Harvey Fierstein‘s Torch Song will soon sing its final tune on Broadway — before lighting up again across the country.
The acclaimed Broadway revival of Fierstein’s Tony-winning play will shutter early, EW has learned, with its closing date set for Jan. 6, 2019. The show was previously scheduled to end its run on Feb. 24, after opening to strong reviews on Nov. 1. But the news is not quite grim for Torch Song: The revival will live on in a national tour production, set to launch in fall 2019 at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles, Calif.
Michael Urie, who has received praise for his star turn as Arnold Beckoff on Broadway, will reprise the role on the tour. “Since we first began the Torch Song journey, I have heard from people all over — including our director Moisés Kaufman, who first met Arnold when Torch Song Trilogy toured in the ‘80s — that Arnold’s pride, strength, and frankness helped them come out, come to terms, and come together,” the actor said in a statement. “This is something I hope our tour will do today. We need Harvey’s play when our world is suddenly and continually confusing and divided.”
A groundbreaking queer play, Torch Song Trilogies premiered to universal acclaim on Broadway in 1982. This trimmed adaptation follows Arnold’s odyssey to find happiness in New York. All he wants is a husband, a child, and a pair of bunny slippers that fit, but a visit from his overbearing mother (Mercedes Ruehl) reminds him that he needs one thing more: respect. “This fresh production, skillfully directed by Moisés Kaufman (The Laramie Project) and transferred here a year later, shows that Fierstein’s words are as poignant now as they were then,” Dave Quinn wrote in his review for EW. “It’s as if the piece was written now, looking ahead rather than then, looking back.”
Torch Song plays at the Hayes Theatre in New York through Jan. 6, 2019.
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