ENTERTAINMENT Michae l Paris GOING PLACES Matthew Broderick, left, and Harvey Fierstein are pictured in a scene from Torch Song Trilogy. Harvey Fierstein's successful Broadway play has made it to the silver screen. Torch Songlogy 4e0 0% a: 0 n>es rte, .41.0 e C4.1,:al MORRIE WARSHAWSKI Special to The Jewish News a 0s M eeting Harvey Fierstein is like being doused with a large pail of shockingly ice- cold water. The candor and passion of his comments on homosexuality and on religion will come as no surprise to the audiences of Torch Song Trilogy, his Ibny Award- winning play and new film. "I say to interviewers, I am as honest as possible. At least if you don't say anything else in your inter- view, say I didn't lie or pander;' he rasps in that distinctive voice that has been compared to the mating call of a bullfrog. The 34-year-old native of Brooklyn shows wear from the many interviews he is giving on this publici- ty tour, and he smokes a number of cigarettes. Fierstein studied painting at Brooklyn's Pratt Institute but switch- ed to theater after appearing as a drag queen in Andy Warhol's Pork. From acting he turned to writing and created a number of plays with camp titles like Flatbush Tosca, Cannibals Don't Know Better and In Search of the Cobra Jewels. The partially autobiographical Torch Song Trilogy originally took shape in workshops before being pro- duced off-Broadway in 1981 at the tiny downtown New York Mama Theater. The play went on to take Broadway by storm winning numerous awards for Fierstein as a playwright and as an actor. His other credits include writing the book for the theatrical version of La Cage Aux Folles, writing and starring in Safe Sex on Broadway, and work on the book of Legs Diamond, a new musical starring Peter Allen. Torch Song Trilogy weaves a tale around nine years in the life of Arnold Beckoff, a gay New Yorker as he seeks love and respect in a heterosexual world. Fierstein makes it clear that he shares some traits with the fictional Arnold, but that they differ in many significant respects. "The problem Arnold has with his mother (played by Anne Bancroft) is that he is not honest with her. But my mother and I are very honest. We talk about not only who I'm sleeping with, but who I love — and that's something that Ar- nold and his mother do not do,” ex- plains Fierstein. Fierstein waxes eloquent about Bancroft's contribution to the crea- tion of the role as archetypal Jewish mother (greatly expanded from the play version) and about her contritu- tion to the film. "Anne planned a performance that I think is incredibly brave and brilliant;' enthused Fierstein. "The danger with playing the mother, and what often happens on stage, is an ac- tress makes her this lovable Jewish Neil Simon sort of stereotype. Anne starts out as a stereotype but slowly goes deeper and deeper to that hard core of love she has for her son!' A turning point for mother and son in the film takes place at the father's gravesite when Arnold at- tempts to say Kaddish over his dead lover's grave. "For Arnold to bury his lover in a non-traditional way would 0, 0 ogW. Maple, West - Bloonifiel Jewish Ensemble Theatre, Sa int and Itkeh, with Evelyn Orbae and Robert Grossman,- nesday through Jan. 22, Ja 25 29; S noopy, Sunday. and Jan. 22, admission. 661-1000. RIDGEDALE PLAYERS 205 W. Long Lake, Troy. now through Sunday, Jan. 20-22, Jan 27-29, admission. 644-8328. FISHER THEATRE Fisher Bldg., Detroit, Can Can, with Chita Rivera, Wednesday through Feb. 5, admission. 872-1000. - - THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 63