In this interview from March 6, 2004, actor and playwright Harvey Fierstein talks to director Michael Kantor backstage at the Neil Simon Theatre during the Broadway production of “Hairspray,” for which he won the Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical.
Their conversation covers the wide-ranging history of LGBTQ+ culture and its influence on Broadway and the Broadway Musical. Interview conducted for Broadway: The American Musical (2004).
The American Masters Digital Archive includes over 1,000 hours of never-before-seen, raw interviews: a treasure trove of the movers and shakers of American culture, including Maya Angelou, Patti Smith, Mel Brooks, Carol Burnett, Matthew Broderick, Carl Reiner, Joan Rivers, Dionne Warwick, Lee Grant, Sidney Lumet, Betty White and many others.