Introduction & Overview of Torch Song Trilogy by Harvey Fierstein

Torch Song Trilogy Introduction

Torch Song Trilogy is a play that straddles genres, existing as both a comedy and a melodrama. Harvey Fierstein's play opened at New York's Richard Allen Center in October, 1981, and moved to the Off-Broadway Actors Playhouse in January of 1982. The play opened on Broadway in June, 1983, at the Little Theatre and continued for a long and successful run, having won several awards, including two Antoinette "Tony" Perry Awards.

The work is semi-autobiographical; Fierstein used his own experience as a homosexual to bring a sense of authenticity to the play. Critics have remarked that the language and situations ring true and not only to homosexual audience members. Fierstein states in a brief author's note to the play that he hopes members of the audience will recognize themselves in the exchanges between lovers and the relationship between mother and child. The play's popularity among a wide range of...
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