Theater Talk: Harvey Fierstein on "Hairspray LIVE!"

coming up on theater talk I think I've told every story in my life on this show I should just take this show and have it typed up as my own about theater talk is made possible in part by the CUNY TV foundation hello everyone on Casey's mom oh so you're what spawned that excuse me it's alive its alive its alive live on tape for me you better talk with live actors yeah I love TV and who are you yeah I'm a barely alive welcome to theater talk I'm Michael Reid Oh mrs. Susan Haskins and our good friend Harvey Fierstein who is here to tell us about something that will be live will be like hairspray yes my NBC NBC live event December seventh 7/7 Pearl Harbor Day tora tora tora bob boy we're gonna wear I mean we're gonna do this live and some of its out on the street all right it's like Jerry MIT you know they said they were doing on a back lot of universe yeah and and so they're there they're dressing whole streets to look like Baltimore look like door and Jerry said to me Oh Andy welcome to the sixties you're gonna come running down the raucous mMmmm away why we had to come running down the back over like why ya gotta come right over I said Terry I did this on a Broadway stage it was 60 feet what are you gonna come running down the street I said have we got that hot dog cart you couldn't see it's my eyes what did I cry my dog ha ha ha ha the idea that we're actually gonna be out on the streets singing and dancing live on television they got that from that grief live they did they did sell it all they opened it up there and how much rehearsal time is going into this everybody starts October 17th and then it's live December 7th we lose one week with Thanksgiving cuz we have to come back and I think we're doing Thanksgiving Day Parade them really let us know or not right I think we're all coming to New York for Thanksgiving and so that's like so two weeks in October all of November so like seven seven eight weeks but one whole week is dress rehearsals obviously you got to get it down like right appointment we're used to doing live theater but there aren't millions of people watching that very first of all people yeah so now carving when they first announced this project at first they said oh they're gonna do hairspray live and they said that you were working on writing it and so we all thought well he better be in it but they didn't know they caught they actually caught me because last year I wrote The Wiz yeah yeah which was terrific by the tank that was really good well you know they it's it's such a different job doing something like that it's like it's like the funny girl that I have running in London now it's because you want to capture the original you don't you're not really you're not reinventing it you've got to have the same spirit of it right yet bring it to that audience I bring it to this audience and especially I felt because I was working with Kenny Leon I wanted to make sure the Wiz spoke to an audience of kids that would never maybe go to the theater right and maybe get them interested in the theater by seeing the Wiz I mean the Wiz was such a cultural event so so is it is a different kind of job rather than just writing something new or like on Newsies where I was a little free to write my own style pray after so anyway so they were very happy with what I did with the Wiz so they called me and said we're gonna do a hairspray we don't know how you feel about this um would you be willing to write instead of course to be Wellington I should say Marc O'Donnell who wrote hairspray for Broadway dies passed away and but didn't you Harvey write a lot of the jokes in here yeah we and here's the stage of things around Broadway there's more to a book than the jokes when they announce this TV thing and then they said you were writing it and I thought well surely they are not going to do another John Travolta I are you gonna ask Elaine Stritch yeah but if you make the offer it's well I thought they were getting with those people from the Disney kids musical it doesn't you know um but know that I hear a rumor don't know if it's true or not that I was like the tenth or whoever they came and I was far they come who on are you that I can do that very but I do know the bunch that that and I know a bunch that said I wasn't hard exactly exactly but anyway but the thing but but I understand television I mean it's television right you know it's like they need to pop star name or something yeah well like what the movie of hairspray which is a safer subject obviously since it's way in the pay yeah the most of the money as I understand it for that newline film came from China so when you go to Chinese investors and you say we've got Harvey Fierstein they go so um but if you say are you having we have you know Batman eyes Oh ever they go okay we'll put money well and you know not being in big money show business myself there's Ibaka search there's this yeah that uh there's some projects you think really why bother to do it if you're gonna do that but they've got bolna but you have a good cast you've got question China with is in this ariana grande Jennifer Hudson Martin Short are you shortest Sean Hayes Hayden and Marin doing this wonderful thing brought exciting to Neil meron Craig zadan I was being overly familiar are doing these wonderful Broadway musicals things but sometimes how can I put it sometimes I there's some casting choices they've made that are for popular consumption or something and it what you know and what we don't know and of course it's not the audience's businesses sometimes they've tried to find the right people yeah okay it's a scary thing to do live television and I think there's a lot of people that they say and it's live and they go and you know thank you goodbye yeah I mean let's scale my sing live on TV what's the woman who starred in The Sound of Music she was the country West yeah the country star a wonderful performer not a great actress but they went with that when you know how many viewers they had I know over twenty million and it said over 20 mil I know I know you fancy yourself a mama purist but no mom nobody it started that whole thing it started started this whole thing exactly just winging it you know between what what Craig and Neil did with what's starting music probably which now you know has oxygen on TV the which Fox took no did Greece and now that somebody else is doing something anything Rocky Horror that some sort of film thing but I feel it's a it's a show and and I yeah ABC is doing it so now they're gonna beautiful thriller gonna be doing passion with oh my he's gonna play Fosca oh I'm too pretty for that role um is it this I can't make these do time yes you can don't your darling feel like I'm on stage with Donald Trump that's all of you err have you ever done live television before or this will this be the first I mean not a talk show but it actually performing on live TV I did timeless to me on the Today Show right okay all right you know but that's not going to a nothing liar performance I mean when does anybody I mean they've been those three shows that we know of you know The Sound of Music Peter Pan and Greece right and that's that's it was there one other no there's the Rocky Horror but that's their yeah and the Wiz well in the Wizards would I forgot about that yes of its I mean so it's a they're a limited number of people who have ever good you're now but you're a pro do you have any nerves nervousness at all about of course but I but because you've never done it before but I mean that's the point of having six or seven weeks of rehearsal by the time you get to that day you've done it a billion times and it's old and also they're gonna tape the dress rehearsal aren't they don't they tape the dress rehearsal shoe they do they look at Tony Awards I think one time once something went wrong and they dumped in some dress rehearsal did that's the well my favorite though wasn't Peter O'Neill and Craig will let us know yeah you asked him reminds him answer that's the story I think I'm told every story in my life on this show I should just take this show and have it typed up as my own Ibaka haha of G Marion and George her I love that and the singing song in the sand it's a gene berries you know this remember that little song in an afternoon fall afternoon we met the concertina played what was that song it's it's going to recall odd would be forget he played and George Herndon across the table la da da da da da da da speaking of that and what was that first preview because you wrote the book to La Casa full and now of course you know what's the big deal with a show who cares but let's go back to Boston in what early 80s right 1982 and you're about to open a show where two men I did they kiss in the show I don't remember no author with lectin kids he wouldn't even let that hold hands really no he wouldn't even let them hold again why cuz author he was author well no but why we use became more and more out the older he got but oh you know a they did not business but was there a moment you realize oh my god what are we doing we're doing a show where it's about - no we had we had all kinds of moments like that but but no the great opening moment of La Caixa fall first preview was the orchestras playing it David sets and then and and the curtain went up and you saw these two buildings in the building's part like this and lekars comes down stage and the building comes down stage and so they're playing this overturn Jerry and Arthur I was also excited Dada Dada Dada Dada Dada Erica I got I've got a dead attempt and it's lit they're down and edit that it does that it fell over hahaha gosh the photos fell over flat on the stage and tells the show for a little while ago came down and how one minutes later we started again Harvey I'm looking back to when you started in Hairspray 2002 well we start yeah I'm it I mean we did previous we did um a couple of workshops and stuff like yeah yeah so really 2000 right right so yeah lo you started to approach you with that that good idea they they are they had already written part of act 1 Rob Marshall was directing mark and Scott mocks him and it's not women they're written a score on the book was being written by Mark O'Donnell Margo was producing those are the pieces they all have us they did not have me in mind and in fact Bernie Chelsea would not let me audition why he said Harvey can't do this we don't want to see Harvey and they kept pushing and pushing my manager Richard Jackson kept pushing and pushing and they wouldn't see me and Everage he finally called mark and said mo Harvey wants to come in and audition she said well of course he should cover no digit our ridiculous so I came in and I audition I wonder who they thought should do it yeah it was so funny because because you know I had I mean all my early shows at La MaMa were all musicals you know right yes and and you weren't dragged in part and it drags yeah so none of that was but but you know here I was auditioning really for a Broadway show musical for my first time and and so I came in Rob Marshall's the director and and I came with my own pianist cuz I used to have a club act that men and do and um and they asked me to sing something so I did I think I sang tail of the oyster the Cole Porter song and then they said you have something else and I went okay and you're something more up and I did something more up and they said you have something more rocking wrong wrong oral I did um Frank Mills from hair oh um I mean well I was there for I did my entire book and I get and I'm saying to myself arbovirus being songbook mean this is so sweet of them I know they're indulging your pity because no Chuck it's a pity like because they'll never give me the job and they they're embarrassed that I came in and I'm so or when I leave they are gonna laugh their asses off so I finally said you're icing kids I got nothing else in the book and they said well thank you so much for coming in I called Richie I said they were so sweet it was so they let me sing everything I had Lenny like something did my whole club act that's the only thing I left that was a monologue and um and I said so you know thank them very much and he said you want to shut up now they just offered you the role yes and it was one of those funny things and a going again going back to the concept that they were going to do it on TV possibly without you it's just unimaginable you can't I mean I saw other people pick up the roll like boost elation a nice job and you know love yeah I mean I I saw lots of redness the thing they wouldn't do was you know we were thinking about who should take over when I left us remember I did it for two years yeah yeah won the Tony Award and then you came back never I never I never mr pallemans never I did two years solid and then but when I was gonna leave I said the most press we could get I said they just wouldn't go along with me I wanted Lainie Kazan to replace me yeah I thought how much fun would it be if somebody like Lainey came in and did it and did a total switch yeah and then you could do people like like Bruce or or whatever when did you realize in hairspray that it wasn't it was a hit it was gonna be good when does that moment dawn on you is the first preview when the audience responds new in rehearsals that it was coming together or do you not know until you in front of the audience well we did um backers audition not back to here you know those workshops went back as artists I mean there's there was a kind of famous one where there were very famous people there who got up and left real bring it and um a very famous producer who will not be named um said to them you know you got Harvey and that no show and I mean stuff like that so so it was not at all bad his auditions and it was not in our workshops we still had a lot of work to do they wouldn't show me the script um and I said I can't do the show like this it's it's not it's not there and and I can't go it was like a couple of weeks before leaving for Seattle and I said I'm not going I don't want to be what are those people like Lauren Bacall staying in the center of the stage of during applause and saying I'll be in my dressing until you give me a new book please and and so I said it's better if I just walk away yeah you know let me just let me just bow out and they wouldn't give you a script cuz it was not done and this is my John and out of lovely meeting with Jack O'Brien's Jack and taken over direction right and there's no more wonderful person is Harv you gotta trust me and I say you know if I hadn't done legs diamond I might trust you and that was your book like the spy books and I was sometimes it's not fixable you know you love something to death and it's and he said what you know this is fixable and I said I believe it is but you know if you won't even let me see the book what do you well anyway so he wouldn't let and I went home and and Mark called me up on the phone Merck sure did it's Marc Shaiman said are you really not gonna do it nice among how can I do it if I can't even read it said I'll let you read it and this shows you how long ago it was or how far we've come in that ten years but he faxed it to me page by page oh my god well that was the version we did we exhumed from the theater talk archive a tiny little clip from the press preview so this was this was May before you open cuz you opened in August right yes but that was after Seattle them right so anyway the show is all okay but anyway the first previewing day was that to see what was the first pre they went crazy the throw them when was it the first review in in in in Seattle was when I was in my dressing I had already taken off my costume already take off my wig and I and I said what is that noise and the audience was stomping still in the house stomping for me to come back out was one of those magical moments that you never think you it will ever happen in your life I will never forget that feeling they said Harvey you've got to go back out then the audience won't leave it was a lot of the audience when Seattle Men's Chorus oh yeah who I had worked with and so they were there you know cheering us on but um and the audience stayed and stayed and I came out in my dress did you have to did you oh no I put the wig back on you just I just no I mean I'd already started undressing me Rory and so I came back out of my dressing Roman and and screams no it was just one of the most thrilling things and that's when I said whatever happens we've got some dock yeah well anyway magical yeah how heavy is your fat suit for this in keeps massive see you got I'll show you pictures that you can take a shot of an and put in put uh maybe I don't know what they don't figure but I'm seeing me I just don't I just took no I just took out we just doing costume fittings so I actually took photographs in nothing but the fat stuff which is different this time is not designed by William are you might be long somebody else in designing but the breasts are still the same so the breasts are about eight pounds each right um each bun is about five pounds oh look enormous might look no because losin you you're not and get on the TV promo they've got you now I thought whoa that's a heavy fancy yeah it's no but um yeah it's the magic of Texas the magic are yoga are you our mark and Scott writing any new songs for it or is it are you doing a piece cool what I did was um we were much closer to the Broadway show then then the film version was right this you know that was that was what they wanted that's what I wanted that's what Neil and Craig wanted that's what Kenny wanted um we did take out the Madison dance that was in the Broadway show and used the song from the movie and there's a song that's the end titles of the movie that we're using is the entire less as our sort of bow thing you're my favorite moment in hairspray is timeless to me that was always my favorite no well thank you because it was always Paris I was pitched on such a fun high level and then you go right down to this wonderful couple together and that great old Shaymin Whitman song just kind of a throwback to another to another we're doing it and you know and we're and we're doing it on the street we're doing it um Wilbur's gonna be out on the street working on that invention thing and oh right I'll be on the phone with mrs. mr. pinky so then come down that's Martin Short yeah Martin and I will do it out on the street and then the neighbors will be hanging out the windows watching us doing timeless to me yeah in like an old fashioned a very old fashioned a movie romantic scene on the street yeah but hopefully I mean I don't want to lose that intimacy of the two of us yeah and you know and obviously a camera can do that cuz the camera can come right in and and really give that intimacy so it's not as much to worry about but you know Mort is so funny and so alive and so you know I I mean I you know just the idea like when I was typing the script and I was thinking I'm already doing at night and I have that line Oh will but stop you're the funny one and I said it's gonna be so lovely saying that to him yeah you know I mean what's better and then you know Marty short he's there if Marty Short were improvising not in that life thing but in rehearsals would that ever work at playing or that would you don't I you know Kenny doesn't Kenny Kenny's very organic I mean I watched him work on The Wiz he's so gentle he's so loving he's so and even on the whiz it was always about keeping it real and it was always keeping you know and it's because he says this isn't theater right you know this is not theater this is not movies now it says something in between and if this works if hairspray works and I think it will in a big way is there any chance you can convince Craig and Neal to do the live version of legs diamond we've discussed it once again I said make Peter the offer but Syria buddy wanted somebody wanted to put it on really and I said I and I read it again yeah just see if I could do any anything to a cat is it fixable like Dimond no it was such a terrible idea it was just you know and then we try everything that could have gone wrong with that show did go wrong but conceptually we never did the show that was conceived I mean they came to me after the show had already been then there was no show and the director Robert Allen Ackerman said to me here's the idea we've got Peter Allen we have the score that Peter wrote we have this production that's all about black lights it was this was the original idea um like somebody you know cuz it was sort of a chase chase there were lots of gangster chasing Jessup so like um a showgirl takes off her feather boa and throws it and it became a staircase the children run up so the whole thing was running black light it was very puppetry so I wrote it that way I wrote the whole thing with chases and things like that and then they just then they did a workshop and decided they didn't like the way it looked everything was too dark that audience would be asleep with everything in black light and um so he was stuck with the show that had it it was like doing cats with everybody dressed in 1940 suits but you had the great lines I think was John will derp who was the admin on it he told me I think I put it in my book he said the second preview Harvey was in the lobby at the intermission he said it's getting better only 150 people left tonight we used to stand outside behind the colonnade of the other theatre and watch the people leave and wagon one woman just judgments it not that way for hair swept away the you'll never get desired TV purpose is to luck but um we read but your Jimmy just died yeah Jimmy Nederlander who produced it who produced it never loved him so much dentist I adore him and he wouldn't hear of letting Peter go you know because a Larry Kert was his standby and Larry Kert did a dress rehearsal you know she had to do a put in yeah and the whole show was so 3,000 times but I'm sorry Pete I'm sorry but was so much better with Larry but anyway so could not get Peter entrance applause I mean here's the star of the show the whole reason you're doing Joe and the audience couldn't care less so it's like what are we gonna do what I mean you so he came up with we're gonna write this new number and Peter wrote the number I want to get my name in lights which became the big job of Jackman saw exactly well six and songs from from both mother I'm from like that yes so there would have been no Boy From Oz were it not from Reds I'm so so he wrote um when I got my name lights and we built this huge electric sign that said legs diamond with real girls on it and phony girls on it and him riding it and the curtain comes up in the music's playing and he rides in on this 20 foot electric sign when I get my name in lights and the audience didn't applaud ah and I leaned needle and it turned to me and when I could have had a bracelet and that's show biz babe alright alright Harvey Fierstein is going to be starring as Edna in my hairspray live December 7th and I better know my lines because I wrote it you five big thanks for credit all right Harvey will be why I wrote this campaign oh the TV right right right right will booboo I'm gonna have a viewing party my apartment will be cheering you on I'll come get it right you're my guest thank you very much very fun to play thank you Oh our thanks to the Friends of theater talk for their significant contribution to this production theater talk is made possible in part by the Frederick Bois foundation the Corey and Bob dinelli charitable fund the null coward foundation Kari J freeze the Dorothy strausmann Foundation and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs we welcome your questions or comments for theater talk thank you

Channel: CUNY TV

Views: 33,681

Rating: 4.858407 out of 5

Keywords: Hairspray, musical, Broadway, Harvey Fierstein, teleplay, CUNY TV, Theater Talk, Susan Haskins, Michael Riedel, cuny

Id: 3IUdlDEMA8Q

Length: 26min 46sec (1606 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 17 2016