Affair To Remember

Stage

THE VOICE ON THE PHONE was unmistakable——familiar from TV, stage and screen. In his guttural growl, Harvey Fierstein was calling to chat about A Catered Affair, his new musical getting its pre-Broadway world debut and opening the winter season at the Old Globe (September 20–October 28). It’s a rare visit to San Diego for native New Yorker Fierstein, who joked about his gravel-grinding voice—— “magnificent and melodious, the voice of the century . . . of course, the century is young yet”——and the reason he’s coming to the Globe: “They want to keep me near the zoo.”

Actually, the main reason is his friendship with Globe artistic director Jack O’Brien, which blossomed when they worked together on the 2002 musical Hairspray, journeying from Seattle to Broadway. Both won Tonys——O’Brien for his direction, Fierstein for his cross-dressing triumph as housewife Edna Turnblad.

Fierstein based his new script on a Paddy Chayefsky teleplay, The Catered Affair, later adapted by Chayefsky and Gore Vidal for a similarly named film. Set in 1953, it’s the story of a Bronx family headed by a taxi-driving father who has amassed sizable savings. He wants to use the money to go into business with his own cab, but his wife wants to give their daughter the lavish wedding she never had. Fierstein plays the uncle, with Broadway luminaries Faith Prince and Tom Wopat as the central couple. Fierstein describes it as “a very human story, a choice between security and hope.”

Pop composer John Bucchino, who’s done scores for several off-Broadway shows, is doing the music and lyrics, and John Doyle, who won a 2006 Tony and a 2007 nomination for directing musicals, will oversee the Affair. Fierstein says he’ll perform two songs. Through his three-plus decades in films (Mrs. Doubtfire, Independence Day), television (Cheers, The Simpsons) and, of course, theater (Torch Song Trilogy, which plays at Diversionary Theatre in November), his limited vocal range seemed to preclude singing roles. Hairspray changed that and led to his 2005 casting as Tevye in the Broadway revival of Fiddler on the Roof. Among the four women who played wife Golde was Rosie O’Donnell, and the spousal pairing of the two openly gay actors spawned dozens of jokes. Fierstein laughed at the memory, recalling that they were in bed together “but I’m never going to tell you who was on top. I’ve been sworn to secrecy.”

If the stars align properly, A Catered Affair will open on Broadway next spring.

SEPTEMBER ALSO BRINGS the opening of the pro football season. That ordinarily wouldn’t be a concern of this column (interesting sociological question: How many folks have season tickets to both a local theater and to the Chargers?), but this year there’s a connection. Bo Eason, a former defensive back for the Houston Oilers, has penned a semiautobiographical play, Runt of the Litter, and has performed it in venues across the nation and off-Broadway. It plays one evening (September 29) at the Poway Center for the Performing Arts. In Runt, Eason portrays a grid warrior about to play a championship game in which he’ll face a team quarterbacked by his brother, one of the game’s brightest stars.

AS THE JOKE GOES, if you remember the ’60s, you weren’t there. Well, you can sort of (re)live those times with Love In: A Musical Celebration, a multimedia tribute to the sound of 1967 getting its world premiere at the Birch North Park Theatre (September 6-9). Ben Vereen hosts a lineup including Brits Peter & Gordon, balladeer Jesse Colin Young and drummer Buddy Miles.

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