won a News & Documentary Emmy Award.
Inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame in 2008, the Ridgefield resident returned to the stage in the 2011 Broadway revival of “La Cage Aux Folles,” playing the lead of Albin for the first time.
Pat Collins, an Emmy Award-winning critic, has enjoyed a long friendship with Harvey Fierstein. They co-hosted a syndicated Tony special last year. Collins won Emmys for the Pat Collins Show and as a member of the news team at WCBS TV where she served as its film and theater critic. Subsequently, she covered entertainment news for Good Morning America and The CBS Morning News. At WWOR-TV, Collins hosted a number of behind the scenes Broadway specials in addition to reviewing film and theater for the “10 O'Clock News.” Collins has hosted several specials for CUNY TV including "Kinky Boots: The Road To Broadway,” a three-part series on independent films, and a special marking the 50th anniversary of “Fiddler On The Roof."
Collins serves as the president of The Joe Raposo Music Group which administers the catalogue of compositions of her late husband Joe Raposo, a co-creator of “Sesame Street” and its longtime musical director. Pat and her husband William Sarnoff live in Bedford.