Harvey Fierstein Gets Real and Vulnerable In Debut Memoir
A cultural icon known for his deep, raspy voice, Harvey Fierstein is ready to tell all in his debut memoir, I Was Better Last Night.
Poignant and laugh-out-loud funny, the Tony Award-winning actor and playwright dives deep and reveals never-before-told stories about his life, career, and LGBTQ activism, while also touching on personal struggles, sex, and romance.
From community theater in Brooklyn, to the neon lights of Broadway, to the absurd excesses of Hollywood, Fierstein has received accolades and praise for acting in and/or writing an incredible amount of hit plays, films, and TV shows including Hairspray, Fiddler on the Roof, Mrs. Doubtfire, La Cage Aux Folles, Torch Song Trilogy, and Kinky Boots. While he has never shied away from the spotlight, Fierstein says that even those closest to him have never heard most of the tales inside these pages.
I Was Better Last Night bares the inner life of this eccentric, nonconforming child, and his candid recollections provide a rich window into downtown New York City life, gay culture, the evolution of theater, and a moving account of his family’s journey of acceptance. With wisdom gained and mistakes made, the stories come together to describe an astonishingly colorful and meaningful life.
Congratulations on the release of your memoir! This must be very exciting for you.
I’ve barely lived life and have never written a memoir before, so it’s very exciting! It’s very different than writing a play, musical, or anything else. It’s you alone. No one in the room but you. From now on, when people get things wrong, you can’t say they’re wrong because they read it in the book.
What’s the significance behind the title, I Was Better Last Night?
It’s life. Have you ever done something, and your friends say how great you look? Oh, you should have seen me last night. That’s sort of what it’s like. In theater, we always say I was better last night because friends always show up the day you forget your lines, your costume doesn’t fit right, whatever. It’s always the excuse we make when we’re being judged and judging ourselves. It’s a look back to perfection. Life, in retrospect, is perfect and easy to live through. It’s not so easy when you’re living it.
In addition to revealing never-before-told stories of your career, you also talk about personal struggles, conflict, sex, and romance. What initially inspired you to write this book?
COVID. Suddenly, we were in lockdown. So, I did all the work that was on my desk like a good little boy, and we were still in lockdown. I took out the sewing machine and made all the quilts that I have been promising for years. People had babies, got married, whatever. I think I made five quilts in a row, and we were still in lockdown. It didn’t make sense to write another play or musical because nobody was putting them on, so my agent said, why don’t you write a memoir?
I initially said no because I don’t write sentences. My agent said to go ahead and try, so I sat down, and here we are. When I started writing the book, I live in a small fictional town in Connecticut, and we had a big summer storm. We had no power for eight days, and my bedroom is the only room in my house that has an air conditioner that would run on a generator. So, I charged my laptop in my car, people forget that’s a great place to charge your phone and laptop, locked myself in the bedroom with the dogs, made a little desk, and began writing a memoir. Four hundred pages later, here it is.
Ultimately, what do you hope readers take away from it?
It’s not your usual kind of showbiz memoir. Most showbiz memoirs that I read start out with, “I went to see a movie, I looked up at the silver screen, and I said, that’s going to be me one day.” That’s not me. I never wanted to be a writer or an actor. I was what we used to call an artistic kid. I went to art classes and learned to experiment. In that experimentation, I learned to say yes to challenges and sort of developed a philosophy of life.
All day long, people ask me things like, do you want to grab a coffee? Do you want to do this or that? Most of the time, we say no because we’re doing something else or it’s just out of our way. However, when you say no, nothing happens. Your life doesn’t change. It doesn’t get better or worse, nothing changes. When you say yes, as uncomfortable as it may be, there’s a possibility that something could happen with your life. That’s not always the case and sometimes something terrible might happen, but it will only happen if you say yes.
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Here I was as an art student, and somebody said their mother was starting a community theater and asked if I wanted to come make posters. So, we sat in the basement and hand-drew posters. They asked if I wanted to pull the curtain, boom, I was in theater. Do you want to act? I was an actor. Do you want to write? I was a writer. It’s not that I want anybody to follow my path, but I want people to know that they’re in charge of their own lives.
Is there a particular story you’re most excited for people to read?
I wouldn’t have put them in the book if they didn’t mean something to me (laughs). I’m like 300 years old, so 400 pages doesn’t come anywhere near what happened to me. Is there a story that meant something to you? I’m answering your questions, so now you have to answer one of mine!
I love the part where you talk about Robin Williams and Mrs. Doubtfire. Being a child of the 90s, he was one of my favorite actors and will always be a cherished part of my life. You say he was truly like a brother to you. What did you enjoy the most about working with him?
Working with him was so fun because there was nobody else like him. We had a personal relationship, and I recount what time was like when it was just the two of us. He was a wonderful person. There was a connection between us that was very powerful, and whenever you were with him, you felt this real human connection. Although, he had a great sadness in him under all the funniness. While he was making jokes, you just took his hand and let him know you were there.
When you’re walking down the street and people are screaming, “Hey, Robin!” and all that, he’s got a big smile, but if you were there holding his hand, you knew there was something else going on. All of us who knew Robin feel that loss. I have relationships with some people simply because we were both friends with Robin, and we miss him terribly. When I was recording the audiobook, the studio I was in, Robin and his friend Christopher Reeve recorded there as well. The engineer in that studio just wanted to tell stories about Robin being there. You remembered everything about him.
And that whole “Can you make me a woman?” scene was improvised?
Yes! The woman who designed the makeup, her name is Ve Neill, she had the wigs, makeup, and all that, she was bantering some ideas back and forth, but when we got there, we were able to play. Scott Capurro, the gentleman who played my lover, who’s also a fabulous standup comic, he, Robin, and I just had a great time playing around with this scene. I think there is some extra footage on the DVD that didn’t initially make it into the movie. I used one of the photographs in the book, which is the three of us wearing blonde beehives. We did a lot of fun stuff.
You also touch on your firsthand account of the AIDS epidemic in the 80s. Was writing about these darker times challenging or therapeutic. Possibly both?
A, B, or C? Let’s go with C, possibly both (laughs). I obviously write about AIDS in three plays I wrote called Safe Sex, and I’ve written op-eds, made appearances on television, and fought my political battles, but you’re caught up in the moment during those times. To sit back and write about it in the book, I’m not going to say it was difficult, but it certainly brought up stuff. The moment when it really hit me was when I was recording the audiobook. I’m reading these words that I’ve written, and it felt like I was experiencing it all over again. That just about killed me.
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I had to stop and leave the building when I got to the section talking about our heterosexual friends who said they supported us and were right behind us, but you could feel them saying, thank goodness this doesn’t affect me. Good luck, buddy, as they left the room. They were very happy to leave us there, and I think there’s even a line in the book that says I’ve never gotten over the feeling that they left us there to die. I still feel that way at times.
Now, you are known as a mastermind behind several critically acclaimed Broadway productions including La Cage aux Folles, A Catered Affair, Newsies, Kinky Boots, and the revival of Funny Girl. Is there a piece of work you want to be most remembered for?
I don’t think so. I don’t believe in afterlife, and I’m kind of a 12-step person. We got a rule saying, what other people think of you is none of your business. I don’t want people insulting me but think what you want after I’m gone. In January, we lost Meatloaf, and I look at this incredible fucking life he lived. His death received six seconds on the news, and that’s what you remember. So, don’t bother remembering me. I think Meatloaf would have been happy if everybody just played Bat Out of Hell.
How did the Broadway shutdown personally impact you and what were you doing to help your fellow performers during this time?
I fed a few, but I avoided most (laughs). They could COVID! Gay people lived through AIDS and have seen the worst of the worst. Could you imagine if somebody said there’s this thing called AIDS, but here’s a vaccine, and we said no? We know what life and death is about, and we know that a vaccine is a wonderful thing to cling to. This way, you’re not giving AIDS to other people. But these fucking assholes today are acting like somebody’s trying to hurt them by making them well. They would rather take horse medicine and drink their own piss. I have a couple friends who are into that for different reasons.
Then the shutdown, it was so painful because it affected hundreds of people. Not just the performers on stage, but the stagehands, the ladies who clean the bathrooms, the men who sweep and then vacuum, the bartenders out front, the guys delivering the liquor for the bartenders, the people who make the souvenirs, the guys who come in and change the lightbulbs on the outside of the theater, the advertising people, people running the press office – there are thousands of people involved with every show, and they were all suddenly thrown out of work. It was horrifying and heartbreaking.
I didn’t even go into New York City because everyone told me how depressing it was to walk down the streets and see all those lights out. I have a friend that lives on 43rd Street, and she couldn’t leave her building because the homeless people had set up tents in front of the building. There were no cops around. There was no foot traffic to stop them. It was a terrible snowballing situation, and I hope we are seeing an end to it soon.
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So much of your professional career has thrived on drag. How would you say the art form has evolved since you were doing it in the 70s when you first started?
Drag is as old as humankind, and every culture has drag. Whether you’re talking about Indigenous Americans who have Two-Spirit people that identify in both sexes, or you’re talking about Elizabethan drag and acting in drag, it wouldn’t be here unless there was absolute fascination with the other. Men think women have all the power on some level, so when they put on female drag, they suddenly become very powerful. Women put on a suit and tie, and they suddenly have all the power.
There’s a lot of magic that happens to us when we put on drag, and part of it is the protection that it gives us. I’m not Harvey anymore. You’re looking at masks and a floating body. I can be something I couldn’t be as myself. I can be this creation by creating this persona. It’s a magical, empowering, fabulous thing, and to watch somebody claim all that power and have all that fun, it may inspire you to try it out yourself. I love it.
Has it changed? Yes. It’s gotten so professional. When I was a kid, you went to Woolworths and stole the pink and green tube of Maybelline mascara, a little bit of base, add some blush and lipstick, and that’s it. Could you imagine seeing that on RuPaul’s Drag Race today? They are so damn professional, and it’s become this incredible thing that’s fascinating to watch. I love the party feeling of it, but we are witnessing this change, and it’s very interesting.
We will see you Billy Eichner’s upcoming rom-com, Bros. What can you tell us about your character, and what are you enjoying the most about being a part of this production?
Billy called and asked me to play a small part in the film, and it was my pleasure and honor to say yes. The only other time we worked together was on Hairspray Live!, and we had no scene or anything with one another. Little did I know that I would be called to leave home at three in the morning to drive all the way out to the Jersey Shore! Three is not a time anyone wants to see a young, beautiful queen, let alone this tired old thing. Thankfully, the company, crew, and everyone involved were so wonderful. It was a total pleasure to be even a tiny part of this effort. Then again, in my sleep deprived condition, I may have dreamt it all.
Stay up-to-date and connect with Fierstein by following him on Twitter @HarveyFierstein, Instagram @theharveyfierstein, or visit his official website, harveyfierstein.com. I Was Better Last Night is now available to purchase through all major book retailers.
Photos Courtesy of Bruce Glikas and Social Media
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