Torch Song Trilogy
Identification Play and film
Author Harvey Fierstein (1954- )
Date Play opened June 10, 1982; film released on
December 14, 1988
A Tony Award-winning play turned into a feature film,
Fierstein’sTorch Song Trilogyaddressed gay themes in a
way that had previously been taboo—in terms of love. It
brought to the general population a representation of same-
gendered relationships that looked ver y much like the hetero-
sexual ones the world better understood.
Torch Song Trilogyis a collection of three short plays—
The International Stud,Fugue in the Nurser y, andWidows
and Children First!—that are produced together to
form three stories from the life of Arnold Beckoff, a
Jewish drag queen who lives in New York and favors
singing torch songs. The play received much ac-
claim when it opened in 1982, including winning
the Tony Award for Best Play in 1983. Much of the
play’s recognition resulted from the way Fierstein
handled topics such as gay-bashing, drag, bisexual-
ity, infidelity, adoption, and family dysfunction. More-
over, in addressing these issues, the play placed its
central focus on homosexual characters, who were
treated not as abnormal but rather as strong, fully re-
alized protagonists dealing with many issues that
were also acutely familiar to heterosexual audiences.
That Fierstein himself was an openly gay writer and
actor who unabashedly wrote with such open candor
and then played in the starring role was of no small
significance either.
Following the show’s successful Broadway run,
New Line Cinema asked Fierstein to adapt the four-
hour play into a two-hour film script. Making exten-
sive cuts, Fierstein created a film that still preserved
the three distinct vignettes and met studio criteria.
However, there was one hurdle to overcome; New
Line would not support setting the story in its origi-
nal time frame of the early 1980’s, indicating that
with the rise of acquired immunodeficiency syn-
drome (AIDS) in the gay community, the story was
not plausible if it did not address that subject.
Fierstein wanted to focus on other themes, so the set-
ting of the film was changed to the 1970’s, prior to
the AIDS crisis. This change highlights another sig-
nificant shift in gay representation of the 1980’s, as
Fierstein made a move that many others within the
gay community would not make for another decade:
He saw AIDS as a world crisis and not as something
that was only a gay issue or that had to dominate all
gay discussions to the exclusion of other topics or
other sexualities.Impact Torch Song Trilogybrought gay themes to the
forefront of mainstream culture in a way that dif-
fered from other attempts; it did so by casting a posi-
tive light on the gay characters within the story. This
shift created a larger discussion of equity within me-
dia representations of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and
transgender characters and issues.Further Reading
Busch, Charles. “Torch Song Trilogy.”Advocate 876
(November, 2002): 103-104.
Duralde, Alonso. “This Torch Still Burns.”Advocate
917 (June, 2004): 194-195.
Guernsey, Otis L., ed.The Best Plays of 1981-1982.
New York: Dodd, Mead, 1983.
Needham Yancey GulleyThe Eighties in America Torch Song Trilogy 973
Playwright Harvey Fierstein in 1982.(AP/Wide World
Photos)