‘Torch Song’ Theater Review: Harvey Fierstein Passes It to Michael Urie

In the original, Fierstein’s outrageousness got you through the play’s lumpy soap opera moments. Urie, in the revival, works the suds

torch song
Photo: Joan Marcus

This review first appeared last October when the production opened, with the identical cast, at Off Broadway’s Second Stage.

It turned out to be a downright risible night at the Tony Awards. On June 5, 1983, “Torch Song Trilogy” beat out “Plenty” and “‘night, Mother” for best play of that Broadway season. Granted, the David Hare and Marsha Norman plays have not been blessed with stellar revivals to enhance their reputations since then, but at least no one ever felt the need to cut huge chunks from either work or change the title.

A revival of Harvey Fierstein’s “Torch Song” opened Thursday at Broadway’s Hayes Theatre after a run last fall at Off Broadway’s Second Stage; it’s 45 minutes shorter than the original, and is performed with only one intermission now.

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