Critics have fallen in love with HARVEY FIERSTEIN's TORCH SONG, now on Broadway for a strictly limited engagement.
Ben Brantley of The New York Times calls it "Spectacular! A Grade-A energizing joy!" And Entertainment Weekly raves, "TORCH SONG brings laughter and tears simultaneously. It's impossible not to feel electricity in the theater." Don't miss this "profoundly moving" (The Hollywood Reporter) production of the Tony Award-winning play, starring Drama Desk Award winner MICHAEL URIE ("Younger," "Ugly Betty," Buyer & Cellar) and Academy Award and Tony winner MERCEDES RUEHL (The Fisher King, Lost in Yonkers), directed by Tony nominee MOISES KAUFMAN (The Laramie Project, I Am My Own Wife).
Hilarious and heart-wrenching TORCH SONG follows Arnold Beckoff's 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 reminds him that he needs one thing more: respect.
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.
Mr. Kaufman's staging - still designed to please the eye without overwhelming it, with 1970s shorthand sets by David Zinn, costumes to match by Clint Ramos and lighting by David Lander - now feels smoother and quicker on its feet. It also feels, well, bigger. I'm referring particularly to Mr. Urie's performance. This nimble actor has already demonstrated canny comic chops in Off Broadway plays (Jonathan Tolins's 'Buyer & Cellar,' Gogol's 'The Government Inspector.') But in filling Mr. Fierstein's dauntingly big shoes on a Broadway stage, Mr. Urie stretches to color in the outsize outlines of his part.
More than just an illumination onto incredible acting, these final scenes end Torch Song on a bittersweet note that helps ground this dramedy in reality. Arnold, smartly, isn't perfect - 'You cheated me out of your life and then blamed me for not being there,' Ruehl's character says at one point, exposing her son's biggest flaw in all of his relationships - but as the play ends, he's found peace in his journey by maintaining a hope that everything will be alright. And it's hard not to feel the same way about life when leaving the theater. A-
1930 | Broadway |
Broadway |
2018 | Broadway |
Second Stage Broadway Revival Production Broadway |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2019 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Play | Torch Song |
2019 | Tony Awards | Best Costume Design of a Play | Clint Ramos |
2019 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Play | Harvey Fierstein |
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