I am SO LUCKY, that as a young gay boy  about 22 years  old, I think it was 1982,  I made it to  New York  city (from small town Michigan)  and got into Studio  54 for an amazing evening and  also got to see Harvey Fierstein on Broadway  in Torch Song Trilogy with  Mathew Broderick and Estelle  Getty! ( I had read about the show in After Dark magazine, and seeing the show was the primary  reason  for my trip).

In that eye opening trip to the big apple  I  saw amazing  clubs that are no longer  around. I also met Andy Warhol on that trip! All the things I had read about  NYC  were  true!  What a trip! My little gay life would never be the same!

Harvey and the story left such an impression  on my soul.  I followed  Harvey’s  career over the years and saw his works  whenever I could. He is genius to me,  and  “an icon.”

So I was THRILLED  beyond  belief  to see Torch  Song, a compact version of Torch Song Trilogy, make it to the stage in New York!

And with Michael Urie  no less!  Who  I met in Chicago  when he performed  “Buyer & Cellar”.  He is so wonderfully talented.

It’s magical  that Torch Song  is at the Hayes Theater, on it’s 35th anniversary, on the same Broadway stage where the Tony Award-winning premiere forever changed the face of popular entertainment.  Along with the talented Drama Desk Award Winner  Michael  Urie,  Academy Award winner Mercedes Ruehl shines  are Arnold’s  mother.

Torch Song Trilogy won Tonys for Best Play and Best Actor in a Play for Fierstein. 3 years on Broadway, it was truly a landmark show!

I am sure most of you know  the story, but there may be some younger people  reading who do not know the story;  This  show is fiercely funny and heart-wrenching.  Harvey Fierstein’s Torch Song follows Arnold
Beckoff’s (Mr. Urie) odyssey to find happiness in New York. All he wants is a husband, a child, and a pair of bunny slippers that fit, but a visit from his overbearing mother (Ms. Ruehl) reminds him that he needs one thing more: respect.

This story was of Arnold’s struggle to be accepted as a young Jewish gay man living in New York City in the late 1970s and ’80s. What’s amazing, in some ways,  is that it was powerful then to me; this is pre  AIDS,  pre  gay  marriage, PRE  EVERYTHING and  today the story is still just as powerful.

“Forty years after writing Torch Song, it still speaks to audiences making them laugh and weep and happy,” says Fierstein in a statement. “Unbelievable. And to now return to the theater where it played all those years ago… Beyond wishes… Beyond dreams.. Beyond the most outrageous fantasy.”

“A great play makes you think, and what’s going on in the White House is always in the back of our minds,” Urie told NewNowNext about the timeliness of the revival. “We’re all confused, terrified, and clinging to each other, so Arnold, the ultimate caretaker, is the kind of friend we need right now. Yes, he’s flawed, but he has so much heart and compassion.”

I urge you to see this brilliant show, if you haven’t already!   LIMITED  RUN!!

Join Arnold on this all too human journey about the families we’re born into, the families we choose, and the battles to bring them all home.

Torch Song is playing at the Hayes Theater at 240 West 44^th Street.

Directed by Tony Award nominee Moisés Kaufman

www.torchsongbroadway.com