A biography for Harvey Fiersteinhasn’t been written yet.
“Movies are all about plot. Theater, even if it's story heavy, it's about ideas.”
“While we dance in the streets and pat ourselves on the back for being a nation great enough to reach beyond racial divides to elect our first African-American president, let us not forget that we remain a nation still proudly practicing prejudice.”
“But actually just yesterday we raised the key of one of my songs two steps up, so my voice is obviously responding. It's a muscle, and the more you use it, the more you use it right, the more you should get out of it. So yes, I sing.”
“I am thrilled - I can't stress that enough - thrilled when I see kids getting active.”
“I don't believe in the afterlife, so I do think when somebody passes, it's worthy of note.”
“You know, I always got offered other stuff. Not the romantic leads, obviously. But very often it's a role that's underwritten, where the character has no personality at all. And they need a character actor who can fill it in.”
“My father was brought up in an orphanage in the Catskills. He was a factory worker. And because his family wasn't there for him, family was everything. We could disagree inside the house, but outside the house it was us against the world. So when I became a drag actor, he looked sideways but said okay.”
“I actually may do a musical next year... not one that I've written; one that I may star in. Plus my concert and other people's work and all of a sudden you've got a very full life.”
“Well, I always looked at Mulan as a movie about a lesbian coming out.”
“What looks absolutely fabulous in rehearsal can fall flat in front of an audience. The audience dictates what you do or don't change.”
“I have to work really hard, eight shows a week, to get a nice check as an actor. But when I write a play, and it's a - knock wood - hit, the checks come in for many years.”
“I have a lot of faith in President Obama. The thing that seems to be true of him is that he doesn't speak when you would expect him to speak. He's very measured in his response to things. He likes to get all the facts first before he shoots his mouth off. It makes me crazy; it makes a lot of people crazy.”
“Actually, I think the average voice is like 70 percent tone and 30 percent noise. My voice is 95 percent noise.”
“Pork was in 1971, and I stopped hanging out at The Factory by like 1973.”
“I have great faith in the United States. It's the only country I would ever live in.”
“Political movements always belong to the young.”
“In London they don't like you if you're still alive.”
“A child's kiss is magic. Why else would they be so stingy with them?”
“When I write stuff and I help cast it, I turn away good people all the time. I may turn them down because this one's too tall and that one doesn't have a high enough voice or this one looks to old to match up with that one - there's a billion reasons not to hire somebody.”
“A musical takes two to five years. You have to love it to put in the years.”