Hairspray Harvey Harvey Fierstein talks about his Broadway role in Hairspray, his book The Sissy Duckling, September 11, and more. by Blase DiStefano

From Harvey Fierstein's commencement address to the 1992 class at Bennington College: "Take care of yourself first, then your family, then your friends. And if you have anything left over, share it." When he talked to OutSmart, we were surprised he had anything left over to share. After all, he was in the middle of previews for Hairspray, the musical that is receiving wildly enthusiastic responses from its audiences. (At press time, Hairspray had just opened to raves from the critics.) Fierstein plays Edna Turnblad (Divine originated the role in the film), and he is in drag again (remember Torch Song Trilogy?), but this time as a woman, not a drag queen. Fierstein (pronounced Fire-steen), who has two Tony Awards to his credit-one for Torch Song Trilogy (as actor and author) and the other for the musical La Cage aux Folles (for the book)-may add a third for his role as the agoraphobic housewife and mother. Fierstein's best-known roles (other than Torch Song) were in Mrs. Doubtfire (1992) and Independence Day (1996). His most recent TV stint was a couple of years ago in Showtime's Common Ground-not only did he costar in the segment "Amos and Andy," he also wrote it. The 48-year-old performer took some time out of his hectic schedule to talk to OutSmart.

OutSmart: I know you've done drag many times, but isn't this Hairspray role totally different since you're actually playing a woman?

Harvey Fierstein: This is really not like doing drag.

Does it feel different?

It feels totally different. Because when you do drag, even if you're doing funny drag, the aim is still to look beautiful. [Both laugh] The aim is to be someone different. Here, I put on a fat suit that adds only about 30 pounds but visually adds probably closer to a hundred pounds. Edna's a big woman. And I wear hair that is not made to be very pretty. And I wear more makeup than most drag queens wear. But it's all to make me look like I'm not wearing makeup.

How long does it take to look like Edna?

It takes me 90 minutes. Whether we are going to do a show or a photo shoot, it doesn't matter. That's as fast as we've been able to put it together. And I'm good at putting it together. I go into a dressing room and first I have to shave, obviously very closely. And then I have to put foundation from my face down to my tits and my arms. Then a makeup artist comes in, and he does the actual face. Then my hair person comes in, and I have to pincurl my hair and set, because I wear six wigs during the show, so my hair has to be prepped for quick-change wigs. Then I have to strap my boobs in. Then we put on the body, the fat suit, the stockings, the pettipants, a slip. Then the microphone has to be wired in, and then you put on the clothes, and away you go.

Do you get started usually around 6?

I go into the dressing room at 6, and I'm ready to do the show at 8. It doesn't take quite so long to get it off.

Does the show last a couple of hours or so?

The show is two and a half hours. We work very hard in Hairspray. Even the young girls have probably three or four wigs each. I think there are 33 of us in the company, and I think there are close to a hundred wigs alone. I have no idea how many costumes, but I mean it's ridiculous how many costumes. We have so many clothes in the theater that some of the dresses just line the hallways. It's the only place they have to put them.

That's amazing. So is it going pretty good right now?

Oh yeah, knock wood. We're still in previews. We still have two weeks until the critics have their say. After the audience has had its say.

And the audience likes it?

The audience has gone insane for the show. I read an article saying that we've broken all box office records-surpassed last year's hit, The Producers.

[Fierstein has called OutSmart on his cell phone, and another call comes in. He excuses himself and answers it.]

That was my agent who saw the show again last night, and he's kvelling.

He's what?

Kvelling.

What does that mean?

Yiddish for like swelled up with pride.

As he should be. I'd like to ask you about your book The Sissy Duckling. I just happened on the animated TV special a few weeks ago, and it was a treat. And what a great bunch of actors. When did you write that?

I guess about three and half years ago.

How did that come about?

They had this wonderful series on HBO, which no longer exists, where they took Eurocentric fairy tales, and they did them ethnocentrically. I did some voices for them, and they asked me if I would like to write one. They wanted me to write a Jewish one, I think, and I said, "Can we try to do a gay one?" and they said yes. That's the great part about HBO-they do whatever they want. And so I wrote it and they loved it, and they decided to make it its own special, and off we went.

When I was a kid, I needed to hear that message, which was not there for me, so I was thinking, How would I want to receive that message? And I thought, Video is wonderful and television is terrific, but a message like that which is so personal, a kid may want to take that in his own time, in a private way. And the most private and most personal way for anyone to get information is to read. Because video, even if the kid was alone in the house, it's still broadcasting it out loud. And everybody would know the kid's been watching The Sissy Duckling a hundred times. [Both laugh] But a kid can take out a book and look at it at their own pace and get the message at their own pace. Anyway, I thought it was really important to have it as a book.

It was wonderful and I don't mind telling you that I'm 55 years old and I cried.

Hopefully, none of us is too old to heal. There's no wound that's too old to be healed, and what greater thing can someone do than to allow someone to heal an old wound?

While we're talking about young people, do you think the majority of them are aware that AIDS really does still exist?

They know that AIDS exist. That doesn't seem to be the problem. What seems to be the problem is that we seem to have groups that consider being HIV cool. I don't really know the figures on what percentage of our young people think that having HIV is cool, but if anybody thinks that it's something to go out and get as a status symbol, that's frightening to me.

You've heard that people actually think that's cool?

There's a lot of bareback sex going on. And there's a lot of people who think, If I get it, there's enough drugs for me and stuff like that, they'll find a cure in my lifetime. It's the hubris of youth and denial, and in the long run it's still our own self-loathing at work saying that somehow we're not worthy of having full, healthy, wonderful lives. So what's the difference? I live and die young and leave a pretty corpse. And nobody will care whether I live or die. And that comes from all of the messages that gay youth perceive about being gay, which is somehow "you're not important."

How about we go to something a little lighter? You've worked with a lot of wonderful people. Can you tell me one or two words that come to your mind when I say Anne Bancroft?

I saw her the other night. She's elegant and intense.

And beautiful, too.

Yes. She looked just beautiful the other night when she came back to see the show.

Stockard Channing.

Stockard was there the other night. That's what happens when you open a show like this. You get to see everyone. You get to see people you haven't seen in years. When Stockard came, I was in my dressing room after the show, I had my lenses out, washing my face, and I had soap in my eyes, and I hear this voice, and I say, "Who's there?" 'cause I could tell somebody was in my dressing room-usually they announce who's coming in-and I hear this voice go, "It's your sister Blanche." And I said, "If it is, I'm going to kick your ass." And I wiped off my face and there was Stockard, my sister Blanche, because that's what I used to call her.

Matthew Broderick.

He was there the other night. I love Matthew. [Broderick and his wife Sarah Jessica Parker] are so happy. She's like six months along now, and she looks so beautiful. He looks a little nervous, I have to say [laughs], but I think he's more happy than nervous. They just moved into their new house. So it's wonderful. We looked at each other and threw our arms around each other and cried because, well, we've known each other for 22 years, and it's like whenever something good happens to him or if something for me, we always try to be there for each other.

These are not people you've worked with, but what about Dan Quayle?

Um, a cipher. He's a political nothing.

George Bush.

Which one?

[Laughs] How about the present one?

Which one? [Both laugh] Um, I think he's proof that politics is Hollywood. And it was politics. I mean there is no way that man would have ever gotten elected if he weren't a nice-looking man, if he didn't have name recognition, if he didn't have tons of money behind him. He was sold. America was bought and sold on that one. And as far as I can tell, he doesn't do anything. He's like the Queen of England-he waves and they try to keep him from not falling down or killing himself on junk food. And I do understand that he's the nicest man in the world, but he's not running the country. And I get a little nervous about an America that is run by corporate America, which obviously we are now finding out. Those who didn't believe it are finding out.

Yes, because we pretty much already knew that. This is our arts and entertainment issue, so I thank you for taking the time to talk to us, but it's also our September issue, and I was wondering if you wouldn't mind talking about September 11, and how it affected you.

I live about an hour out of New York City. I was home, and a friend of mine called and said to turn on the TV. It was and still is unprocessed by me. I still find it really hard to even believe it happened. I don't know if you've ever lived through an earthquake...

No.

When the earth shakes, it doesn't necessarily shake more than when a big truck goes by. But to the core of your soul you know it was different. That's why animals run in earthquakes. There's something of our earthliness that knows that the entire thing that we sit on has been shaken to the core. And this event was like that, in that this amount of hatred could snowball into an action of pure destruction-there was nothing positive in what was done there. Tens of thousands of people will die, will have their lives ruined even more than they were already. The destruction that was started off by that negative action is just unfathomable and shakes my beliefs to the core of Can we as human beings react to evil with good?

It's certainly not what the Bushes have taught us. We've been taught to react to evil with evil. And it's not that I think that things shouldn't go unpunished-of course people must be responsible for their actions. But there's a measure to response I'm not sure is always there. I think much more that the measure to our response has been financial. Like how much are we willing to spend to blow up other countries as opposed to Is it the right thing to do? I get very frightened when we as human beings act out not on the best side, but on the worst side.

This is not the best segue, but why do you think more actors and actresses don't come out?

When Harvey Milk made his speech before he was assassinated, he said, "If I am assassinated, I wish that every gay architect would come out of the closet. That would be enough." I think that the proportion probably isn't that different in Hollywood or in theater than it is in any other field. I think self-loathing is our worst enemy. And more people don't come out for... You could make up any excuse you want. It's like an alcoholic says, "I drank because I had such a horrible day today or this happened or that happened." You drank because you're an alcoholic. You can make up any excuse for not coming out of the closet. The reason you don't come out of the closet is that it has been beaten into you on a deep level that there is something wrong with who you are. And there is no other reason.

Just two more questions: If you were stranded on a desert island and you could have only one movie with you, what would it be?

[Long pause] Only one movie. It's probably one of those That's Entertainment movies, because at least you'd have a bunch of different musical numbers and you'd get to see a little bit of lots of different stars.

Okay, you're still on that island, and you can have only one person-not a friend, lover, or family member-who would it be?

Oh, that I couldn't possibly fathom. I couldn't answer. I don't know ... Zak Spears?

Who's that?

[Laughs] A porno star.

HAIRSPRAY ON CD

"The best pop Broadway score-part Motown, part Merman-since pop and Broadway parted company some 30 years ago," The New York Times Magazine calls the Hairspray score by openly gay Marc Shaiman (lyrics are by his boyfriend Scott Wittman). But the best review comes from John Waters, the director of the film on which the musical is based: "I used to hate musical comedy, but Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman's score and lyrics for Hairspray have turned me into a real show-tune queen. If I had rhythm, these would be the songs I wish I could write. Listening to the feel-good numbers about rats, flashers, hickies, ratted hair, and Œcheckerboard chicks' turns me into a happy Walt Disney on hallucinogenics, hoping whole busloads of twisted Broadway tourists go to the theater, abandon their diets, and feel sexy about it. Cross-dressing, racial-integration, and overeating have never seemed so wholesome, so American. I think Marc and Scott and the rest of the creative team have turned my weird little movie Hairspray into a jumbo-dream of a musical for outsiders of every persuasion." We couldn't have put it any better than that. The CD from Sony Classical is in stores now. Enjoy.